T. E. Lawrence's Forward To The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom To S.A.

I loved you, so I drew these tides ofMen into my hands
And wrote my will across the
Sky and stars
To earn you freedom, the seven
Pillared worthy house,
That your eyes might be
Shining for me
When I came

Death seemed my servant on the
Road, 'til we were near
And saw you waiting:
When you smiled and in sorrowful
Envy he outran me
And took you apart:
Into his quietness

Love, the way-weary, groped to your body,
Our brief wage
Ours for the moment
Before Earth's soft hand explored your shape
And the blind
Worms grew fat upon
Your substance

Men prayed me that I set our work,
The inviolate house,
As a memory of you
But for fit monument I shattered it,
Unfinished: and now
The little things creep out to patch
Themselves hovels
In the marred shadow
Of your gift.

Decatur Junior High Auditorium

This is the outside of the back wall in the auditorium. Some strange memories came home when I walked around the corner and saw this, the first thing I thought of was when a bunch of kids were hanging out around the front of the pool house ( since torn down) and someone threw a rock through a window, one which you can see boarded over near the eagles beak. En masse' everybody there started throwing rocks through the windows! This building was not even nearly abandoned, it was used all the time for assemblies, plays and concerts. I don't know who started it or why but, basically everyone was engaged in this wanton, large scale vandalism. Kids of every different class and background, boys and girls were chunking rocks through those windows for all they were worth. Interestingly I don't remember if If I indulged or not though I think this may be one crime of which I was innocent. They were all replaced with plexiglass.

The library had a real, stuffed bald eagle in the storeroom. It was ratty looking but, I was spellbound by the thing when I saw it while helping a teacher move some boxes. Wonder where that thing is now?

Monday's Missives

The Family

• I know people sometimes mock Budweiser beer but I promise you it used to be very popular among Germans. They would trade you a six pack of super good German beer for a 6 pack of Budweiser anytime and were absolutely flattered if you thought of them and gave them a six pack of Bud.
• My buddy in Germany was always running side hustles. He sold American booze and smokes to Germans and European fake Rolex watches to Americans. His dad owned a timber company in Humboldt County California.
• Last weekend (today is 02/04/2018) I saw somebody I served with in the war in a restaurant. We didn't speak. He looked old and tired and in no mood to act interested in anybody or anything. I felt old and tired and mostly only in the mood for a nap.
• Although less true for my dad- for being poorly educated both my parents spoke unusually well and seemed to have very good vocabularies- I wonder why.
• Exceptions: dad mispronounced Italy as Ittly, battery as batt-tree and Italian as eye-talian.
• I remember when it wasn't at all uncommon for people to actually wear gloves when they drove. My dad only stopped after getting a car with power steering. Prior to that he kept both cold and warm weather gloves in the glove box. The warm weather ones were nice and he was proud of them.
• I accidentally stiffed a server at my breakfast place one day. The following weekend I gave her a kinda OK tip- about right for the 2 meals plus a small amount extra to male up for being rude the weekend before (it still only amounted to about 20% tip for each meal and 2 dollars or so extra). 
• She acted weird about it- making me feel uncomfortable and regret trying to be nice.
• I give up.