Muse of Summer

I don't remember reading this short eerie poem The Portent by Herman Melville before. Here's the whole thing:

Hanging from the beam,

      Slowly swaying (such the law),

Gaunt the shadow on your green,

      Shenandoah!

The cut is on the crown

      (Lo, John Brown),

And the stabs shall heal no more.

Hidden in the cap

      Is the anguish none can draw;

So your future veils its face,

      Shenandoah!

But the streaming beard is shown

      (Weird John Brown),

The meteor of the war.

I wondered if going down a rabbit hole was an idiom that predated Alice or if it is another gift from Carrol. Wikip says the latter: "Lewis Carroll introduced the phrase as the title for chapter one of his 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, after which the term slowly entered the English vernacular."

We visited the Albuquerque Museum on a recent hot weekend afternoon. I wanted to see the light and space art and it was wonderful. I was struck by Bruce Lowney's Approaching Storm - surreal clouds above a New Mexican landscape. 

He's the first artist interview in the Colores video from 2013. His cloud paintings are what I'm drawn to. So far I haven't found any poster/prints for sale. 

Another of these paintings, Summer Clouds:

Thank the trees. We recently had a hot week, near 100F every day. I just read about an area with tree die off in the southwestern corner of New Mexico. It's sad and concerning. I try to actively appreciate the pines and trees whenever we go hiking. 

Hard water leaves minerals and the soap residue that sticks to it, in towels and sheets especially. Maybe I'll do a vinegar soak:  https://www.armandhammer.com/en/articles/how-to-strip-your-laundry .