Poem for Saturday and Family Stuff

Snowy Night
By Mary Oliver

Last night, an owl
in the blue dark
tossed
an indeterminate number
of carefully shaped sounds into
the world, in which,
a quarter of a mile away, I happened
to be standing.
I couldn’t tell
which one it was –
the barred or the great-horned
ship of the air –
it was that distant. But, anyway,
aren’t there moments
that are better than knowing something,
and sweeter? Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.
But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air. I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.

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I had a pretty quiet Friday while the men here worked -- scanning, sorting, filing, trying to catch up on things. We also finished watching Lovecraft Country with Daniel (I still think it deserved a second season). It was pretty chilly by the time we took a walk in the late afternoon, and we had dinner from CPK (which now has plant-based barbecue chicken pizza) with my parents after passing our covid tests. 

NatGeo Wild's Golden-Girl-and-Big-Cats special Betty White Goes Wild! is on Disney+, so we watched that, and now we're watching The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, which is not quite as hilarious as the first one but lets Salma Hayek kick a lot of ass and has some enjoyable guest stars, all playing over-the-top versions of what they're best known for, so it's very fun. Here are just a few family pics from the past couple of days: