This evening I managed to get out and nab another fifteen dollar pair of pants, and some cheap (four dollars each) but nicely stitched shirts (still smelling of what I suspect to be the scent of eight-year-old Nicaraguan seamstresses), plus a nice pullover sweater for eight bucks. Yes, it's K-mart clearance sale time again! That's one more year I won't have to go around naked. Thanks, K-mart!
The thin clouds which lingered about today failed to prevent the temperature from topping seventy degrees. In the lower part of town, dogwoods have already begun to bloom. There were still a couple of piles of (by now incredibly dirty) snow in K-mart's parking lot, scraped up a mere three days ago. The streams remain loud with runoff, and the frogs are croaking again, apparently none the worse for their time under the snow. I won't try to predict what will happen next. There's supposed to be more rain in a few days, but the year is being so strange I wouldn't be surprised by either persistently sunny sky or another snowstorm. At least I've got another sweater now.
Sunday Verse
Taking Leave of a Friend
by Li Po
Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each other
as we are departing.
