It’s gloriously sunny today, but the temperatures are
cooling. I have two laundries on
the line and most of the windows open, but my toes are a bit cold in
sandals. Jay arrives from Korea at
midnight tonight. It’s his first
trip back to Canada since he left Ottawa at the end of May, 2010. I’m excited to see him. I’ve been cooking, baking and cleaning
the house in anticipation. It’s
the first time I’ve done any of those things to any extent since before I left
for Victoria on June 17, to help mom and dad move. I eat well, but with little preparation, and one person
doesn’t make a house very dirty, at least that’s my excuse. This morning I decided to go through a drawer
full of information about Vernon that I haven’t looked at in ages. I’m not a leader on most of the hikes
and bikes I go on. I wanted to
check a few things before Jay gets here in case we have some time, between
preparing immigration papers, opening bank accounts, looking into BC drivers’
licenses and medical cards and shopping, to take some drives and hikes. In the process, I came across a card
that Caroline had sent me last August before I left for Korea. In it she enclosed a wonderful article
that had made her think of me. It
was by a woman who was traveling in a plane full of Ethiopian mothers who work
as domestics in Kuwait. They were
going home for their yearly visit with their families. Just as they were about to land in
Addis Ababa, they started ululating for joy. It gave me goose bumps to read about it again. In case Jay sees this before he arrives
in Kelowna, I promise I won’t ululate as he walks into my sight at the
airport. I will be bursting with
joy but silent. I remember how I caused
him to miss a gate when he was a Nancy Greener by doing my version of ululating
as he sped down the course past me.
At the moment I’m reading, The Meaning of Everything
by Simon Winchester. It’s about
the unbelievable erudition and perseverance that went into the compiling of the
Oxford English Dictionary. The
number of people who contributed to it and the vastness of their linguistic
knowledge are overwhelming just to read about. It’s not helping me to understand the meaning of much,
however. The BC Government seems
to be trying to turn schools in the province into understaffed socializing
institutions, Vladimir Putin is seeing how far west he can push into the
Ukraine, and ISIS is slaughtering its way through Iraq and Syria. It almost makes me long for the clarity
of the cold war days. Or is it
just that I was younger then and nothing seemed insurmountable.
The rain tree in front of my house exhibiting a rare display of spring flowers and fall seed pods together in September
Mo at Planet Bee on one of her bike trips around the many spots that fascinate her in Vernon
A view from Buchanan Road just outside Vernon
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