Something Said

A single act of patience. Waiting for the fish to hit. When, exactly, is the moon full? Drum-roll, several spatters on the roof below, I have to laugh, what I thought you were watching, the moon is almost clear. Over my left-shoulder, waxing toward full. A triumph, beyond my mere imaging. Bi-lateral symmetry. A balance that's created when the second half exactly balances the first. Most leaves, for instance, almost anything you find naturally. Cleave a billet cleanly and the two sides look just the same; take an Exacto knife to the stem of any roadside plant, symmetry is the order of the day. "Last refuge of the simple-minded." Herbert used to say, yet he used forced symmetry, as a kind of bench-mark, toward the end. A list of things and things to do that I really need to get out of the way before the push that starts tomorrow. Land taxes are due, and I have to file for my agricultural exemption (I'm a tree farm), so a trip to the courthouse; need tobacco and papers; cream for my coffee and frog legs for dinner, with mashed potatoes. I stopped at the museum, to shave and wash my hair and I'm glad I did because it was chilly inside. I'd killed the boilers several days before (in February!) so I turned them back on, went to lunch, and came back to check them. It was down to 62 degrees, and we're supposed to keep the temp between 68 and 70, with humidity at 40 to 50%. Harder than it might seem, in an old, un-insulated, thick-walled, stone and brick structure. Nice lunch at the pub, stew and a draft, chatted with Astra and Justin. Justin wants to come out to the house and take some cooking lessons, which sounds like fun; he's a droll guy, and sharp, fast on the uptake, and I suspect he's a stoner. Clouds moving in just as the moon was set to rise. Damn. But she was beautiful last night, take it when you can. I'm a failed astronomer, among a great many failed things. I won't bother you with a list, it's appalling. I've failed at significantly more things than I've succeeded at. That's badly said. 'I fail more often that not' might be better, at least there's not that repetition of 'at', but sometimes repetition is fine, meaning is the point, but what is meaning, exactly?