A quiet moment

The Wild Swans at Coole

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

-- W.B. Yeats



It's early. It's dark. But there's an eggnog latte. Yesterday was quite productive, but I've got just a few more things to finish up this morning before I rush off to set up the Red Ribbons show today. By the way, all the shows will have holiday stuff at them this week, with a bit of the fall flavors too, mingled in.

I'll also get some of the holiday products over to Collage this week too, whenever I can squeeze in a trip over, and it may not be until Sunday. Janice is going to transform the shop into a winter wonderland after closing on Halloween, with trees and lights and Christmas cheer. So we'll be completely set for holiday shopping until the end of the year. There is also a little open house evening scheduled for the evening of Friday, November 16, from 7 to 9:30 pm, with wine and discounts on everything in the store, if you're inclined to head over and check out all the new goodies. I'll do a reminder post about that in a couple of weeks, but just in case you wanted to plan ahead.

Today I promise not to eat junky crap, because it's not good for me. I'm trying to give up stress too - it's just little craft shows for pete's sake. Balance. Harmony. Oh, and I'm looking into cloning. Because if there were two of me, then one could be packing orders while the other me was making soap. Ok, no, that would be bad. It's just a few weeks of the year, and if I planned better, most of this could be avoided. So the world doesn't need yet another procrastinator that doesn't learn from her mistakes. Sucking it up, moving forward now. But there's still the dishes and laundry, the mammogram that needs to be scheduled, the oil change for the car . . .