Poem for Monday and Maryland State Fair

An August Midnight
By Thomas Hardy

I

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter—winged, horned, and spined—
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While 'mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands...

II

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
—My guests besmear my new-penned line,
Or bang at the lamp and fall supine.
"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.

--------

We had to drop both kids off in College Park at different times on this gorgeous Sunday, so after taking Adam to his orientation kayaking trip -- a.k.a. "Turtle Camp" -- we got back in the car with Daniel and went to the Maryland State Fair. We've been on the fairgrounds for 4-H and train shows in other seasons, but we've never been to the fair, which I have to admit isn't as much fun for me as the county fair; there are more rides, but fewer animals, and I felt like the Chesapeake counties weren't represented well.

But the Maryland fairgrounds are adjacent to the Timonium Racetrack, which had racing all afternoon, so for the first time in my life, I saw a live race, something I am really ambivalent about -- I have really big issues with how the animals are treated, but I've always found it exciting to watch, and it was a real thrill to see the horses come into the turn with the ferris wheel in motion behind them. We also got to meet former Ravens Pro Bowl player Jamal Lewis and to watch a swimming pig and drink root beer floats.


A horse race at Timonium Racetrack, which is right next to the Maryland state fairgrounds and offers free admission on fair days.


Myself and my new goat friends.


A bacon cheeseburger served on donuts -- yay, fair health food! (No, none of us went near it except to take this photo!)


Swifty the Swimming Pig was a bit reluctant to get in the water but eventually performed.


There were also pig races, spurred on by volunteer pig cheerleaders.


So many ducklings!


And we met former Baltimore Ravens player, Pro Bowl-er and Super Bowl champion Jamal Lewis! Everyone at the fair was still celebrating the Ravens win over the Redskins the other night!

Since Daniel has his last full work of week coming up before he starts classes, we took him out to dinner at the Hard Times Cafe in College Park and dropped him off at his apartment where one of his roommates had just finished moving in. Then we came home and caught up on Outlander, which is quite enjoyable so far, and Masters of Sex, which we missed last week at the beach and I'm so glad we waited till the hour before the new one to watch because it was such a sad episode! I want to slap Michael Sheen, but he's great!