The weather today is uncommonly dreary.  We mustn’t complain though.  It has thus far been an endlessly sunny autumn, reminiscent of blissful fall days spent years ago at the start of university or vacationing on Cape Cod. Today however we have a mist.  And a dome of grey billowing clouds. The mellowness of the daylight accentuates the richness of the field crops and contrasts the trees that are beginning to change.

In view of the dampness I tricycled in the garage this morning.  Thirty minutes is my limit.  My Apple Watch keeps track of the time, including stopping when I do to chat with someone as I did today on several occasions. Donna (the first of my idle encounters) set her own athletic example by removing herself from the building to attend a yoga workout. Meanwhile I rolled along the flat garage floor, back and forth, about two minutes each revolution. I often whistle as I go.  The sound is unimpressive and I appear to have lost the knack.  It requires a level of skill, a devotion I long ago abandoned. I punctuated my turns about the garage by sharing pleasantries and banter with Jeff, the building superintendent. Jeff is dedicated to the clinical maintenance of the building even though he projects an air of nonchalance. He has a keen sense of humour and a ready eye for generosity or lending a hand.

Steve, our immediate neighbour, confirmed Donna’s news that a woman from the first floor is moving to the apartment being vacated by Steve and Donna.  Steve also reported that the house he and Donna are renting is owned by the same people who own this building. Not surprisingly perhaps the house is located not far from the apartment building. He and especially Donna welcome the larger space of the house but he jokingly regretted the obligations of maintaining the lawn and shovelling the snow. As Steve said, there is good and bad about everything. We further shared intelligence about their upcoming vacation to Europe (Portugal) and a trip the United States of America (Savannah, Georgia) for a wedding.

Armed with this information (aka gossip) and spiritual injection,  I positioned myself at my desk where once again as is my custom I happily overlooked upriver and across the legion fields now shifting to deep hues and soft brown colours.  The image is daily amended, always productive of a new and invigorating breadth. When tricycle about the neighbourhood recently I saw a small house for sale.  For a moment I imagined buying the place. But when I recalled the magnificent view from our apartment my ownership interest vanished. The reward of this view is exponential. And having, as I did only 24 hours ago, the privilege to relax directly into the sunshine on the balcony with merely the effort of opening a door is irrefutable. The simplicity constitutes the perfect accommodation of old age and declining mobility.

I am thankful too for the unexpressed benefit of being able to ponder these manifest and magnificent expressions of nature and seasonal change without having to limit my preoccupation with obligation or necessity. Granted there is warranted a measure of acknowledgement and adaptation to corresponding limitations. I won’t say the admission has been entirely flavourful or natural; but I will confess that in the end and on the balance it is both justifiable and welcome. Meeting these new standards of behaviour is the unwritten tit for tat.