Today in History: June 13

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
 
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
 
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.—William Butler Yeats, “When You Are Old”

William Butler Yeats (above) was born on his date in 1865.
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A Moment of Understanding

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

My current crush and I will visiting the same local pond (not the one in the picture above) I wrote about a year ago in “Forever Snug.” I re-ran it a couple weeks ago, edited to reflect 2016. It is here again because the sun is out and so are we:

It was one of those days in which the lifeguards outnumbered the swimmers. We were at a local park that features a small lake and beach: on holiday weekends families travel to more prominent parks that feature rides as an added distraction. So the crowds were elsewhere even on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and we were one couple out of maybe ten groups. Two families, each with three water-loving toddlers, splashed about, and none of the children were yet old enough to test their limits against the flimsy, algae-covered nylon rope demarcating the “deep end” of the pond on three sides. The lifeguards chatted with the families, flirted with each other, bought each other ice cream, and burned off the ice cream calories breaking each others’ speed records chasing after the tuneful ice cream truck.
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Today in History: June 12

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Anne Frank was born 87 years ago today.

A few years ago the Anne Frank House released a short film clip, 20 seconds long, of a home movie: a bride and groom walk out of Merwedeplein 39 in Amsterdam on July 22, 1941, and a 12 year-old girl looks on from the front of Merwedeplein 37. She is seen in a second shot leaning out of an upstairs window. Smiling. Being 12. It is the only film footage that has ever been found of Anne Frank, the 12-year-old child. The film (below the jump):
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