The weather app issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada advises of a Special Air Quality Statement until 4:45 AM, Wednesday, June 7 (tomorrow). Description: High levels of air pollution have developed due to smoke plumes from forest fires in Quebec and northeastern Ontario resulting in deteriorated air quality. The Action Recommended is Monitor the situation and take precutions if necessary. Affected Areas Smiths Falls – Perth – Eastern Lanark County.
Early this morning upon arising from beneath the feathered duvet, I instantly remarked upon the peculiar nature of the sky, a blurry, powdery image reminiscent of those foggy days to which one occasionally awakens upon the eastern shore of the North Atlantic Ocean. Or upon the northern European rim of the Mediterranean Sea from Barcelona, Marseilles to Rome. But today’s misty colour hadn’t any of the characteristic moisture or dew drops of fog. In fact throughout the day as the weather becomes moderately more inclined to light rainfall, the sky has gradually become more distinct and visible. But midday, upon the successful completion of my Post Operative Appointment with Dr. Mark Roberts, Orthopaedic Surgeon at his Smiths Falls office, there was to our thinking no immediate or logical impediment to our detour to the golf club where we proposed to put on the nose bag as a celebratory reward for having endured such disruptive social inconvenience.
I mention surmounting the obstacle of the Centennial Lake wildfire because only moments before I had fortuitously telephoned my erstwhile physician Dr. Franz B. Ferraris who informed me of his concurrent receipt of notifications of termination of elective surgery ostensibly due to the deteriorated air quality. I don’t mind telling you that both he and I had a good guffaw upon repeating that latest bit of intelligence! This, in spite of million dollar air conditioners in local hospitals throughout the province! Yet I shouldn’t perhaps be too dismissive, considering upon leaving for my medical appointment earlier this morning, a resident of the building parenthetically commented that in view of the air quality he had abandoned his previous intention to play a round of golf. These obscurities affect us individually in a variety of ways.
Upon our arrival at the golf club it was readily apparent that the parking lot was not as overwhelmed as it normally is midweek. Not only did I secure a parking space nearby my usual spot, it was a place closer than normal to the front entrance of the club house. Notwithstanding my manifest mobility constraints, I haven’t one of those licenses entitling me to special standing. As a result I avoid using handicap parking spaces even when available. A mere element of my overall Spartan nature!
Within the club house our accommodation was instant. Chef Wendy MacDonald was at the helm. Our faithful and decidedly robust server was on hand. Suzie McLaren could be overheard regaling with her customers at the bar. Pointedly our ideal dining table (and lookout over the first tee) was available too. You will however forgive me if I have the propriety to fail to observe the menu of choice under the current circumstance of distress. Quite shamelessly I haven’t yet succeeded to distance the breadth of my palate from the scope of my emotional circumference. It is a superfluity which we later diluted with an improving plate of freshly cut watermelon. Catharsis doesn’t begin to capture the triumph!
Find my way home
by Jon and Vangelis
You ask me where to begin
Am I so lost in my sin
You ask me where did I fall
I’ll say I can’t tell you when
But if my spirit is lost
How will I find what is near
Don’t question I’m not alone
Somehow I’ll find my way home
My sun shall rise in the east
So shall my heart be at peace
And if you’re asking me when
I’ll say it starts at the end
You know your will to be free
Is matched with love secretly
And talk will alter your prayer
Somehow you’ll find you are there.