Yesterday I wrote of the war poet Wilfred Owen and his famous poem "Dulce et Decorum Est." I neglected to write that Owen was killed in action just prior to the war's end and that his parents received this news on Armistice Day. I cannot think of a better example of cosmic irony than that: being killed serving in a war he opposed.
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This morning I drove across the old Memorial Bridge to cross the Missouri River but will never have that opportunity again. As of 11:00 this morning the bridge was closed to traffic which will be re-routed over the new span starting at 4:00 this afternoon. The old bridge served its purpose for a long time. Prior to its construction a ferry connected the two cities of Mandan and Bismarck, and only four cars at one time could be carried across, not counting assorted horse-drawn vehicles. I think the old bridge was built sometime in the early 1920's.
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A savage thunderstorm with strong winds woke me last night around 1:00. It takes a lot to waken me, but this one got my attention. Light-sleepin' Mary sat bolt-upright in bed saying, "What was that noise?" She only had to wait twenty seconds for an answer when another clap of thunder cracked. Then the wind came up and all hell broke loose for about half an hour.
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I just finished mashing up a batch of strawberries as per Mary's orders. She defers those kinds of jobs to me 'cuz she says her arthritis bothers. Whatever --- I just love that strawberry jam. It will taste so good!
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I ran across a Garrison Keillor column on yesterday's Salon.com. I love his humor and his way of expressing himself. Among topics he wrote about was being tired from doing chores around his place. But, he said, as long as his mother stays alive, he is still young. She is 94, a "tall tree shading him from mortality." Whenever he wants to feel youthful again he visits his mother and sees his high school graduation picture hanging on her wall. He thinks it's no surprise John McCain likes to show off his 96 year old mother. The problem, though, he says, is that she acts a lot perkier than he. We've got tickets for Keillor's Prairie Home Companion show soon to be in Bismarck. The last time we attended his show was at UND and sat in the upper tier of the Fritz Theater. This time I bought tickets for the main floor, fourth row from the front.
