Some things on my mind recently:

1. Some gloom and doom about the future.
2. Good God, this song is gorgeous.
3. The women of this house are truly miraculous, each in their own way.
4. April may have been the cruellest month to TS Eliot; nevertheless, I find it beautiful. The dogwood in our front yard has reached the peak of its blooming. Azaleas in the flowerbed have popped open (red, mostly; some white) as if to give Winter the Finger as it disappears over the horizon.
5. I wish things were better in Baghdad.
6. In spite of a recent death, my family continues to raise money in hopes that, some day, ALS will be a fading memory.
7. Someday, we’ll all look back on this and laugh.
8. Lawn care is tough. I plan on having a beautiful (or, at least, somewhat less ugly) yard this year. The fact that I’m attempting this at all is noble, but rather silly (man vs. nature — who will win???). There’s only so much herbicide you can use (two broadcast applications a year!) and the weeds, they keep a-comin’ back. Bastards.
9. What if this is all just like 1929, all over again? Or, perhaps, America is like the band that kept playing on the Titanic even as the ship was doomed to founder.
10. The word for today is ameliorate. Where to begin? Anywhere is better than nowhere.

Finally, after all that, this:

!/sprocket/images/36.jpg (Isabella and Michelle, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, 2005.)!