Long ago I recognized the deceit of euphoria; namely, it is but an intoxication. And like any other fuel, its effects are limited. Barring perpetual enhancement (elation, ecstacy or rhapsody) the cloud-9 effect is predominantly short-lived.
Author Archives: L. G. William Chapman, B.A., LL.B.
Sunny salty Monday
Lying back this afternoon in a deck chair on the balcony with my feet on a footrest while overlooking the glistening sea constituted a sizeable recovery from my early morning angst. I was still feeling the effect of yesterday’s pedal upon the beach. My legs and knees hadn’t yet returned to passable praxis. But seeing the shimmering sunshine upon the sea pines and ocean it burned me up to contemplate spending the day in utter idleness. Yet from the smallest attempt at mobility I could tell it was a day to set aside the usual cycling ambition. I would only end doing more harm than good in spite of the putative psychological advantage of doing so.
Sea Shanties
When I awoke at eight o’clock this morning and stretched, my first thought was the tide chart. I hadn’t bicycled yesterday and I was anxious today to do so on the beach. My hurried investigation of the tides led me to an internet site which showed a painting of a sailing ship on the cover of an album of sea shanties. My immediate interest in the sailing ship instigated further inquiry. At last I unfolded on YouTube the rendition of a sea shanty which had its beginnings in New Zealand. This in turn led me to an article in the Guardian. All told it was a fascinating pursuit.
I wasn’t expecting that!
Where to begin! Such unbargained for and unabridged expressions of well-being, magnanimity, providence, rich humour and artistry! A vertiable wholesome conglomerate of adventitious disconnected and disassociated events. And all with reciprocal assembly.
It began earlier this morning when a dear friend gushed noticeably (and quite purposively I am certain) for having been remembered on her special day. While I initiallly dismissed the utterance as a pleasantry, upon subsequent reflection I acknowledged the strength of what she had said. I too might appreciate being remembered. But before I had the opportunity to test the prediction (and possibly to my unfolding disappointment) I distracted myself from the brooding by embracing what little forward thinking already percolated within me on this grey, cool day by the sea on Hilton Head Island. That is, the practical though critical resolve to get the car washed.
Images from the past
It isn’t the first time this has happened. Suddenly I am overtaken by a feeling combined with a colour or sound which reminds me of something inexplicable though powerful. Whatever it is, it moves me from deep within. It is always a bland though predominantly favourable sensitivity, a reminder of something vaguely pleasing or reminiscent to me for an unexplained reason. It doesn’t remind me of any event in particular; rather it is a broad though strangely intense recollection of a moment, somewhere, as simple as a laneway or a town we once passed through or a feeling I had somewhere.
Stars & Stripes
Experience a memorable two-hour Sunset Sail on a living piece of yachting history— the streamlined America’s Cup racing yacht the Stars and Stripes. Set sail out of Hilton Head Island and enjoy this amazing scenic sail.
The Sail America Foundation commissioned four 12 metre yachts to support a campaign lead by Dennis Conner, representing the San Diego Yacht Club, to win back the America’s Cup in the 1987 competition in Fremantle, Australia. This racing machine features an 85-foot-tall mast. She is solid, fast and features two steering wheels and a wide cockpit where you and up to five other passengers and the crew will control her speed and high performance. Throughout this South Carolina Sailing Adventure, your Captain and crew guide you as you help trim the sheets and grind the winches!
The last resort
My father died in the year 2014; on the 8th day of April, my sister’s birthday. I believe my goddaughter was with him when he vanished. She seemingly had predicted his demise and had stayed with him overnight at the hospital, sleeping in a chair in his room. He was almost 96 years of age (born August 17, 1918). He was a decorated war hero. The decoration, from what I could tell, was the lingering horror of the entire episode acidly mixed with its bolstering conviction on both sides. I once overheard him remark of the Swedes, “At least we fought with the Germans!”
Reduction
The Scots have a history of trauma and deprivation from which has evolved an array of images and promulgations designed to ensure the perpetual flavour of Celtic and Gaelic broth and whiskey having as they do ancient pre-Roman ancestry. The depth of hardship is unimaginable for most. Yet seemingly it has furnished the peat, moss and fire of both imagination and performance.
The Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church
Faithful Contendings Displayed
THE
P R E F A C E TO THE
U N D E R S T A N D I N G R E A D E R.
By John Howie
John Howie (14 November 1735 – 5 January 1793) was a Scottish biographer. His best known work was Biographia Scoticana, first published in 1775, which is often called The Scots Worthies. It deals with Christians and particularly Presbyterians especially in their strivings with church and civil authorities.
Cookies
Things got out of control last evening. We were watching the Super Bowl football game on television (along with what I am certain were millions of others worldwide including for example Australia and New Zealand where we have friends). I am not a sport fan but from the little I know of the game it was a superb event. The score was neck and neck until the end. Importantly from my novice vantage the teams were smaller and less physically abusive to one another, more athletic almost artistic in their application to the game. Throughout the game we munched on a wide variety of foods; namely, cheese and crackers, raw vegetables, sliced beef and sweets for dessert. Because the game went into overtime, so did we prolong ourselves and our consumption while wallowing in the drawing room in front of the big screen television. It was nearing midnight before we retired.
Horace Cohen, deceased
February 10th, 2024
South Beach Club
Hilton Head Island, SC
Dearest Patti, Please accept my heartfelt sympathies upon the death of Horace. Horace afforded me the opportunity as a young lawyer to insinuate the often complicated but always challenging arena of commercial law. I am grateful for the insight which I garnered working for you both in your sometimes atmospheric enterprises (though I hasten to add Horace was always self-effacing and frequently to a comical degree). His loss to me represents a noticeable change of an era. With love. L. G. William Chapman, B.A., LL.B., Mississippi Mills, Ontario