As days here go, this one was basically standard. I say this tongue-in-cheek. It was what might popularly be called “another ho-hum day in Paradise”.  It astounds me that in the context of Hilton Head Island that hackneyed quip actually has some substance to it.  As I flew back home on my bicycle along the beach around 1:30 p.m. this afternoon with the moderate north wind at my back, I recall thinking to myself that as uniformly glorious as almost every day here is, each day is nonetheless different.  You would never know it from the photographs I take that one day is dissimilar to  another, but they are always distinct.  For one thing the patterns of the tide are unique every day.  Today for example we saw what was almost a cavern carved into the beach at Burke’s Beach, something we’ve never seen in the past five years. And the extent of the tides changes all the time (the beach was exceptionally broad today). The clouds of course are perpetually inconstant. And even if I am wrong in proclaiming some perspicacity in the discernment of differences, what does it matter anyway!  I mean, how bad can it be that the sun is constantly shining in a blue dome, that the sunlight glistens on the Ocean, that the beach is spectacularly smooth!  I have yet to tire of this standard; and I can only imagine that ill health and old age will kill it for me, if and when I can no longer enjoy it.

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Any talent for shopping I may have thought to have squandered has now been restored.  And I am in earnest when I use “talent” and “shopping” in the same breath. Considering the obstacles and drudgery I have endured for the past two days while shopping at Harris Teeter, Fresh Market and Belk, the conviction of my instincts and the prosecution of my expertise has rewarded me with ample reason to commend myself.  I have been removed from the shopping scene for some time but I have at least momentarily returned with manifest enthusiasm. Quite frankly my shopping needs are not what they once were and it is probably only my recent separation from it which has heightened my come back. Revisiting the exploit has reaffirmed that shopping is not an undertaking for either the ill-informed or the faint of heart. It requires strength and stamina. It exacts the use of logic and the implementation of historical training.  It is a knowledge-based enterprise.  Shopping is serious business!  Shopping is a commercial transaction like any other and yet so often we ignore the most fundamental precepts involving money and things.  Contrary to its regular portrayal as a witless endeavour it actually requires some thought and precision. Continue reading →

Judging by the rigour of our routine activities we could conceivably be mistaken – albeit it facetiously – for boot camp candidates. We are up early; we bicycle for 3-4 hours daily; we eat properly and go to bed early. Our commitment to this enterprise is so consuming that it doesn’t occur to either of us to disrupt it; our focus borders on discipline. Neither have we any inclination to contaminate the model with idle distractions and social events. I won’t say that we are monastic but apart from the almost addictive exercise regime we have enough at our fingertips to fulfill our spiritual, social and artistic aspirations. I for example am entirely dedicated to writing, music and photography, all amateur hobbies I acknowledge but nonetheless sufficiently absorbing to defeat the need or desire for further diversion. Each of these pursuits draws upon the richness of our observation on the Island. The most we accede to otiose application is to watch Midsomer Murders on Netflix. Additionally we have long held the view that when visiting a place of retreat one should stay there and not use the occasion as a springboard to “see the world”.  There is a very real threat of having lots going on but nothing happening. It may resonate as a trite and confined posture but in my opinion it avoids the popular urgency to do everything before the end. In all things we must learn to adapt to the scope of our personal ambit and to savour the insight. This relative containment is in fact a cornerstone which allows for depth of awareness and expression.

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While it sounds as though I were sulking or behaving with unpardonable ingratitude, the petty adventures of today have reaffirmed that the practical realities of life and the sorry hackneyed nature of all that we do is inescapable no matter what may be the competing circumstances. This is so even when one must suffer the ordeal of being on the beach of an Atlantic Ocean barrier island on a sunny warm day with normally nothing more pressing to concern oneself than the ambient temperature and what’s for dinner. Nonetheless in spite of the flightiness I managed to entangle myself in a series of frustrating events.

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Although we don’t push off until Thursday, we are now as good as done and ready to go! Our feet have at last caught up with our hearts! After months of counting the days, the moment of departure is nigh. We have nothing further on our diary. My four o’clock meeting this afternoon with a registered nurse at the Family Health Clinic completed my homebound ventures. The nurse removed the bandage from my recent surgery incision, examined it and pronounced the “approximation” of the tissue edges ideal. Healing quickly is the only physical attribute I have of any distinction, certainly not a highly marketable trait but nonetheless one worth having in the circumstances.  The surgery was precisely one week ago. Continue reading →

Sirius XM Radio announced today the addition of two new channels – Holiday Traditions (Ch. 18) and Holly (Ch. 13) – both of course for the upcoming Christmas season.  It is only November 2nd today but that date is right in line with what has become the norm for the institution of All Things Christmas in the commercial vernacular. Even though the temperature today climbed to an unusual 16ºC I couldn’t resist tuning in to hear Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme sing “Happy Holidays!”  I also caught a hint of Bing Crosy’s classic “White Christmas“.  It doesn’t require much to get me to soak it up and sing the well-known lyrics. Continue reading →

Sharply at eight o’clock this morning Don’s Taxi collected me in front of the lobby of our apartment residence and whisked me to the Almonte General Hospital for my scheduled inguinal hernia surgery with Dr. Eric Bigelow. There was unquestionably some of that pathetic fallacy business going on as the dismal grey weather and early morning drizzle mirrored my drab infirmary garb and shadowy mood. Last night I hadn’t slept well in spite of having gone to bed after midnight in an effort to reduce myself to slumber and to quell the torment of the upcoming surgery.  Although years ago I had endured two umbilical hernias I knew from what I was repeatedly told by medical professionals and others that the inguinal hernia was the more complicated of the two including of course the recovery. That intelligence did nothing to assuage my brooding. As well the surgery inconveniently collided with our planned winter departure only a week hence. The time constraints abounded on all fronts. It was a mere four weeks ago that my adventitious visit to the Emergency Department had pinpointed the cause of my discomfort. Synthesizing the abrupt diagnosis and orchestrating the ineluctable surgery within that condensed interval was incredible fortuity. Yet in spite of the serendipity I proved myself to be a thankless worrywart and succeeded to manufacture a long list of “What Ifs”. The surgical event contaminated everything on the horizon and aroused in me unimaginable complications as I profitlessly contemplated what was to come. My buoyancy for life had been temporarily revoked. Continue reading →