Music does it to me.  Today I wept while listening to Caruso sung by Lucio Dalla in his Dallamericaruso (live) appearance. But it doesn’t require a Luciano Pavarotti or Placido Domingo to agitate my emotions. I am as excitable by the thought or recollection of a seaside table and a wistful gaze upon the horizon. I think not only of us but of others whom I know have done the same thing. And the music needn’t be opera but instead Bobby Darin signing Dream Lover, the words of which I can remarkably repeat from memory having learned them some sixty-five years ago when no doubt I instructed myself with obsessive application.

While repetition is I know more than redundancy and superfluity (think of practicing the piano for example), we have in the interest of novelty lately contemplated a train ride on the “Ocean” to Nova Scotia. Given my incrementally expansive immobility (or shameful accession to aging, if you prefer) the prospect of spending a day or two on the rails while sitting comfortably in a large chair adjacent a wide window is not entirely unattractive.  Not long ago we drove to Nova Scotia and along the way visited my paternal roots in Fredericton, New Brunswick and the beach at Shediac in Westmorland County (the “Lobster Capital of the World”) where we also punctuated my maritime provocation.

Memory is as much a coalescence as it is a reflection. This morning while tricycling I stopped to chat with Jane.  She and her two dogs (one young, the other old and fading) have recently merged into Riverfront Estates from Rosamond Woollen Mill on Coleman’s Island. Though it is a sizeable leap no doubt, I assured her that in my opinion she has joined a favourable crowd, many of whom are by some acquaintance of another (as is Jane) connected with those who park their walking stick in these particular hallways.

My fortuitous encounter earlier in this morning while tricyling with a nearby household resident strengthened the widening bonds which exist among the local residents. It is easy to be reminded that we live in a small town in the country.  And last evening by chance I received an email from the curator of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. The reminiscences instilled by these two encounters alone invite from me a wealth of information and gravity. It was with some astonishment (and admittedly hidden pride) that I responded to the question of my familiarity with the locale by saying I had been here over half a century.  I needn’t tell you the time and its cargo of events and challenges have transpired with unequivocal speed!

Nor is the imagery confined to immediate horizons only. Once again this morning I heard from people whom we had first met on Longboat Key, Florida.  Perhaps it was they (who leave tomorrow for Greece and the south of France) who inspired my thoughts of ocean views and idle correspondence at table.

There where the sea shines and wind blowing strong in the old terrace facing the gulf of Sorrento a man embraces a girl who had cried then clears his throat and starts singing I love you very much but so much so much love you know It’s a chain by now that melts the blood inside veins you know Watching the lights in the sea he remembered the nights over there in America but were just fishing boats and the white wash of a helix He felt the pain in the music and came down from the piano but when saw the moon peeking through the clouds it seemed to him sweeter even the death He looked the girl into her eyes those eyes as green as the sea then a tear suddenly slid down and he believed to drown I love you very much but so much so much love you know It’s a chain by now that melts the blood inside veins you know Power of the Opera where every drama is a fake why with a little bit of makeup and mime you can become someone else But two eyes looking at you so close and true make forget the words and confuse your mind Thus everything becomes so far away also the nights over there in America and looking back see your life as the wake of a helix Yes, it’s life that ends but he didn’t think about much indeed he already felt happy and began to sing again I love you very much but so much so much love you know It’s a chain by now that melts the blood inside veins you know