The St. Lawrence River is more than a thread of fresh water nosing 1,197 kilometres into the North American hinterland.  It conveys everything from ocean-going tankers and weekend yachts to tiny pleasure craft and toys for the cottagers and riparian dwellers along the length of the estuary. Living inland as we do within an hour of the waterway it is not uncommon to travel southward from Ottawa along Hwy #416 to Prescott and then onto the Ivy Lea Parkway which connects between historic Brockville and Gananoque.

“Gananoque is a town in the Leeds and Grenville area of Ontario, Canada. The town had a population of 5,194 year-round residents in the Canada 2011 Census, as well as summer residents sometimes referred to as “Islanders” because of the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence River, Gananoque’s most important tourist attraction. The Gananoque River flows through the town and the St. Lawrence River serves as the southern boundary of the town.“

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When I moved to Almonte in June of 1976 at 27 years of age it was strictly for professional reasons. I wanted out of Ottawa. I wanted away from those of my brethren with whom I had associated during my brief career as a lawyer. I was then practicing law at 100 Sparks Street, Ottawa with Macdonald, Affleck having been called to the Bar at Osgoode Hall in Toronto about a year earlier. Though my career had already afforded me appearance before the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada, and while my daily undertakings included representation of Drummond Henry Birks and other highly successful businessmen, I hadn’t a personal attachment to the firm. I had begun to make casual enquiries about switching firms within the City but nothing had matured to the point of an interview. Unexpectedly – and serendipitously as it turned out – Senator George K. McIlraith (counsel to the firm) tipped me off that in Almonte his son-in-law Michael J. Galligan, QC of Galligan & Sheffield was looking for a junior lawyer to fill the gap created by the retirement of Raymond A. Jamieson, QC. (who had been called to the Bar in 1921). If I recall correctly Senator McIlraith speculated that the partners of Macdonald, Affleck would linger at their desks until they collapsed on the greens at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. When I left Macdonald, Affleck those senior partners and Baron Brocklesby, QC were all above 80 years of age and showed no signs of quitting.  Macdonald still walked from Sherwood Drive to work every day – including in the winter with cleats on his shoes.  Brocklesby told me he had his Mercedes washed once a week whether it needed it or not. Robert McLaughlin, QC – a senior but younger partner – ended overworking himself, dictating while standing by his desk, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. He died an untimely death. Jeffrey Lyman DeWitt King, QC, after exhausting the utility of the Liberal Party of Ontario (of which he was a former President) went to work for the Vatican.

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The ritual ceremony of breakfast this morning was interrupted by having to deal with the renewal of my web site’s domaine name. The domaine registration and web hosting are what keep this web page alive. Years ago when I commissioned a chap to create my web site (initially for purposes related to my candidacy for municipal election – an endevour from which I subsequently withdrew) he told me the advantage of using CanSpace Solutions for web hosting and Name.com for domaine registration. I can no longer recollect the reason for the two companies. Meanwhile after altering the site to accommodate its current blog character I have continued using the free-standing hosting and registration providers, one Canadian, the other American.

“Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website live. … When someone enters your domain name in a browser, the domain name is translated into the IP address of your web hosting company’s computer. This computer contains your website’s files, and it sends those files back to the users’ browsers.“

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Perfection is not merely a state of being.  It is also the action or process of improving something until it is faultless. The one is purely descriptive; the other is an active endeavour. But here’s the thing, both renditions are curiously misleading. Nothing is perfect.  Nor will it ever be. Yet people mistakenly assume that by some application of whatever they will be able to achieve that enigmatic result. I prefer to assess any concern regarding perfection by an examination of several factors other than what purports to be the obvious and discomposing imperfection. That is, the overall achievement of anyone or anything is calculable by reference not to minutiae but to substance. I am reminded of the quip, “You say to me, What is the answer?; and I say to you, What is the question?”

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Recently I was recommended a book.  The book was written by a physician (John E. Sarno, MD) and it addressed medical conditions – some of which (like chronic back pain) was not foreign to me.  Oddly the thesis of the work was mental care for physical ailments.

“One thing that is abundantly clear about the cause and treatment of TMS is that it is a striking example of what might be called the mind-body connection. The history of medicine awareness of this interaction is long and checkered. Hippocrates advised his asthmatic patients to be wary of anger, which suggests that 2,500 years ago there was some appreciation of the impact of the emotions on illness. That concept was dealt a crippling blow by the seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, who held that the mind and body were totally separate entities and should be studied separately. Matters of the mind were the concern of religion and philosophy, according to Descartes. The body, he said, should be studied by objective, verifiable methods. To a large extent, Descartes’s teaching remains the model for contemporary medical research and practice. The average physician looks upon illness as a disorder of the body machine and sees his role as discovering the nature of the defect and correcting it. Research in medicine rests heavily on the laboratory, and what cannot be studied in the laboratory is widely considered to be unscientific. Despite the obvious fallacy of that idea, it remains the guiding research principle for most medical investigators. The spirit of Descartes is still very much alive.“

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It will surprise no one to hear that during the prevalence of the pandemic my daily agenda is both limited and repetitious. In a word I have grown to realize and appreciate the strength and importance of social contact with others – whether casually at a coffee house with strangers or acquaintances or more formally over breakfast, lunch or dinner. With almost every degree of familiarity having been quelled, one must learn to withdraw from social fabric and instead replace time with more solitary customs. My scope of adventure is tiresome to a fault! Nonetheless what I do is always a first choice preference not a mere filler.

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Who doesn’t adore a Sunday! Though the Sabbath is a religious observance common to many faiths the Christian rendition (and its historical prohibition of commercial activity) bears repeating. The weather forecast for the remainder of the day – at least until sunset when conditions begin the ascent to a flawless sunny Monday tomorrow – is relentless rain. The probability varies in range from 40% to 80%.  And cool temperatures below 50°F.  I can hear the forceful drizzle upon the drawing room window. What could be more perfect for an idyll Sunday, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Op. 86 (Ingeborg Danz et al.), black coffee, sliced green apple, wedge of Brie cheese, toasted and generously buttered cranberry/pumpkin seed bread and steel cut oats ornamented with pitted prunes! It all unites with the low yellow lights, green leather chairs and stunning Oriental rugs to inspire a relaxed and soothing metaphysical atmosphere.

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Though the bike path earlier this morning was not particularly occupied (perhaps because of the cool temperatures), later in the day the streets in both the country and the city were busier than they have been in the past month.  I saw an endless string of cars on the main street as I was leaving Almonte to go for a car wash. Later as far afield as Burnstown in nearby Renfrew County I noticed a surprisingly large number of vehicles in the parking lot of Neat Café. I was tempted to go in but resisted. I telephoned the Café to enquire about the status of their business and was told that they’re offering take-away only – but nonetheless a full menu.  Already however people were showing their exhaustion with social distancing. There were a number of patrons assembled at a picnic table on the patio adjacent the main entrance of the Café. I suspect the dereliction will be tolerated by whomever has been cast an enforcement officer There is at least room for legal argument – the measure of social distancing, the acceptability of familial abuse, an overriding entitlement of liberty. Whatever!

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It is a small compliment to my inventiveness that terra firma mysteriously affords me the advantage of doing more meaningful things – or should I say, doing things more meaningfully. The trait is especially noticeable because the scope of my general activity – wherever it occurs – is shamefully repetitive.  That is, it isn’t so much what I do as where I do it. Furthermore the transition to this side of the border is purely natural, little more than the fulfillment of a creature returning to its nest. You no doubt perceive that the alleged novelty is thus intuitive – or as so many these days are inclined to say, “organic“.

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I spent the afternoon driving my new Lincoln Aviator. After I got it washed in Stittsville the rambling tour was about the back roads of Lanark County. It would be quite inaccurate to suggest I either flew or sailed but the sensation was I am sure similar.  I am guessing because the closest I have come to flying an aircraft was when I flew from Miami to Key West in a plane that was so small I could tap the shoulder of the pilot.  The last time I sailed was in a skiff on the Baltic Sea near Stockholm, Sweden.  Both incidents were are very long time ago.  I am however content to equate today’s exhilarating automotive experience to the much renowned businesses of flying and sailing.

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