No Longer Teenagers

Between

two sides of life 

there is a space as wide 

as the ocean
as small as the pause 

between notes

In those places and spaces

we live and roam

smelling flowers, 

revelling in the music of ages

clambering over rocks, with 

travels under majestic prairie skies, 

hearing geese calling their mates

watching ducks splash down

on wide open lakes

standing on sandy shores 

with our arms open wide

for as long as we can and 

as long as our will takes us

tho’ our bodies may run down and 

forget we are no longer teenagers.

still we move on within 

the circle of the life 

we have come to know and cherish.

“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”

~ Emily Dickinson

An Outlier

It troubles me when I learn of the travels of friends and family, or overhear a conversation in a coffee 

shop about the wonder and frustrations of a latest trip to Timbuktu or the Arctic Circle or some other far flung and exciting place. 

What troubles me is that I have no desire to travel ~ at least today, and maybe tomorrow but that can always change.

If there were the teleportation of 

Star Trek fame, I may consider it; 

but that is far in the future and 

probably not in what remains of 

my lifetime ~ which still has a 

couple of decades to go. However, 

technology, racing along like an 

uncontrolled teenager, may bring 

to life that fantasy. But by then, my 

already old bones will be a lot older 

and wouldn’t necessarily handle 

the molecular pin ball that 

teleportation seems to require. 

Regardless, I am content to enjoy 

my home without looking for the 

history of the world or taking photographs 

of buildings that lose their grandeur in 

a digital album. And of course, I will 

not miss the noisy bump and shuffle 

of airports and their waiting areas.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking 

new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

~ Marcel Proust

My Life

Today it is an old map ~ one of those paper maps, creased and folded with squiggly lines that are roads that I have traveled, straight 

lines that box in provinces and states that I have lived in and traversed. No obvious direction but always with a horizon ahead and behind me. The goal in mind was to gather education, to learn new things outside of a classroom, to learn how to be independent. Or does that mean growing up? 

And I have. 

With each travel down a squiggly road, 

my world and my life has expanded. 

Now I know there has always been a direction, 

I just didn’t know it would lead me back home.

“Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not.”

~ Deepak Chopra

Behind the Wheel

 

The road travelled 

   has not always been smooth

     will not always be smooth

Dedication behind the wheel

    needs intention and hope

      needs humility and gratitude

“And I realized that there’s a big difference between

 deciding to leave and knowing where to go.”

~ Robyn Schneider, The Beginning of Everything

Have a Good Day!!

I have depended on Transit Systems, in Victoria and now in Regina since 2017 and have appreciated all the men and women behind the wheel. Not everyone is cheerful and welcoming, but I don’t think that’s part of their job description. There are the singers, the radio listeners, the stoic quiet ones, and the cheerful ones. I don’t always know who will be behind the wheel on any given day. But I do have a favourite driver on the route I use the most often.

On my way to my appointment today, the bus was 15 minutes late. There’s lots of reasons for buses to be late, but I still get quietly annoyed. On my way home three hours later, I sat at the bus stop, hoping that the bus would be on time. I was tired with a load of groceries. I kept checking my phone for the time and the road for my bus, certain it would be late. 

My phone said I still had four minutes to wait. I looked up and there, in the distance, making the turn onto Albert street was…..you guessed it……..my bus! Early! My tiredness vanished. It had to be my favourite driver and it was. Always a big smile and a welcome. To everyone that comes on the bus....everyone. And that’s not all. Everyone that exits the bus hears her call out: "Have a Good Day!!!"

“Everyday make it a point to be the reason for someone’s smile.”

~ Trishna Damodar, author

Memories on the Rails

 

Tide out at White Rock B.C. seen from the train

The rocking rolling rumble of the train ran past my bedroom window. It was in the '50’s when passenger trains were still normal on the prairies. I should have been taking a nap, but I was at the window watching and feeling the train passing. If I had been outside, I would have counted the cars, waved at the railway man in the caboose, he would have waved back. If it was dusk, I would see the lights come on in the passenger cars and wonder who was inside the traveling motel. Which one was the dining car, which one was the sleeping car. A skinny kid, I watched as a whole city went past my eyes, one that I never expected to visit. But decades later, I finally took a train trip in a passenger car from Victoria, B.C. to Bellingham, Washington; past coastal farms and ocean views. The most exciting experience was the train whistle. Settling into my seat, the train started moving, the whistle blew…….I was inside the whistle!!

Was there a skinny kid somewhere who should have been napping, watching our train go by, wondering who was inside and where they were going?

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.”

~ Cicero

On an Afternoon Walk - Time Travel

A sweet face not to be missed! 

Even tucked away from the heat. 

Backed by another favourite, 

beautiful orange snap dragons ~

Grandma and Grandpa’s garden.

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colours 

are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.”  

~ Elizabeth Lawrence

Regina Talent on Display

On this gray day, rain soaking the very dry earth, a friend and I took a trip to the Aurora Art Guild Show and Sale. Held in The Terrace Rotunda just south of the University of Regina, we had opportunity for coffee and a good chat before viewing the extensive art works of Regina artists. Then we strolled though all the artwork on offer. From large colourful abstracts, rolling landscapes and waterscapes to small gentle floral canvases, they were all at reasonable prices.

I plan to attend Brushworks Art Guild Show and Sale in June. Fortunately, it is within walking distance (or bus if I feel like it) from my home. 

Aurora Art Guild Show and Sale

The Terrace Rotunda

Innovation Place

#10 Research Drive, Regina, Sask

(South of University of Regina)

May 11 - 13, 2023

Brushworks Art Guild of Regina, Inc.

Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre

2420 Elphinstone Street, Regina, Sask

Art Show and Sale - June 2 - 4, 2023

“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions 

that have been concealed by the answers.”

~ James Baldwin

Book Review: Few and Far by Allison Kydd

Miss Florence Southam of S.Norwood, England, 23 years old, has dared to approach her beau, Mr. Corby, about his intentions. His response is less than favourable leaving Florence quite mystified about what their relationship had actually been. She felt her father did not even notice her; her mother and sister blamed her for the defection of Mr. Corby. Shortly following, she receives an invitation to her cousin Mary’s wedding in Canada. The location? Cannington Manor in the district of Assiniboia on the Canadian Prairies. Feeling quite lost, Florence accepts the invitation and, accompanied by the widow of Cannington Manor’s founder, she boards a ship to this new and strange land. Her ship docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she then travels by train and wagon to Moosomin, in the District of 

Assiniboia, where she is met by her cousin Mary and her driver. She is lifted from the wagon by the driver, unknown to her, with what seemed a familiarity not entirely unpleasant.

Allison Kydd has masterfully given us a history of the pioneer prairies, the hard work and dangers. Many had big dreams, some successful, some still works in progress. Pioneers who tried to transplant class distinctions and the finer things of England to the rough and ready land that was Canada in the late 1800’s. Florence Southam was witness and participant on her trip. A trip that was intended to be mere weeks for a June wedding, and was extended almost to winter. Having a small inheritance from an aunt, she was able to do so easily. This author walks Florence through the woods on her own before she is aware of what dangers there may be; has her scrubbing floors on her hands and knees because there is only one maid; listen to and judge town gossip; attend church and community events. And still she is left feeling lonely. The longer she is there, she becomes more attached to this new way of life and to a certain Scottish man with a fine tenor voice. Aware that he is ‘below her station’, as she is reminded by her aunt, she decides it is time to return to England. A letter arrives from her mother, suggesting that she stay for the winter. Mr. Corby, her once beau, is now seeing her sister. Her mother doesn’t wish Florence to disturb that budding relationship. On another lonely walk in the countryside, she gets lost and is rescued…..and that’s all I’ll say about that. 

This was a fascinating read about the culture shock men and women must have experienced on these grand transitions. Especially most women, as regardless their ‘station’ they had to roll up their sleeves without much assistance. Most of her characters were people that lived; Florence Southam and several others are fictitious and become our eye, ear and heart into the past. At the back of the book in A Note on Sources, she details the extensive research into the location of Cannington Manor; all complements of Saskatchewan sources.

“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”

~ Jane Austen, Emma

**Allison Kydd is a self-professed Jane Austen fan.

Title: Few and Far

Author: Allison Kydd

Copyright: 2017

Publisher: Stonehouse Publishing Inc.

Type: Historical Novel 

Format: Soft Cover 

ISBN: 978-1-988754-01-7

Travel Bug

Only a few!

Which book to read? 

So many and so little time ~

Ticketless travel from bookshelf to

‘round the world with ideas and nuances 

made up stories or how to, 

politics or family dynamics, 

non-fiction, biography or autobiography 

no airport lineups and delays, merely 

‘stop reading and join the real world’

 ~ my book will wait for me.

So many choices so little time

to read them all or even a few 

when minutes in my travel seat lapse

and I turn my light out to sleep.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. 

The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

~ Dr. Seuss, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!

Still Ever

Miles ahead; miles behind

ever one mile at a time

in a turn to the left

  or a swerve to the right

still ever one mile at a time

miles behind ~

  falling fading pixels of memory

miles ahead ~

  a mirage, a shimmer of hope

still ever one mile at a time

white knuckles or smiles

  it’s always our choice

stop for a break

 to breathe the fresh air

still ever one step at a time.

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”

~ Helen Keller

 

Only a Tick

In the space that is only a tick of the clock, 2023 arrives as if it were a Maserati ~ all shiny and new, waiting for us to get in and travel the world.

“Remember tonight…..for it is the beginning of always.”

~ Dante Alighieri

Travellers

Gentle flowers ~ 

a testament to a friendship

that has travelled through

places, times and into now.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…

It has no survival value; rather 

it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

~ C.S.Lewis, The Four Loves