All is over! fleet career,
Dash of greyhound slipping thongs,
Flight of falcon, bound of deer,
Mad hoof-thunder in our rear,
Cold air rushing up our lungs,
Din of many tongues.
Once again, one struggle good,
One vain effort; — he must dwell
Near the shifted post, that stood
Where the splinters of the wood,
Lying in the torn tracks, tell
How he struck and fell.
Crest where cold drops beaded cling,
Small ear drooping, nostril full,
Glazing to a scarlet ring,
Flanks and haunches quivering,
Sinews stiff’ning, void and null,
Dumb eyes sorrowful.
Satin coat that seems to shine
Duller now, black braided tress,
That a softer hand than mine
Far away was wont to twine,
That in meadows far from this
Softer lips might kiss.
All is over! this is death,
And I stand to watch thee die,
Brave old horse! with ‘bated breath
Hardly drawn through tight-clenched teeth,
Lip indented deep, but eye
Only dull and dry.
Musing on the husk and chaff
Gather’d where life’s tares are sown,
Thus I speak, and force a laugh
That is half a sneer and half
An involuntary groan,
In a stifled tone —
“Rest, old friend! thy day, though rife
With its toil, hath ended soon;
We have had our share of strife,
Tumblers in the mask of life,
In the pantomime of noon
Clown and pantaloon.
“With the flash that ends thy pain
Respite and oblivion blest
Come to greet thee. I in vain
Fall: I rise to fall again:
Thou hast fallen to thy rest —
And thy fall is best!”
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” – Edward R. Murrow
Sometimes the mind is still.
There is no anxiety, and the heart is clear throughout.
Then it is said that even though the body is in the human realm, the mind roams in heaven.Â
However in one day an ordinary person transmigrates countless times, during which he rarely keeps the human mind, much less roams in heaven.
There are different kinds of terrain in nature. Some terrain is easily accessible, some is entrapping, some temporizing, some constricted, some precipitous and some distant.What terrain is accessible? Ground that is easy for both your troops and the enemy’s to move across is called accessible terrain. If you enter the accessible region, you should first take high and sunny positions and keep your supply routes unimpeded. This is convenient for you to fight with the enemy.
I always like to make a beef stew during winter. Its a great solid warmer and the left-overs are great for lunch.
Ingredients:
500g chuck or topside beef
tablespoon olive oil
1/2 brown onion
2 large carrots
1/2 litre good stock
3 large washed potatoes
handful diced pumpkin
400g Borlotti Beans
cupful of cauliflower chopped. Recipe:
Cube the beef into 1-2cm cubes. I prefer them larger but my family likes them smaller.
In a large saucepan add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Add the cubed beef and cook until sealed. Add the onion in large chunks and let it caramelise during the process.
Add the stock so it covers the beef, bring it to the boil, and then turn it down to simmer.
Add one potatoe. I prefer to leave the skins on as this helps to stop the potatoe turning into starch.
Add the carrots cut into decent sized pieces.
Cook for 2 hours on simmer, then add the other carrot, and the rest of the potatoe.
Cook for half an hour then add the pumpkin
Cook for half an hour then add the borlotti’s and the cauliflower.
Cook for half an hour on simmer then turn off.
The early potato will thicken the sauce, while the latter additions maintain their integrity. If you cutt the meat too small it will almost have disappeared by this stage.
1. Serenity
After a flashback to Zoe’s and Mal’s days in the wars six years previous, we cut to the modern day where the Serenity crew is running a salvage operation on a deserted ship and are forced to flee with the cargo when the Alliance show up. Their buddy Badger refuses to buy the cargo so they head off to the rim worlds after picking up three passengers: Book, Simon, and Dobson. En route someone sends a signal to the Alliance and it turns out to be Dobson, an undercover Federal agent, who arrests Simon but is glad to take the whole crew in. He shoots Kaylee before being captured, and Simon forces Mal to flee in return for his doctoring services. When Mal investigates Simon’s cargo he finds a naked woman.
The naked woman is Simon’s sister River, a government test subject he helped to escape. After ducking a dreaded reaver ship, Mal tries and cuts a deal with Patience, an old “friend” but suspects a trap. Patience tries an ambush but the team escapes just as the Reavers return and the Federal agent breaks loose. Mal shoots the agent dead and Wash manages to duck the Reavers. at the end Mal decides to take on all three of his remaining passengers full-time.
2. The Train Job
Serenity continues to travel through space conducting illegal runs across the star system, which is under the control of The Alliance. A powerful and fearsome mobster named Adelei Niska demands that the crew of Serenity pull a train robbery. The train is carrying medical supplies for a community, and Reynolds and Zoe get held on suspicion. They get free with Inara’s help but realize they were tricked and try to return Niska’s money. His henchman isn’t too happy, but Mal “persuades” the next guy to take the money back. Meanwhile, two blue-handed, black-suited operatives close in on River.
3. Bushwhacked
On a salvage mission aboard a drifting colony ship, the Serenity crew find signs that the crew were killed by the cannabalistic Reavers. They find one survivor, but things take a turn for the worse when an Alliance ship looking for an unspecified Firefly-class ship with brother-and-sister stowaways shows up and takes them in.
4. Shindig
On the planet Persephone the crew are contacted by their old “friend” Badger the ruthless crimelord to transport some goods on behalf of a local lord. While at a ball to arrange a transport job with the lord, Mal defends Inara’s honor when her current customer insults her. By local custom he unintentionally challenges her date, Atherton Wing, to a duel.
5. Safe
On a planet, Simon is kidnapped by locals who need a doctor, while River is threatened with burning as a witch.
6. Our Mrs. Reynolds
While completing a job on a backwater world, Mal is married to a village girl without his knowledge. The girl, Saffron, gets onboard and the crew does not find her until they’re already in the air. Mal is not sure what to do with her, but Zoe thinks she is dangerous.
7. Jaynestown
Serenity sets down at the mudder colony of Canton where it turns out Jayne is a hero for having dropped a bunch of money there years ago that he and his partner Stitch stole from the local magistrate. The drop was unintentional but Jayne doesn’t turn down the attentions. Meanwhile, Kaylee and Simon dance, River rewrites Book’s bible, and Inara beds the magistrate’s son, a virgin.
8. Out of Gas
In a delirious state after Serenity’s engine explodes, draining the ship of its oxygen supply, Mal has a series of flashbacks about how he came to own Serenity and form his crew.
9. Ariel
The crew visit the planet Ariel because Inara needs to receive an annual Companion physical. The crew is offered a surprising job by Simon: in return for stolen medicine he wants them to get him into a hospital to use a high-end scanner to diagnose River. Simon devises a plan – Kaylee and Wash browse through the local dump and find parts to make an imitation emergency vehicle so the crew can get into the hospital posing as EMTs. Simon and River pose as corpses with the aid of a drug Simon has. While Mal and Zoe round up some medicine, Jayne stays with River and Simon, who are unaware he has ratted them out to the Alliance in return for money. Jayne rushes Simon through the examination and on the way out Jayne, Simon, and River are caught by the Alliance. Jayne is betrayed by the Alliance and becomes a prisoner himself. They manage to escape as the Men With Blue Hands arrive and ruthlessly execute anyone who had contact with the Tams. Mal and Zoe end up saving their friends and Simon makes a big deal about Jayne fighting, thinking he was trying to save River and himself. Mal realizes that Jayne leaked the information about Simon and River to the alliance and tosses Jayne in the airlock. Jayne admits to doing so and Mal decides to let Jayne off the hook. In the end, Inara returns, and Simon begins “healing” River.
10. War Stories
Jealous of Zoe’s relationship with Mal, Wash insists (thanks to a bit of scheming) that he go with Mal to try to sell some of the medical supplies the crew stole from the Alliance. In the middle of the deal Mal and Wash are kidnapped by men working for Niska the crime lord, who wants revenge against Mal for the botched train heist. He tortures Mal and Wash until Zoe shows up offering money in exchange for the prisoners. Niska says that the money is only enough for one person and Zoe chooses Wash. Wash realizes that Mal’s antagonizing him while they were being tortured was to help keep him alive and kicking. This inspires him to do everything he can to help Zoe rescue Mal from Niska. The rest of the crew jump on board to save the Captain. Meanwhile Inara extends her services to a council member. To the crew of Serenity’s surprise, it’s a woman. And Simon continues to treat River with some of the medicine he stole but she suffers the occasional relapse as well as displays a penchant for blind-shooting.
11. Trash
Saffron (from “Our Mrs. Reynolds”) returns – after Mal breaks up her current gig, she convinces him and the crew to help out with a “perfect crime” that isn’t. The crime: go to Bellerophon and steal a criminal’s prototype laser gun from his collection. The plan: Saffron and Mal sneak in and dump the gun down the trash, bypassing security, and the Serenity crew grab it from the disposal system. Of course, this is Saffron, and thigns don’t quite turn out as planned… Meanwhile, Simon figures out Jayne betrayed them (in “Ariel”) and the two have words.
12. The Message
An old war comrade of Mal’s and Zoe’s, Tracey, mails his corpse to them. He also leaves a message asking them to deliver his body to his family. Some men claiming to be with the Alliance are on the trail of the body and catch up to them demanding the body. The crew can’t find anything on Tracey’s corpse, but as they prepare to cut it open, Tracey comes back to life. He explains he is smuggling super-organs in his own body. They flee to the planet with the men in hot pursuit and eventually/supposedly agree to give up Tracey. Tracey gets wind of the plan and makes a break for it with Kaylee as a hostage – they shoot him down and Mal reveals they were going to send the officer off since he’s out of his jurisdiction and on a personal mission with no authority. Then Tracey dies and they deliver his body for real this time.
13. Heart of Gold
The crew of the Serenity are in for a gunfight when one of Inara’s companion colleagues asks for their help. The Serenity crew defends a bordello from a gunslinger who got a prostitute pregnant and now intends to collect the child; Mal falls for the bordello’s madam.
14. Objects in Space
A bounty hunter boards the Serenity to capture River for the Alliance.
