Mo Farah; strolling; July’s poem

Here is stunning news concerning one of the world’s great athletes:

“Sir Mo Farah reveals he was trafficked into the UK using another child’s name.”

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Today’s weather was on the cool side. I did two strolls of forty-plus minutes: one with Daniel and Samuel, and one with Daniel, Samuel, and Karin.

Samuel now owns a pair of sunglasses that he wears during his strolls and car rides. When he wants to leave the house, he puts on his glasses and asks to head out to “the church” – his all-purpose term for the store, the park, etc.

Daniel’s head flops around too freely in the stroller. Today’s first stroll put him to sleep; he leaned forward, his head dangling over his chest. His little legs seem to have been sunburned.

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This month’s poem, by Kate Bush, is “Wow.”

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

We’re all alone on the stage tonight

We’ve been told we’re not afraid of you

We know all our lines so well, uh-huh

We’ve said them so many times

Time and time again

Line and line again

Ooh, yeah, you’re amazing

We think you’re incredible

You say we’re fantastic

But still we don’t head the bill

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!

When the actor reaches his death

You know it’s not for real: he just holds his breath

But he always dives too soon, too fast to save himself

He’ll never make the screen

He’ll never make the Sweeney

Be that movie queen

He’s too busy hitting the Vaseline

Ooh, yeah, you’re amazing

We think you are really cool

We’d give you a part, my love

But you’d have to play the fool

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!

We’re all alone on the stage tonight

We’re all alone

On the stage

Tonight

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I’ve had job interviews like this one.

Margie; Somaliland; Western Togoland; Uyuni

R.I.P. Margie, a kindly old woman who went to church with us. She was famous for sending greeting cards. Word has it, before she died she prepared several dozen Thanksgiving cards, and so we may hear from her one last time. We attended her funeral; Samuel was asleep when we arrived, but he soon woke up and had to be taken outside; he and I sat on the front steps and identified passing cars. “Sports car. Truck. S.U.V. Sedan. Truck. S.U.V. Police car.” This kept us busy until the last hymn.

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Here’s another fine video from the YouTube channel Un mundo inmenso. This one is about Somaliland, the self-governing northwestern region of Somalia.

I hadn’t known that Somaliland is so stable, or that other countries and the UN refuse to recognize it as an independent state because they’re wary of lending credibility to other secessionist movements.

(The situation may well be more complicated than this. Even so, the video is a good starting-point; also, it got me reading about another “unrepresented nation”: Western Togoland, which has eleven million people and the world’s friendliest flag.)

But Somaliland isn’t as beautiful as “Uyuni, the Most Incredible Landscape in the World”:

One time, with David, I was looking at pictures of Bolivia, and he was like, “I don’t understand why this isn’t everyone’s main interest in life.”