By Frank W. Harvey
From troubles of the world I turn to ducks,
Beautiful comical things
Sleeping or curled
Their heads beneath white wings
By water cool,
Or finding curious things
To eat in various mucks
Beneath the pool,
Tails uppermost, or waddling
Sailor-like on the shores
Of ponds, or paddling
- Left! Right! - with fanlike feet
Which are for steady oars
When they (white galleys) float
Each bird a boat
Rippling at will the sweet
Wide waterway…
When night is fallen you creep
Upstairs, but drakes and dillies
Nest with pale water-stars.
Moonbeams and shadow bars,
And water-lilies.
--------
Wednesday was another gorgeous day. I only got to talk to one of my high school friends this morning -- one's at the beach, another was visiting a relative -- but it was the one who's now family, so it was nice to catch up. After lunch, Kristen and I watched the second half of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which remains way too long and much too devoid of decent character moments especially in the second half.
We walked to the beach and saw growing ducklings, watched the Orioles get shut out, then put on The Bad Batch with Cheryl. After she went to bed, we went on the dock and saw adorable local otters! Then we came back for the season premiere of The Bear, which remains intense and unhappy and moving, and the new episode of The Buccaneers. Some of the Arctic, African, and Asian animals at Point Defiance Zoo:
