Autumn Fires

In the other gardens
  And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
  See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
  And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
  The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
  Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
  Fires in the fall!

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Once Upon a Time S4 E2

In this week's explosive episode of Once Upon a Time, we have more questions than answers, yet plenty of excitement to keep us all happy as we wait for those answers. With her sister's necklace in hand, Elsa puts the town in lock-down via a massive ice wall and waits. When Hook, David and Emma come to investigate, they find a nervous Elsa waiting. But when those nerves react in the form of more ice, Elsa and Emma become trapped, and the cold begins to {quickly} take a toll on Emma. Meanwhile, Snow is suddenly thrust into her new role of town leader, and we get flashbacks concerning Anna meeting a pre-Snow White David. With a surprising twist at the end, the next episode should be even more exciting.

We still don't know what the funny purple hat Rumple found is {Merlin's maybe?} and we still don't know what the far-reaching consequences of Regina's choice to rewrite the book will be {provided she even finds the author}, and now we get to wonder who this new character is {perhaps the bad ice queen as depicted in the original fairy tale?}. Emma's quick decent into hypothermia and then amazingly time recovery was so distractingly silly. And Snow just had a baby, she shouldn't be walking around so easily so soon. Ah well.

Forever 3rd Episode

"Youth is wasted on the immortal," Abe dryly remarks as he sees Dr. Morgan gleefully disappearing back into his "dungeon of death" to investigate his latest clue in possibly unraveling his immortality while Abe looks out the window and longs for a taste of youth once more. One man is old and wants to be young again, while the other man is forever young and wants to grow old. But when the body of an old man, supposedly killed in a mugging, lands in Dr. Morgan's morgue, thoughts of old age and immortality are set aside. A trip to Chinatown with Detective Jo lends some surprising and somewhat odd results. Due to his long experience, Dr. Morgan is familiar with so-called miracle drugs that can extend life and he doubts they actually work. But when the young want to live forever and the old want to be young again, what's a disillusioned immortal to do?

This third episode of Forever dove a little bit more into Dr. Morgan's past and his relationship with Abe who is his adopted son. They're so cute together! I'm really enjoying this show play out in the gradual way it is. Lovely!

Scorpion 2nd Episode Blurb

In Scorpion this week, Walter's team races against time to save the life of the governor's young daughter and three other children when a vengeful mystery person specifically targets them with a lethal virus. This hits close to home for Walter who's sister was sick and never got better; feeling particularly useless with this problem, he takes things to a higher level of action - physically taking down a suspect to everyone's surprise {particularly that of the girls} and planning a break-in to acquire necessary information. But when the case is finally cracked, the stakes are raised and the clock begins to run out.

In all honesty, I missed the beginning of this episode because I was taking a shower with the baby. But I caught the end and enjoyed the action. I also found it highly amusing {and predictable} that the waitress Paige has joined the gang to "translate the normal world to the geniuses," as my husband explained. But it's not quite grabbing my attention; my husband likes the show however.

The Big Bang Theory S8 E3 Blurb

In this week's latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, we have Howard gearing up to throw the first pitch in a baseball game due to the fact that he's an astronaut. Raj and Bernadette spend plenty of time generating laughs as they attempt to help him practice for his big public appearance, only to have their efforts lead to an interesting conclusion. Meanwhile, Sheldon and Amy double-date with Leonard and Penny, and get into an animated discussion of whose relationship ranks first.

We had a bonus rerun episode afterwards and it was such fun to have an hour of our favorite show without watching the same past six seasons again. *winks*

The Autumn Poem

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them —
The summer flowers depart —
Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —
Their presence may be o’er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh’d our mind,
Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind — view not the woods;
Look out o’er vale and hill —
In spring, the sky encircled them —
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn’s scathe — come winter’s cold —
Come change — and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne’er be desolate.

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning