Monday, October 14, 2013

Poem for Monday and Countryside Artisans

The Old Stoic
By Emily Brontë

Riches I hold in light esteem,
   And Love I laugh to scorn;
And lust of fame was but a dream,
   That vanished with the morn:

And if I pray, the only prayer
   That moves my lips for me
Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear,
   And give me liberty!"

Yes, as my swift days near their goal:
   'Tis all that I implore;
In life and death a chainless soul,
   With courage to endure.

--------

It was a drizzly Sunday but nothing like the miserable weather we had last week. Adam worked at Hebrew school in the morning with my mother, so after lunch we went to retrieve him and both my parents and we all went on the Countryside Artisans tour -- part of it anyway since it'd be impossible to get to all the studios in one afternoon. We started as we usually do at Art of Fire, watched glassblowing for a while, then went to A Paca Fun Farm where we got to pet crias and see many alpacas plus admire the clothing and crafts, and we ended up at Dancing Leaf Farm and Sugarloaf Studio, where we fondled yarn and woolens, waved to the sheep, and looked at paintings and prints.


Sheep grazing in the distance at Dancing Leaf Farm...


...and the yarn and roving made from their wool.


We could see signs of autumn at A Paca Fun Farm...


...where the crias introduced themselves to us...


...and over a hundred alpacas were out enjoying the relatively dry weather.


Art of Fire seemed understaffed since the owners work at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in the fall.


One of the guys who was there demonstrated glassblowing for us...


...and we admired the vases and ornaments for sale.

My parents invited us over for pizza but Adam had studying to do so we told them to come to our house instead. By then the Ravens had blown their game to Green Bay and the Patriots were beating New Orleans, so that by the time we'd had dessert and my parents had left, we had had enough football to miss part of the Redskins-Cowboys game for Once Upon a Time (which was really good this week -- very little Henry and Mary-Margaret, lots of Regina and Mulan) and Masters of Sex (which is really good on every level, even when things happen that aggravate me it never feels exploitative). Now we can see that things are hopeless for the Redskins so I can go to bed!

No comments: