April 11, 2019

At the Snow Grass Café...

fullsizeoutput_2efd

... enjoy the chatter.

89 comments:

Achilles said...

On 9/11 "some people did something."

Never forget just how degenerate the democrat party has become.

StephenFearby said...

In other important and useful news of the day...

Hands-free snacking hack uses an electric fan and a spoonful of Nutella

https://nypost.com/video/hands-free-snacking-hack-uses-an-electric-fan-and-a-spoonful-of-nutella/


Strongly evoking the incredibly great:

Halo Top - Eat the Ice Cream



https://youtu.be/j4IFNKYmLa8

Tommy Duncan said...

You are lucky. There is no grass in sight here (SE Minnesota). At least the snow plow came through this afternoon.

Scott Patton said...

Respect the national bread. Don't leave it to rodents!

MadBohemian said...

Another six plus inches by the cottage. Maybe we’ll be able to finally use it in June. :(

narciso said...

The new boss in the Sudan

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article56160

narciso said...

Its not a game:

https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2019/04/11/what-life-is-like-in-a-paralyzed-country/

Virgil Hilts said...

So the Avenatti stuff is surreal. Prosecutors say he didn't file personal income tax returns in 2014,15,16,17. OK. Think of just that fact alone. The guy's obviously mentally deranged. Yes, he's a creep, but he's deranged if not insane. NO rational person could believe they could get away with what he did. He finished #1 in his class at GW law, made a fortune and had mental acuity, but at some point a few years back he must have gone partially insane. Not more than 9 months ago he was seriously being touted as presidential candidate. One of most bizarre stories in last 20 years. At some point a flip switched in his brain. I suspect drugs must have been a big factor in all this. Fascinating and kind of sad (except for how it makes CNN look).

Michael K said...

Speaking of TDS, the Boston Globe showed us all what a classy operation they are.


The article, titled “Keep Kirstjen Nielsen unemployed and eating Grubhub over her kitchen sink,” was written by Luke O’Neil, a former waiter and occasional writer for the Globe. The article now has an editor’s note at the top and has been stealth edited for “tone.” The article originally began:

One of the biggest regrets of my life is not pissing in Bill Kristol’s salmon. I was waiting on the disgraced neoconservative pundit and chief Iraq War cheerleader about 10 years ago at a restaurant in Cambridge and to my eternal dismay, some combination of professionalism and pusillanimity prevented me from appropriately seasoning his entrée. A ramekin of blood on the side might have been the better option, come to think of it, he always did seem really thirsty for the stuff.


Waiters are writing their op-eds now. If you can't learn to code, the service industry is always available.

stevew said...

Down and back to Charlotte today. I can report that the locals are enjoying full on spring - no snow recently or in the forecast. It was 25 degrees here when I rose this morning, 80 degrees in Charlotte while I was there, and 40 degrees when I landed back home tonight. No lie: I was uncomfortable in the higher temps. The green and the flowers were nice.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Emerita: Perhaps, I hope, the last snow for you this year. The grass will not be harmed by it, of course.

If you used a view camera, or a DSLR with a tilt lens, you could get all of the grass into perfect focus by simply laying the focal plane down on it with a little bit of back tilt, or forward tilt of the lens.

It's almost like magic, and quite addictive, once you get the hang of it, opening many possibilities in landscape work.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Virgil Hilts,

Regarding your observations, it is a remarkable bit of Karma that both sleezebag attorneys on each side of the Stormy Daniels NDA - Cohen & Avennati - will each be doing time in Club Fed, while Stormy and Trump emerge mostly unscathed.

Yes, Karma, I say!



Jaq said...

No sign of ice out here, but the snow is reduced to little remnants here and there. A few flakes last night as I was driving in.

I spent four days driving and I did the fast food diet the whole time, Sausage McMuffin for breakfast, 400 calories and $1.07 including tax. Half a tuna sub from Subway for lunch, about 600 calories, and a Quarter Pounder for dinner, twice with a small fries. 700 calories, roughly. Lost two solid pounds in the four days. If I could eat like this for a couple of months, I could be near my college weight.

On the way up, I visited the fresh grave of my brother with a bottle of bourbon, poured some on his grave and my dad’s nearby grave, and took a swig. It’s amazing how little rituals like that can bring on the emotions. After I composed myself, I headed over to grandpa’s grave, but he was a tee-totaller, and being next to grandma, born in 1880, she was likely all for Prohibition, when it was an issue, based on Dad’s stories, I barely remember her, so I had to make sure she wasn’t looking before pouring the whiskey in the first place on dad’s grave. Next I walked up to the foot of the hill and my great grandpa’s grave. He served in the Civil War, which I know Meade called bullshit on once, so I double checked all of the dates to make sure I hadn’t missed a generation, but no, Gramps was born 12 years after the Civil War had ended, and died before I was born, and Great Grandpa had a little marker by his grave, G.A.R. 1863 - 1865, but the dates were worn away on his stone. Being a veteran of such an awful war, I figured that he wouldn’t object to a pour of whiskey, so I offered him a libation as well along with his twin brother, who lays in the next plot, also a veteran of that war. Had another slug, and left that little village churchyard. I guess I should buy a plot there.

ngtrains said...

I'm beginning to think here is little reason to be a citizen of the US. Really, what advantages do we have?

You can drive, buy a house, vote (well not everywhere). It seems there just is not that much gained.

narciso said...

What is really going on:

https://www.influencewatch.org/person/emma-lozano/

Richard Dillman said...

Blizzing all day in Central, Minnesota. Will snow steadily till about 8 p.m. on Friday. Good day to read and write. I 94 is closed in our area, all schools closed including universites. Twins game is cancelled, probably tomorrow, too. April is the cruelest month. A final thought on Whitman. I can’ t recall a single Whitman poem that is concerned with winter. He didn’t seem to understand the winter mode or winter
imagery. Mostly sunny in “Leaves of Grass,” except for Civil War poems.

Winter appears in Dickinson’s poetry; is featured in Thoreau’s essays, in essays like “A Winter Walk” or “The Pond in Winter.”

My favorite winter poem is “ Snowbound” by Whittier, which my 8th grade English teacher made us read, recite, and memorize in sections.

narciso said...

Here's an interesting bit:

https://aleteia.org/2019/03/20/jim-caviezel-gave-what-may-be-the-greatest-catholic-address-of-the-21st-century/

Fen said...

Boston Globe: "you have my permission, as an official member of the mainstream media to piss in their food"


If a restaurant employee tweeted this, they would get fired.

But "official members of the mainstream media" are held to a lower standard.

Remember their call to shove conservatives through plate glass windows?

Completely unrelated: My gas pedals has been sticking lately, I need to get it checked.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

So the Avenatti stuff is surreal. Prosecutors say he didn't file personal income tax returns in 2014,15,16,17. OK. Think of just that fact alone.

It's the Boffo strategy!

Jaq said...

Funny how the Europeans like to call Britain “America’s Poodle” when what really pisses the Europeans off is that Britain is not their poodle. Not sure the Germans, and even the French have ever gotten over the Battle of Britain and Waterloo.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Achilles@8:15PM My mother once asked me why I voted for republican politicians. I said that I could not abide by the antiAmericanism of the democrat party. That was 10 or 15 years ago, and it is so much worse today that I think if my mother were still alive, devout FDR Democrat though she was, even she would see it.

One problem is that Democrat party members are so brainwashed to reflexively despise Republicans, that even though they know the democrat is a racist or rapist, that's still preferable to voting for a republican. That's how deranged and brainwashed Democrat party members are. The only sin worse than white racism or #MeToo crimes is being a republican.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

May sure seems to be Europe's poodle. I still can't believe she didn't have more pride than to crawl back for one more extension from her masters and beg for another bone.

mockturtle said...

No snow here. It's already been in the 90's but only 80's now.

Jaq said...

Blog commenters’ night shift - xkcd.com

narciso said...

Shes the wettest of Tories even more than haseltine:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Kathryn51 said...

nobody said. . .

On the way up, I visited the fresh grave of my brother with a bottle of bourbon. . . . . .

Thanks for sharing - internet high point of the day, for me.

My real life high point of the day was visit to a local "couture" shop to discuss how we might be able to create my daughter's wedding veil (wedding this summer) by using wax flowers from the headpiece used in my mother's and MY wedding headpiece. The wax flowers are 70+ years old - I hope they last for my future granddaughters.

Family is 75% of life. Or, maybe 90%. The rest is chaff.

Again, thanks for the heartwarming peek into your life today nobody.

narciso said...

I guess it's a metaphor

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/11/sacred-stone-steps-associated-christs-crucifixion-uncovered/

narciso said...

Science fact or fiction:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1113063/laser-cannons-laser-warfare-us-air-force-world-war-3

Lucien said...

@Fen:

Thanks for thing this up,but: That’s why they’re called main-stream!

walter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

People do things on planes.
-bringing too much carry-on luggage
-claiming useless animals as support
-stealing your arm rest
-wanting to talk too much
-not being willing to talk at all in response
-employing box cutters when no boxes need to be opened
-lighting shoes on fire that are perfectly usable for walking
-invoking imaginined pilot privileges
-incessantly getting up to occupy the bathroom

I once sat next to a crazy barefoot jazz musician who drank and spilled much wine, bought a perfume sampler and applied a bit from each bottle..and told me he could set me up up with 2 hoochies from Oakland if/when I visited him.
Was Omar talking about that?

Michael K said...

Had another slug, and left that little village churchyard. I guess I should buy a plot there.

I'm going back to Chicago in late May, driving, and we always visit graves, including some Civil war graves, This year I might go to Memphis and spend some time looking for my great, great uncle's grave.

He was wounded on May 22, 1863 in Grant's last charge, which he later regretted, After that he began a siege that ended July 4,My GG uncle did not think his wound was that bad but they could not ship wounded past Vicksburg except at night, He was in Gayoso hospital in Memphis when he died on June 2, The dead were buried in wooden coffins with the name written on a slip of paper on the coffin,. It rained that day and the ink washed off. So the dead from that day were buried as unknowns. I know his unit and the day he died so I'm hoping we could find his grave,. His wife never could.

Michael K said...

His wife wrote pretty good poetry.

My Husband’s Grave


I’ve shed no tear, I’ve breathed no sigh
Where my husband takes his rest
I’ve never knelt upon the sod
That lies above his breast

He sleeps afar from his lovely home
In a stranger grave alone
And they who say that lowly mound
Repeat the word “Unknown “

Unknown to them his children’s love
That centered all in him
Unknown to them my ceaseless love
Not death itself can dim

Oh could I but have closed his eyes
Received his parting breath
And heard him speak on sad good-bye
Before he slept in death

Danno said...

Blogger Richard Dillman said...Blizzing all day in Central, Minnesota. Will snow steadily till about 8 p.m. on Friday. Good day to read and write. I 94 is closed in our area, all schools closed including universites. Twins game is cancelled, probably tomorrow, too. April is the cruelest month.

When I saw that storm appearing on the forecast, I hurried up my plan to bailout of St. Paul and go back down to the Florida panhandle and avoid this storm. I vividly remember last April and the foot of snow that came on tax day. Left first thing Tuesday morning and went straight south to get ahead of any rain to hit Iowa, Illinois, Missouri or Kentucky. Got in late last night and was rewarded today with high 70s and not a cloud in the sky.

StephenFearby said...

Washington Examiner
April 11, 2019 10:50 PM

Revealed: Two decades before college admissions scandal, the Clintons tried to game the system for Chelsea's boyfriend
by Alana Goodman

'Bill and Hillary Clinton tried to bully a prestigious scholarship program into selecting Chelsea Clinton’s then-boyfriend and then sought "payback" when they were resisted, according to a former top foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama.'

'...Trina Vargo, a veteran U.S. adviser on Ireland, founded the George J. Mitchell Scholarship in 2000. It was named after the former senator who brokered the talks that led to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Vargo said that Bill Clinton intervened in the first year of the scholarship, when [Jeremy] Kane, whose 3.19 grade-point average [at Stanford University] was much weaker than those of the top candidates, had failed to make the final selection round.

President Clinton, who was in his last weeks in the White House, called Mitchell to express his displeasure, according to Vargo in her new book Shenanigans: The U.S.-Ireland Relationship in Uncertain Times. He had submitted a letter of recommendation for Kane, who had already landed an internship in the Clinton White House during his relationship with Chelsea.

Kane worked in the White House speechwriting office from June to September 2000, arriving some 18 months after Clinton had been impeached over this affair with another White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

Vargo told the Washington Examiner that the timing of Clinton’s call, which came while the program was choosing its 12 scholarship awardees from a group of 20 finalists, was a blatant attempt to game the selection process. “There’s no way to see that as anything other than an attempt to influence a situation that hadn’t been finalized yet,” she said.

“In light of the college admissions scandal, I don’t think it’s very unusual for people who have money or influence to use what means they have, whether it’s for their children or friends."'

'...Bill Clinton abruptly pulled out of a speech to Vargo's organization in Belfast in April 2008, blaming a scheduling conflict and leaving her with a nonrefundable deposit for a block of hotel rooms. "I immediately suspected this was payback for the fact that Sen. Clinton's overreach on her role in the peace process had been called out," Vargo wrote.

Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department cut the Mitchell Scholarship’s $500,000 annual budget.

Vargo wrote: “In 2011, Mary Lou Hartman, former director of the Mitchell Scholarship program, bumped into [Clinton adviser Melanne] Verveer, who made clear that I was persona non grata ... Just months later, the State Department informed us they were totally eliminating all funding for the Mitchell Scholarship program in the next State Department budget.”'

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/revealed-two-decades-before-college-admissions-scandal-the-clintons-tried-to-game-the-system-for-chelseas-boyfriend

buwaya said...

I have been in the Los Angeles area this week.
Regarding certain events in Earth orbit today, I couldn't possibly comment.

narciso said...

Well space x succeeded but the Israeli probe went the way of pioneer 1 and Luna 1

mccullough said...

I don’t blame Avenatti for not paying taxes. Why should he pay for the healthcare and education of people here illegally?

Why should any of us?

A country without borders isn’t a country. I’d acquit him if I were on the jury.

I’d also acquit the Hollywood moms who bought their kids admissions to college. Fuck it,

Either the law applies equally to everyone or it applies to no one.

Illegal aliens dont have to follow the law. So US citizens don’t either.

chickelit said...

Will the grass actually be any worse? It's like rainfall delayed. The snow will melt not far from where it landed.

Asking Meade.

AllenS said...

We had rain/snow/sleet here today with very strong NE winds. There is a brown/reddish color on top of the snow. I think it's dirt from far far away.

Roughcoat said...

My great grandfather and four great uncles all born in Ireland fought for the Union in the Civil War. They joined volunteer regiments in Decatur Illinois at the outbreak of the war. Great grandfather Burke was a cavalryman. He was 16 when he enlisted, an Ulster Catholic who was spoke English as a second language after Gaelic. He was grievously as was one of the four great uncles. The others were killed in action, two at Chickamauga. They were buried in unmarked graves known but to God. I have photographs of them taken in their brand new uniforms, holding tall rifles at their side, handsome young Irish boys, baptized in blood as Americans, staring at the camera with serious but proud expressions.

walter said...

Damn weather "weirding", as always..

Yancey Ward said...

Felt like Summer today in Oak Ridge- warm and humid over 85 degrees. Only the constant wind told me it was Spring- in the Summer here, you only get wind during thunderstorms. Use the AC for the first time since the second week of October.

Yancey Ward said...

On Avanetti:

I had a good friend who got caught up with years and years of unfiled tax returns. He had a good job, and likely would have had actual tax refunds from what I observed of his life, or at least I would have expected tax refunds with his job, salary, and home situation. When the shit hit the fan he got threatening notices from the IRS, I did ask him what happened, and he told me that he was late getting the return finished one year, filed for an extension, missed the new date in August, and was afraid to file the return the next year. It just snowballed on him. I didn't quite know what to tell him- I offered to help him fill out all the previous years' returns, but he declined. I don't really know how it ended up with him- he didn't go to jail, so he must have finally fixed things....I think.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Unknown to them his children’s love
That centered all in him
Unknown to them my ceaseless love
Not death itself can dim


Wonderful sentiment.

I would like to add a contribution in kind. Perhaps you will appreciate it as much as we do.

Leonard Cohen - Dance Me to the End of Love

Good night.

chickelit said...

When that did not work, they prised Julian Assange from asylum, brought him to SDNY, and deposed him in hopes of getting him to "flip" on Trump.

chickelit said...

Can't we all see the naked conflict? It's Trump vs. the Deep State.

narciso said...

In broad strokes that's it essentially.

narciso said...

Thata what they tried to do with firtash the Ukrainian oligarch who tried to bribe some folks in mumbai.

walter said...

The climate is very well controlled chez Albert Gore/crazed sex poodle.

Ralph L said...

I hope the humidity doesn't start as early as it did last year. All of May was miserable, and it doesn't usually get bad until June.

He served in the Civil War, which I know Meade called bullshit on once
That's not too unusual. I'm only 58, and Mom's grandfather was 16 when the War ended, and several of his older brothers were Confederate officers (he was the 7th son of a 7th son). Their grandfather was a captain in the NC cavalry by 1781, after being wounded and left for dead in 1778.

Bay Area Guy said...

I have written talking points for any Democrat lawyer to use for any cable news show interview.

Are you ready? The secret is one word declarations ad seriatum without reasoned argument. Here goes:

Emoluments!

Tax returns!!!

Papadopoulos!!!!

Manafort!!

Charlottesville!!

Muslim Ban! (That's 2)

You just kinda shout 'em out to prove your point that the Orange Man is bad.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Can't we all see the naked conflict? It's Trump vs. the Deep State.

I like Trump, but don't wanna think about him naked. Ever.

Crazy World said...

8:56 Virgil Hilts
Agree! I can’t not read about this creep and am embarrassed he once lived in my old stomping grounds. Definitely seems like a combination of drugs and getting sucked into the illusion of high roller/delusion.

rehajm said...

Kim Strassel is not admired by the Clinton Deep State at the moment.

Crazy World said...

Nobody - thanks for sharing that wonderful story.

BudBrown said...

Prof has been in the zone for a while. Nothing but net.

tim maguire said...

Yancey Ward said...
Felt like Summer today in Oak Ridge- warm and humid over 85 degrees.


Here, in Toronto, it snowed yesterday.

Quaestor said...

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D., N.M.) said: I think that anytime that there is a call or something that was said pointing to a terrorist attack that killed thousands of people across the country, that's wrong. I think that it is important to recognize that and apologize, but again I also agree with what Ilhan stated, which I said earlier, which is condemning the notion of death threats. No one should be extending death threats to no one.

Does the double negative imply stupidity or duplicity? On the matter of death threats, does Ben Ray believe the incestuous Ms. Ilhna should burn her Quoran?

Narayanan said...

When the shit hit the fan he got threatening notices from the IRS.

Preludes to process crimes charges and assets forfeitures.

rhhardin said...

The black hole picture was produced by a girl, says the news. Instant reactions

1. I wonder if she's a lesbian. Something must sustain her interest in science to male levels.

2. They need a girl in science story.

RBE said...

Nobody, Roughcoat, Michaelk and RalphL...thank you.

rhhardin said...

Long baseline interferometry is pretty old. I wonder what was new.

exhelodrvr1 said...

rhhardin,
"They need a girl in science story"

They need a girl-on-girl science story!!

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Have to say that I am not a fan of the whole "Brooks Koepka has a chip on his shoulder, nobody likes him" schtick that the media keeps shoving in our faces.

Jaq said...

Long baseline interferometry is pretty old. I wonder what was new

Data processing.

https://motls.blogspot.com/2019/04/black-hole-picture-is-mainly-triumph-of.html

AllenS said...

St Paul (MN) Press --

More than a few Minnesotans have noticed that the snow blanketing the region has a not-so-white tint to it.

Blame the strong winds and Texas, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency’s Chanhassen office noted on social media Thursday morning that the tan or orange tint to the snow that people were noticing is likely due to dust blown all the way from west Texas by high winds. Wind gusts with the storm hit more than 50 mph.


Texas? I never would have guessed.

rehajm said...

the tan or orange tint to the snow that people were noticing is likely due to dust blown all the way from west Texas by high winds

snirt.

ceowens said...

For years there has been a "Shift Run" for ATVs in Lewis County, upstate NY.

Mr. Forward said...

“Minnesotans...not so white tint...”

Mission Accomplished.

ceowens said...

"Snirt Run"

daskol said...

Morning Joe: they're all sitting around flabbergasted at the "spying" language. How can it be spying? They had a FISA warrant! It was approved multiple times! It was signed off by people like Boente and Rosenstein, people who work for Barr today!

Uh, all they are doing is laying out the scope of the perfidy. They think they're calling into question the allegation, but they're fleshing out the different ways in which "spying" taints high officials across multiple agencies and two administrations. This is a slow motion train wreck: they are still blinded by their hatred, and they are all helping Trump even as they think they are playing the stolid opposition.

daskol said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daskol said...

Wow, are they scared of Barr. That attempted hit job on Biden is warm and fuzzy by comparison to the coordinated attack on Barr. This is a good article from Strassel at WSJ.

Professional lady said...

Thanks for sharing that beautiful heartfelt poem Michael K. My Dad who is 96 and a WWII veteran remembers seeing Civil War veterans in patriotic parades when he was a boy. He saw the scene in "Gettysburg" where mass absolution was given to the Irish regiments before going into battle. He commented that near the end of WWII when the POWs in his prison camp in Germany were ordered to march east, a similar mass absolution was given by a POW chaplain to all the prisoners. He said everyone participated, whether or not Catholic.

Quaestor said...

Wow, are they scared of Barr.

Is that available outside the WSJ paywall?

daskol said...

appears not, however there is a long quote from the article on Instapundit this morning.

rhhardin said...

It was all pundit-talk, paid by the word. Nobody gets to the point anymore.

Ann Althouse said...

@nobody

Nice.

narciso said...

Luhan also hired the awan bros 'who were guilty as sin, but free as a bird'

narciso said...

Hes not that sharp:

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnekdahl/status/1116472962079756288?s=21

Nichevo said...


rhhardin said...
The black hole picture was produced by a girl, says the news. Instant reactions

1. I wonder if she's a lesbian. Something must sustain her interest in science to male levels.

No, she's too nice. And she accomplished something. She's a mite homely or perhaps the word is plain, so maybe she went into science to snare a mork like you. SMV=0, meet SMV=0.

Fernandinande said...

A maudlin bunch here, eh?

Michael said...

Getting dangerously late on this thread, I suspect -- but with Civil War soldiers and their graves, plus John Greenleaf Whittier all mentioned above, here is the link to Whittier's wonderful Barbara Freitchie poem. Barbara is still remembered in Maryland and just a few weeks ago, Laurel Racetrack ran their annual Barbara Fritchie Stakes, a high-quality stakes race for $250,000 purse to keep the memory alive.

Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple- and peach-tree fruited deep,

Fair as a garden of the Lord
To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall
When Lee marched over the mountain wall,—


https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45483/barbara-frietchie

Michael said...

Over the mountains winding down,
Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;

In her attic window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet.

Up the street came the rebel tread,
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

Under his slouched hat left and right
He glanced: the old flag met his sight.

“Halt!”— the dust-brown ranks stood fast.
“Fire!”— out blazed the rifle-blast.

It shivered the window, pane and sash;
It rent the banner with seam and gash.

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff
Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;

She leaned far out on the window-sill,
And shook it forth with a royal will.

“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country’s flag,” she said.

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came;

The nobler nature within him stirred
To life at that woman’s deed and word:

“Who touches a hair of yon gray head
Dies like a dog! March on!” he said.

All day long through Frederick street
Sounded the tread of marching feet:

All day long that free flag tost
Over the heads of the rebel host.

Ever its torn folds rose and fell
On the loyal winds that loved it well;

And through the hill-gaps sunset light
Shone over it with a warm good-night.

Barbara Frietchie’s work is o’er,
And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

Honor to her! and let a tear
Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall’s bier.

Over Barbara Frietchie’s grave
Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!

Peace and order and beauty draw
Round thy symbol of light and law;

And ever the stars above look down
On thy stars below in Frederick town!




https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45483/barbara-frietchie

Jaq said...

Thank you everybody for the kind words, as everybody knows, losing a brother is hard. It wasn’t intended as a Civil War trip, but the route took me up US 15 past Manassas, and Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Frederick, Gettysburg, then north to the little Pennsylvania village where so many of my ancestors are buried, along with dear relatives I remember as a child, my dad, and now my brother.

Jaq said...

Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple- and peach-tree fruited deep,


If you are in the neighborhood of Frederick, MD in the autumn, I highly, highly recommend you stop at a roadside stand and buy some peaches. You won’t regret it.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Michael K @10:15 PM: Wow. That is powerful writing. I hope you have encouraged your children to remember it.

Nobody @9:19 PM: Thank you for sharing this. Sad, but you are fortunate in knowing where such remote ancestors of yours are buried. My family was a bit too enthusiastic about forgetting their past, and never thought it was important to tell the kids anything. Aside from my parents, I have know idea where any of them are, or even which county of Ireland they came from. Nor do any other living relatives of mine know.

One thing I hope to do some day is to walk some of the battlefields of the Civil War, alone.

The Civil War is our creation myth, in a way, but it is so ineffably sad. I read history, and war, all the time, but reading about that war always breaks my heart.

Strange.