Chrysanthemums
By Tao Yuanming
Translated by William Acker
I built my house near where others dwell.
And yet there is no clamor of carriages and horses
You ask of me “How can this be so?”
“When the heart is far the place of itself is distant
I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
And gaze afar towards the southern mountains
The mountain air is fine at evening of the day,
And flying birds return together homewards
Within these things there is a hint of Truth,
But when I start to tell it,
I cannot find the words.
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I had a fairly quiet Wednesday morning doing chores, then I talked to 2/3 of my good high school friends after lunch -- the pediatrician was called in to work -- and got distracted for a lot of the afternoon by FamilySearch, the Mormon-owned ancestry site that offers for free many of the records for which people have to pay on Ancestry. There was a lot of information about Paul's maternal relatives, who all belong to one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania, but the real find was my grandparents' marriage records, which cost money to see everywhere else!
It was quite cool today and the leaves are starting to pop, plus we had a nice overcast twilight while I was Pokemon raiding after our walk. The Phillies game ran late, and I know I swore never again, but I watched The Masked Singer because Andrew Lloyd Webber was judging and they did only his songs (very enjoyable). Not only were we off schedule for Kung Fu, but apparently Verizon and the CW are in a contract dispute so we couldn't even see it here, so we watched LEGO Masters instead! Here are some of the chrysanthemum displays from Brookside Gardens:
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