Night Visit

It was the inner calm that surprised him.

By rights he should have been panicked. He had woken to the sound of a gravely, menacing voice in his bedroom. The voice had been coupled with the discovery that his left leg was thrashing beneath the covers in a movement that mirrored his dream effort to kick a door open.

He might have convinced himself the voice was a carryover from his dream - one of those tendrils that lingers in the gray world between sleep and waking - had it not been for a repeat of the rough whisper after he had pushed himself upright and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Intrigued rather than frightened, he got to his feet just in time to see a silhoutte break from the shadows and move out of the room.  He followed at a steady pace. In the hallway he heard footsteps advance to the front door. He was staring at the front door when he heard it open and close....yet the door never moved.

What the hell was going on?

Heat Struggle

At ten o'clock on a Sunday morning in July the day should have been filled with the sounds of shouting children, skateboard wheels on concrete, and basketballs bouncing on asphalt.

But the only sounds to be heard today were the chirping of birds and the humming of air conditioner compressors. The unrelenting heat had turned our entire subdivision into a community of recluses.

Tired of being inside, I led my granddaughter on a morning walk to playground. The subtle breeze was just enough to lift the heat from the street and swirl it around us.  Little Miss Grabby Fingers plodded on determinedly and, once the playground came in sight, actually broke into toddler's version of a jog.

But ultimately it was the heat that won out, turning energy into lethargy. Sweat poured from Little Miss Grabby Fingers' scalp despite the motion of the swing. Her head dropped forward and her eyes narrowed to exhausted slits.  She made the journey home in the crook of my arm.

As we approached the house, the heat made one last attempt to claim us for its own - whispering suggestions to simply sit down on the lawn and save the effort of climbing the five steps.  But the call of air conditioning won out over exhaustion and we won through to the cool embrace of home.

Dinner Preparations

The great thing about this weather is that the hot tea left in my travel mug when I get to work is just as hot when I head home. 

Of course I'm just as hot as tea by the time I have my seat belt fastened. 

Come to think of it, I could have my entire dinner waiting for me when I left work.  A chicken breast slathered with barbecue sauce and an ear of corn coated with butter - each wrapped in aluminum foil and left to sit on the dashboard of my car - would be fully cooked by the time the quitting bell rang.

Spirits and Feasts

There nothing like a winery tour an wine tasting to pick up your spirits. And that's exactly what we did this past weekend to alleviate the the hum-drums generated by too much humidity and too little sun.

Surprisingly the highlight of the tour proved to be the ginger crackers that were offered as accompaniment to one of the fruitier wines. The ginger flavor carried me right past the remainder of summer and into November. 

Ordinarily I would bemoan such a fast forwarding but in this case the mental images of candlelit tables heaped with food while pumpkin and mincemeat pies sat on an equally laden sideboard were welcome solace to the soul.

There is a difference between summer and post-summer feasts.  Summer feasts are designed so that extended families can pause in their outdoor activities, descend on the food like a flock of starved ravens, and then race off to tossing Frisbees and catching lightning bugs. Post-summer feasts, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are spreads that encourage families to linger at the table - to spend time sharing memories while testing the elasticity of clothing.

Swinging Into Living

He supposed he should be concerned that the windshield wipers were unable to keep up with the deluge, that the view ahead was nothing but a water-streaked gray mist. But he wasn't. He supposed he should  ease off on the gas.  But he didn't. Instead he pushed the gas pedal closer to the floor.

He savored the adrenaline rush that came with knowing his life might end at any moment. It was a welcome change to the blur that his daily life had become.

The windshield wipers thunked at every end of their racing swing like metronomes counting off a hundred beats per minute. The beat of his heart increased to match the thunk of the wipers, the blood pumping muscle borrowing life from the future.

One of the car tires hit a pothole and the car went into a fishtail. He took his hands from the wheel and laughed aloud as the car went into a full swing. This!  This was living!

Self-guided Tour

With the help of on-board navigation we finished our ten hour drive to Montreal without a hitch.  Only to find that the line of cars waiting to get to get to the front door wrapped half way around the block.  Pleased that we had booked such a popular hotel, we were none the less frustrated by what promised to be a delay in checking in.

Always one to get straight to the heart of the matter, Motivated Mom hopped out of the car an hoofed it up to the front door.... only to return with news that power had been out for two hours and there was no checking in going on.

So off we went to a public parking lot where, after several attempts to decipher the parking meter instructions written in French, we finally managed to get the kiosk to spit out a ticket.  From there we bravely set off on foot in hopes of finding a reasonably priced restaurant that would cater to a forlorn looking group of travelers.

We were lucky enough to find a diner that wouldn't tax our wallets... although we learned tax is a word that gets Canadians talking. The citizens of Montreal suffer under the weight of a fifteen percent sales tax that is applied to everything - including meals in a diner.  Our waitress regaled us with her opinions of corrupt politicians while she processed our check.

Less than three hours since crossing the border we found ourselves questioning the wisdom of the trip.

Happy 4th

Time to eat up some highway miles... so taking this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July.

Whatever your activities may entail this week I encourage you to take the time to give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy.

See you on the flip side