Poem for Friday and Train Garden

Adlestrop
By Edward Thomas

Yes, I remember Adlestrop –
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop – only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

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Everything was closed Thursday morning in anticipation of an ice storm, but we didn't get ice here, just all day cold rain. I spent all day doing chores while watching the second half of Harry & Meghan, some of which is shamelessly self-serving but the conversations about racism, unconscious bias, and privilege are relevant to Americans as well as Brits and there's not a negative word about Camilla or Kate despite all the ranting that they would bring down the royals -- it's Harry's issues with his father and brother and Meghan's with her father and sister, exacerbated and exploited by the press who are the unquestioned villains of the series. 

In the evening I finished sorting and uploading my scanned cards while watching the Ghostmas episode of Ghosts, which was okay for a holiday episode -- despite Trevor being Jewish and mentioning Chanukah several times, it was all the tired "Christmas is for everyone, including pagan Thor" stuff, though Isaac got a nice storyline. Then I chatted with most of my usual Thursday night friends and afterward saw the end of Thursday Night Football, during which the 49ers trounced the Seahawks. Here are some photos of the large Holiday Train Garden at the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department, which has everything from a menorah to mini cows: