reckoning
noun
1 by the judge’s reckoning, this comes to close on $2 million: calculation, estimation, computation, working out, summation, counting; addition, total, tally, score.
2 by her reckoning, it was high time her luck changed: opinion, view, judgement, evaluation, way of thinking, estimate, estimation, appraisal, consideration.
3 the terrible reckoning that he deserved: retribution, fate, doom, nemesis, judgement, punishment, what is coming to someone.
Deck furniture has not normally been of much amusement to me. The one time I undertook the subject seriously it proved to be far more than I had anticipated in either cost or production. To my horror the fine print included “some assembly required” which was an understatement! Thankfully all ended well – after considerable recalculation and waiting – and I recall vividly with delight the three or four times we actually used the furniture. Yet on balance outdoor furniture is not something to which I aspire. My outdoor activity is limited to cycling, whether in Canada or along the Atlantic Ocean. Mine is a modest existence. In such circumstance I never carry a chair with me. I am not a gardener or a landscaper; and, when it comes time in the late afternoon for “two-fingers” in the crystal tumbler, I’m content to remain indoors, away from the flies, listening to my music and reading Jane Austen, regarding the shrubbery and blossoms from a distance.
While bicycling – as is my wont – into the depths of St. George Street this morning (a modest deviation intended to prolong the outing) I noticed on more than one lawn an assembly of miniature bicycles and toy cars, things for children to ride about upon. They all had pedals so the propulsion would afford the cyclist or driver a moderate level of exercise. The real advantage naturally was the fun of doing so. It is this lasting element of vehicular conveyance which captivates me to this day. The once youthful urge for mechanical movement has grown into a full-fledged passion for driving.
It doesn’t require much of a lull in activity before I begin to doubt myself. Almost everything I do whether bicycling, writing or playing the piano is a construct of self-expression without which I lose my balance. This is not to say I cannot cycle to the beach and enjoy myself; it’s just that the preamble is necessary to authenticate the venture. Perhaps it is to excuse or warrant the indulgence. When you think of it, having an imperative for daily activity is not offensive. In fact – in its most generous interpretation – the agenda promotes profitable undertakings.
Spring has sprung
by Rocci Fisch, American political commentator
Spring has sprung
The college kids, their worries flung
Others too, the visitors came
Wall-to-wall to lay their claim
In crowds they were, Miami Beach
To celebrate, a break for each
Maskless people all around
Social distance run aground
Covid lurks, seeks spreader events
Disperse those kids, try to prevent
Institute curfew, 8 p.m.
But partying went on, and cops moved in
Tensions rose, pepper balls fired
A stampede fled, party time expired
Rightly or not I have always thought of March 21st as the beginning of spring. My brief internet research tells me otherwise:
Spring 2021
in Northern Hemisphere began on
Saturday
March 20
and ends on
Sunday
June 20
All dates are in Eastern Time.
– Mon ami, dit ma mère, ne craignez-vous pas que, parmi ces enfants, il n’y en ait de mauvais ? – Les mauvais eux-mêmes, répondit mon père, lui seront utiles s’il est intelligent, car il apprendra à les distinguer des bons, et c’est une connaissance fort nécessaire.
France, Anatole. “Le livre de mon ami.”
After my bicycle ride this morning I sat on a bench seat of synthetic cane weave on the patio located in the back yard of the apartment building. I closed my eyes and faced directly into the rising sun. It was approaching 9:00 am and the sun was positioned just barely above the tops of the row houses in the distance. The heat began rising perceptibly. The forecast today is for a high of 13°C by late afternoon; then progressively higher over the next several days before beginning to descend a week hence. We’re in a noticeable high with sunshine predicted throughout. Already I am imagining what it will be like to wear shorts again!
Whenever we stay at a hotel and have breakfast at one of those buffet-style troughs I always make a direct line for the bacon tray. It is fairly reliable – indeed I’d say predictable – that the bacon chafing dish will make an appearance at any of these morning or brunch foraging affairs. The quantities available are positively mountainous. As a result the bacon is an invitation beyond restraint! And unrestrained I am. There is no question whatsoever in my mind that I suffer a psychological perversion of surplus. It isn’t a matter of greed which has a moral connotation much like the word cupidity implying as it does covetousness. No, my affliction – though reminiscent of the biblical immorality of excess – is diluted by the word gourmandizing which contains the elevated suggestion of gourmet (a certain description of bacon’s appeal to me especially now that I’ve discovered PC Old-fashioned Style bacon). Yet admittedly my distortion is closer to piggishness than to hankering, moral or immoral. I could perhaps temper it by saying simply edacity but that is clearly too arcane.
Anyone who has been on a working farm knows that, like childbirth (or so I imagine), there’s a lot more to it than is normally shared. In fact the human animal is itself no less prone to the vulgarities of waste and accommodation. I say this not despairingly but rather as a confession of the hard reality we are from time to time obliged to address. From the instant of birth the child is devoted solely to three things: ingesting, expunging and sleep, normally in that order. The miracle that is life translates the first two ingredients into the ineffable. As for the rest – pardon the pun – that is, the sleep and the accommodation in which it takes places, that’s up to us to take care of, on our own, unassisted by anything as mystical as creation or the unfolding mystery of the universe. I speak of housekeeping.