Sunday, June 21, 2020

Poem for Sunday and Cabin John Park

The Naming Of Cats
By T.S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
    It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
    Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
    All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
    Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
    But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
    A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
    Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
    Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
    Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
    And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
    But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
    The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
    Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
        His ineffable effable
        Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

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We watched Cats on Vudu (yes again, I really like it and I don't give a crap what anyone else thinks), then we remembered that Coco was on Disney+ and since we'd never seen it, we're watching that, so I shall be brief. It rained for more than half of the longest day of the year, which was all right with me because Pokemon Community Day started at 11 a.m. and since I have a Pokestop in my backyard, I could catch Weedles from my desk and the kitchen table while eating lunch and installing software for my new external DVD burner, free from Dell with Dell Rewards points.

When it cleared up, we took a walk at Cabin John Park, assuming the paths there would be drier than the local woods paths. Here are some photos of park mushrooms and animals, a solstice frog goddess, and the Swedish midsummer meal Paul made:

DSCN8169

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2020-06-20 17.02.40

2020-06-20 17.11.35

2020-06-20 17.19.40

2020-06-20 19.14.26

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