Weather beaten banner
W hen we first moved to this old neighborhood in Northeast Florida, I decided to hang an American flag out front. Not for patriotic reasons, really; it’s just that the previous owners had one, and this is a historic area where Old Glory on the front porch kind of fits the vibe. Florida’s heat and rain and humidity are hard on flags. I replaced mine for the first time a few years ago. This summer, I saw it was time to replace it again. Some of the stitching had come undone along the middle stripe, and flag hung in two, like a cavalry guidon after a long battle. Now there’s a metaphor. As before, I ordered another from Amazon. When it arrived I let it hang inside for awhile to get rid of the fold wrinkles. I meant to hang it back on the porch the next day. But that day, the president committed some new outrage, after a long summer of them — I forget what exactly; it is the nature of this presidency that you really can’t remember much past four or five outrages ago. I thought: “Actually, ...