Storms

Big storm yesterday afternoon, but it dried out enough that I could get home; and, of course, the power was out. Came in this morning before the next line of storms moved in. Stopped at the traffic light where I go over the Second Street bridge, where it goes over the Scioto. It can be a long light, but I never mind, gives me a chance to roll a smoke. Looking over at the embankment, I noticed a plant I hadn't seen in a long time and I had forgotten its name. I've learned to stop thinking, at moments like that, and the word came to me, Teasel, with those very hard and spiky seed pods that were actually used once to card wool. I was Saturday Staff at the museum, TR at the desk. Read some interesting essays in another book about mid-western watercolors. Looked up Lichtenberg Figures, which are the fractal patterns that occasionally result when lightening strikes certain surfaces, like human beings. Thought about that for a while. Looked at some images of some work Maya Lin did, I think in the nineties. Stained the cracks in broken sheets of glass. They look like, as she calls them, Geography Lessons. I was sucked right into them, because I look at maps a lot. Contour maps, geodetic survey maps, maps drawn on the back of envelopes. Imagined maps that might lead to the promised land. Didn't want to go any further down that path. I searched the food network and found a show, Julia and Jacques, doing a "Cooking At Home" show that featured sausage and country pate. Charcuterie. How could I not watch that?