La porte ouverte

When I returned home this afternoon following my ritual or should I say, my ceremonial drive to Stittsville and back for an automotive outing and a purgative car wash, laden with a large (and frankly replete) unmarked brown paper bag containing Beckwith Kitchen biscuits, buttertarts and homemade soups, the patio door was conveniently ajar, the new sliding screen door in its place. The screen door represents the acme of installation; viz., instantly workable (magnetic lock), easily managed and an astonishingly matchable appearance. One of the many features of this new apartment building which extracts my unrestrained approbation, things which in a different context promote instead recollection of inutility or recurring frustration.

It is perhaps easy to dismiss (or over-emphasize) the height of success and accomplishment in a predominantly new environment when there are seemingly so many unanticipated details of replenishment. Yet more strategically it points to the surviving gravity of design and function. Skipping decades ahead from the manufacture of a similar space exposes the liberty and depth of improvement available the skilful architect and interior decorator. And while the process is likewise foreseeably interminable, there is no question of the propitiousness and genuineness of application to the remodelling.

After a lifetime of being surrounded by ancient structures (St. Andrew’s College, Glendon Hall, Dalhousie University, the Mayfair Apartments, Devonshire House, Osgoode Hall and Doc Kelly’s century-old brick residence and stone crawlspace), there is a distinguishable evaporation from the past to modernity. The bathroom cupboards are larger and more manageable (read: useful). We actually use the patio upon which to dissolve our evening ambitions. In the distance the agricultural theme awakens further; the dilapidated barn augments its burnished carriage by contrast to the flourishing verdancy. The yellow field flowers are in bloom. The other very noticeable contrast of the azure sky upon the plateau of blue water in the river below affords its own mark of incomparable distinction. It is a collage of colour and texture.

 

Social Call
by Samara Joy

Happened to pass your doorway
Gave you a buzz, that’s all
Lately, I’ve thought lots about you
So I thought I’d pay a social call

Do you recall the old days
We use to have a ball?
Not that I’m lonesome without you
I’d just thought I’d pay a social call
I’d lie and say that things are just well
But to tell the truth, I’ve haven’t been too well

But if you should try to kiss me
I promise that I won’t stall
Maybe we’ll get back together
Starting from this incidental, elemental, simple social call

Gave you a buzz, that’s all
Lately, I’ve thought lots about you
So I thought I’d pay a social call

Maybe we’ll get back together
Starting from this incidental, elemental, simple social call

Songwriters: Jon Hendricks / Basheer Qusim