Poem for Friday and Meadowlark Gardens Lights

A Winter Blue Jay
By Sara Teasdale

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

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Thursday was quiet around here, mostly chores, trying to catch up on all the things I didn't do while spending all day Wednesday watching inauguration festivities, though I did waste a couple of hours looking at Bernie Mittens memes and making a couple because obviously there needed to be Les Miserables and The King's Speech scenes with Bernie trying to keep warm. We took a walk, saw a couple of woodpeckers and many squirrels but no bunnies, and Paul made faux salisbury steak for dinner. 

We spent the evening watching season two of Staged, which I enjoyed just as much as the first, which is to say enormously. There are even more celebrity cameos, including two that made me screech out loud. The wives have a discussion about how too many shows don't pass the Bechdel Test. There are lengthy swipes taken at Tennant's Gracepoint -- much of the plot of the season -- and someone actually calls Michael Sheen an angel. Here are some of the wild creatures from Meadowlark Gardens' Winter Walk of Lights: