Still lost.
This is Mike’s ring, lost somewhere in Almonte, probably Nov 25 or 26. We searched all the places he was, before the snow. It is a unique ring, designed by me and made for him. It is very precious to us, and has special significance. He is devastated to have lost it. If you see anyone with this ring, please contact us or report it to the police. We are offering a very good reward for its return. Thank you so much for any help and please share.
SMS Viribus Unitis was an Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship, the first of the Tegetthoff class. “Viribus Unitis”, meaning “With United Forces”, was the personal motto of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Viribus Unitis was ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1908 and was laid down in Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste on 24 July 1910. Viribus Unitis was launched from the shipyard on 24 June 1911 and was formally commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 5 December 1912. She spent her early career performing training missions and making trips to foreign ports. In June 1914, she carried Archduke Franz Ferdinand on a trip to Bosnia with his wife Sophie. During his visit to Sarajevo, he was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in the event that caused the beginning of World War I.
Although we don’t fuss about one another’s birthday, we’re having a celebratory lunch at Sea Shack today. As the name suggests it is a decidedly casual restaurant but the homemade food is in our opinion flavourful – things like seafood chowder, gumbo soup, conch fritters, blackened grouper and Key Lime pie. We will bicycle there, not far from the top end of Sea Pines (while we’re presently located at the bottom end). It will likely be no more than a 30-minute cycle through the towering sea pines and palmetto ferns from here to there. We intend to visit another location nearby to get future directions settled.
Someone (who unfavourably in my opinion assumed we were on a first name basis) from the hair stylist’s office telephoned early this afternoon to enquire whether I would shift my 3:30 pm appointment for today to 5:15 pm instead. I told her it is was not convenient. When she backtracked and reiterated that I could preserve the initial time instead I had already perceived her lack of integrity. I summarily canceled the appointment; and, added, “Some other time…” which to my thinking is going to be never.
Having nothing to do for the rest of my life is not what I consider a fault or failing. I’ve never been one to sanction shiftlessness. The current feature is not a lack of ambition. Quite the opposite in fact. After a lifetime spent addressing imperatives and needs and obligations of one sort or another – often resulting in late nights at my desk or very early mornings at another or weekends devoted to this and that – I now unexpectedly have the undisputed privilege of doing whatever I want. There are many people who are in the same enviable condition. But frankly I am uncertain how receptive some of them are to the affliction. There are those who require a project, a goal; or perhaps they account their own personal ambitions inadequate. Further it is conceivable that some people are simply unhappy. If one is overcome by depression I suspect it is irrelevant what if anything there is to do.
Singleton Beach at the eastern end of Singleton Beach Road off William Hilton Parkway is located towards the heal of Hilton Head Island at its northerly end. The beach – in addition to being on the same road as the popular Chaplin Community Park – is adjacent what are in an uncommonly modest exhibition called vacation homes many of which if not all are equipped with swimming pools, elevators and significantly proximate views of the Atlantic Ocean from the second or third floors. Clearly the vicarious influence is a strong point of travel on Hilton Head Island.
The Island – which for me is the Sea Pines gated community at the southern toe of the Island – was mute today. The weather was cloudy and cool. The frequency of pedestrians (normally dedicated walkers and runners with the associated gear) and cyclists was noticeably diminished. When I walked by my car in the parking lot en route to the bicycle rack, I yearned to drive again. But driving on the Island is a derivative not of hankering but of desideratum. The motor vehicle passion is however a deprivation I willingly bear when vacationing here because I am intent upon bicycling as much as possible not just enough to merit the fulfillment of a stated distance. The performance is more than strictly athletic. I find that no matter how regularly I visit any one or more chosen spots they always appear different. The mutability of life by the sea is the canon rather than the outlier.
The COVID seclusion seems miles and miles away though it is only since November 29th last that we fixedly crossed the border from Canada into the United States of America and began our 2-day motor vehicle trek to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for the winter. From the moment of our departure (when we spent an introductory night near the Thousand Islands Parkway on the St. Lawrence River) we were uplifted and forward looking. Reminiscences were out of the question! We were onto something new after a 20-month isolation following our perpendicular departure from Longboat Key on March 20th, 2020. Happily that progressive and mildly innovative approach has continued into the first week of our settlement here; and, I venture to say it shall be sustained in spite of any seasoning over the upcoming winter months.
It was slow going this morning. My neuropathy overtook me last night and kept me awake. Notwithstanding the lack of sleep, I forced myself to get moving around seven o’clock. There was naturally no reason to push myself so I lingered over breakfast – sliced green apple and steel cut oats with precisely five dried prunes. I also revived my spirit by listening to Christmas music, a calculated indulgence which I engage every year at this time and which I will precipitously conclude December 26th. Its ephemeral stimulation strengthens the purpose and success of religion while also reminding me of its fabrications, exaggerations and preposterous dramatic themes.
Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and 95 miles (153 km) southwest of Charleston. The island is named after Captain William Hilton, who in 1663 identified a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound, which mapmakers named “Hilton’s Headland.” The island features 12 miles (19 km) of beachfront on the Atlantic Ocean.