Poem for Thursday and Miniature DC

Storage
By Mary Oliver

When I moved from one house to another
there were many things I had no room
for. What does one do? I rented a storage
space. And filled it. Years passed.
Occasionally I went there and looked in,
but nothing happened, not a single
twinge of the heart.

As I grew older the things I cared
about grew fewer, but were more
important. So one day I undid the lock
and called the trash man. He took
everything.

I felt like the little donkey when
his burden is finally lifted. Things!
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing — the reason they can fly.

-------- 

Other than a brief walk in the park in the late afternoon, my whole day consisted of hauling books up from the basement to the bookcases that formerly held our CDs (most of those are now in boxes in older son's room). The mitigation company was here early with blowers and dehumidifiers; they told us the entire carpet has to be torn up and replaced, which will mean removing every single thing in the basement that's not in the laundry room or bathroom, and 14/17 bookcases are trash, as well as everything else that was touching the floor from a guitar case to a TV stand. The downsizing timetable has sped up. 

In the evening we watched the Kennedy Center Honors, which I enjoyed. I love Gladys Knight, Amy Grant, and U2, and I knew Brandi Carlile, Ariana DeBose, Patti LaBelle, Garth Brooks and Sheryl Crow were performing (I did not know about Borat, but I enjoyed him, and Damon's roast of Clooney, though Cheadle should have been the honoree). Then we watched this week's National Treasure, which is total crack but so much fun and has so many callbacks to the movies, even casting, plus Willow which also had a great guest star! Here is the US Botanical Garden's annual display of DC sites in miniature: