Sunday, September 18, 2016

Poem for Sunday, Gulf Branch Park, Mount Vernon Colonial Fair

For Frances Alexander (Acrostic)
By George Washington

From your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone;
Rays, you have, more transparent than the sun,
Amidst its glory in the rising Day,
None can you equal in your bright array;
Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
So knowing, seldom one so Young, you'l Find
Ah! woe's me that I should Love and conceal,
Long have I wish'd, but never dare reveal,
Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
Xerxes that great, was't free from Cupids Dart,
And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.

--------

Happy Sunday! I spent most of mine in Virginia, where, after dropping Maddy off at work, we went briefly to Gulf Branch Park, where we visited the nature center and blacksmith. Then we picked up Alice and Avery and went to Mount Vernon, where we had lunch, went to the colonial fair, saw some of the animals, and enjoyed the weather walking by the river.


A selfie with Alice, Avery, and Martha Washington in the Mount Vernon visitor center.


We saw festival musicians...


...chocolate-making, a regular even at Mount Vernon in many seasons...


...and the fire-breather, who also hammered a nail into his nose, put his son on a bed of nails and things like that.


Here are myself and Alice with the mansion behind us (we didn't take the tour but we did meet Martha Washington on the porch, and saw her husband speaking at the fair).


We visited the historic smithy at Mount Vernon and also the one at Gulf Branch Park.


Our kids used to play in the Native American replica canoe in Gulf Branch Nature Center.

Tonight after dinner we've been watching the Terps' overtime win over UCF! We're also trying to find out exactly what went on in Chelsea in New York and figure out our itinerary for next week, which hopefully will be better than this week in terms of Trump yet again suggesting violence against Clinton and people I know online being equally scary (on the left and right)!

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