Every day the entire image before my eyes changes. On April 27th (when we arrived here) the springtime composition of the surrounding territory was only beginning.  Yet how speedily it accelerates! In a matter of six weeks, by casually regarding the upriver prospect and the 25-acre parcels of agricultural lands stretching from the nearby country road to the shoreline, we have witnessed a bountiful transformation from seed to bloom. The carpet upon the fields has remodelled itself from satiny silk to lush woollen tapestry; the yellow blossoms of flowers in every nook and cranny punctuate their especial clamour; the shoreline, though still palpable, has been noticeably altered during the Spring Freshet; the trees are indescribably lush.

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When I returned home this afternoon following my ritual or should I say, my ceremonial drive to Stittsville and back for an automotive outing and a purgative car wash, laden with a large (and frankly replete) unmarked brown paper bag containing Beckwith Kitchen biscuits, buttertarts and homemade soups, the patio door was conveniently ajar, the new sliding screen door in its place. The screen door represents the acme of installation; viz., instantly workable (magnetic lock), easily managed and an astonishingly matchable appearance. One of the many features of this new apartment building which extracts my unrestrained approbation, things which in a different context promote instead recollection of inutility or recurring frustration.

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impeccable | imˈpekəb(ə)l | adjective (of behavior, performance, or appearance) in accordance with the highest standards of propriety; faultless

ORIGIN mid 16th century (in the theological sense): from Latin impeccabilis, from in- ‘not’ + peccare ‘to sin’.

There is seemingly no distinct (or meaningful) juncture of transition from springtime to summer apart from the Summer Solstice that historically marks the onset of summer at the time of the longest day, about June 21 in the northern hemisphere and December 22 in the southern hemisphere.

The Summer Solstice this year is Wednesday, June 21 at 10:57 am. The summer solstice, also called the festival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere.

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I suspect it is the abruptness of my unanticipated tranquillity which has awoken and precipitated within me an unaccustomed fretfulness, a persistent and lingering urgency to fulfill customary though ineffable needs for which I seemingly have no current necessity or appetite. In short, and notwithstanding my paranoia, I have nothing about which to make a fuss, no obstacles to overcome, no translations to interpret nor disguises to unfold. I have just had my hair cut short. There are no obvious impediments to achievement, no predictable steps to be climbed or confrontations to be addressed. Most unequivocally I haven’t any desire to augment my material acquisitions, a supreme and irregular singularity which by its heightened austerity speaks to restraint and deprivation. And having accomplished the material bias to living, the metaphysical and emotional realms are no less magically cleared of their former passages of perplexing smoke and fog. My current state of mind is shamelessly relaxed, unambitious and unhindered.

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On Jun 10, 2023
at 8:39 AM in New York City
Rocci Fisch <rocci.fisch@gmail.com> wrote:

Are you safe from the fires? Been thinking about you.

Sent from my iPhone

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The civility surrounding tea and cake has proven once again sufficient to quell my passing dietary timidity. Perhaps the indulgence is now viewed as no more than one of entitlement for those of us suffering the incremental weight of age and physiotherapy. Indeed only moments ago while attending upon Ms. Emma Thompson, Physiotherpist at Almonte General Hospital for my weekly post-operative instruction I chanced to speak with Jean-Guy Legault, Pharmacist who is likewise engaged in recovery from recent knee replacement. Miraculously he had both knees done within the space of about two months. Seeing his comparative sylphlike figure on the recumbent stable bicycle absorbed in similar physical therapy afforded me moderate encouragement and advancement, a certainty then unwittingly punctuated by our mutual acclaim for the cake-style donuts at Beckwith Kitchen, Carleton Place (seat of the celebrated cheese-cake style Key Lime pie about which I have lately raged). From these idle but stimulating vacillations it was but a skip to Tea and Cake in Almonte where my late mother was wont to travel with my sister Linda and my niece Jennifer for an occasional and uplifiting afternoon outing.

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The weather app issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada advises of a Special Air Quality Statement until 4:45 AM, Wednesday, June 7 (tomorrow). Description: High levels of air pollution have developed due to smoke plumes from forest fires in Quebec and northeastern Ontario resulting in deteriorated air quality. The Action Recommended is Monitor the situation and take precutions if necessary. Affected Areas Smiths Falls – Perth – Eastern Lanark County.

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After abruptly learning of Johnnie’s death yesterday, it was no surprise to discover he had expressed the wish for a party “when this happened”.  He had cleverly entrusted the social mandate to Lynn Kiely who as evidently shares Johnnie’s gusto for life (and death) in addition to being his long-standing public school friend going back as far as Grade One in Manor Park. Everything about Johnnie reasonates depth and longevity. Continue reading →

June 4, 2023

Hello, Bill.

Let me introduce myself.  I have been a friend of John Fitchett since we were in Grade One.  You and I met a few times years ago at John’s place.

John died yesterday in hospital in Richmond B.C. from pneumonia, a complication of failing health.  John was seventy-six.

John wanted there to be a party when this happened.  Consequently, there will be a party, location and date undetermined.  Possibly in the fall.  I think we will be a group of around twenty at a spectacular venue which I must find.  This may happen next spring.  At that time I will send an invitation to you and your guest.  It’s our hope that you can attend.

May John rest in peace.

Lynn (Kiely)

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If this is reality, I’ll have a double with each of the two recommended sides and an Xtra-large to go!  Please.  And thank-you! At no point in my prolonged existence (now approaching three-quarters of a century) have I once anticipated seeing the world quite from this advantageous point of view. Of course I may have had images in mind, favourable estimates or predominantly psychological renditions of reality contaminated by a lot of bumpf about how to live the perfect life, observing the ritual religious imperatives and wearing the proper clothes. Seemingly we adapt to reality not so much by proving its illustration as by achieving its commonplace simplicity. The reduction of necessity to answerable equations is most certainly part of the requisite formula, just as it is axiomatic that one cannot have money and things without balance.

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