A Meeting of Minds ~ 3

They were having a serious discussion. Two young men coming home from school stopped because of Tommy “It’s a duck. Now let’s go.” Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he started to walk away. 

“That’s dumb. It’s just a cloud.” Jimmy didn’t believe all that stuff about clouds. His mom was always seeing bunny rabbits or elephants. He couldn’t tell her she was being dumb unless he wanted to get in trouble.

Neither of them wanted any trouble. Tommy always went to his friend’s house after school. His parents didn’t get home from work until supper. His big sister had basketball practice or was just hanging out with her friends. “Mom’s baking day today. Hope you’re hungry.” 

“Sure am. Last one to your house is a rotten egg!!”

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

~ Pablo Picasso

On an Afternoon Walk - On the Street Where We Lived

My afternoon walks always have a purpose. Buying groceries, business at the bank, my regular visit to the dentist’s office, around the lake, maybe a hair appointment, or just to see the seasonal changes but always to see the city at sidewalk level. There was time when a walk was just a walk. I really didn’t like them much because they had no purpose. Many would disagree. Walking for the sake of walking should be enough. Today my purpose was to get cat food at the Vet Clinic, a 30 minute walk away. It’s along the way that my purpose is filled with autumn leaves, warm sun, a bench to sit on with my book, and an ice cream store. 

To get to the Vet Clinic, one street I always walk down is the street where we raised our sons. We were only there for seven years, but I love that street. Many of the houses have been refreshed, an apartment block nestles halfway down the street. Yards are full of plants going dormant and piles of composting leaves tucked over and around tender perennials, the trees are old elms that cover the ground and sidewalk with crisp gold under my feet. My inner child wanted to kick through them but this too mature adult warned of tripping hazards beneath. So I behaved myself and just enjoyed the crunch beneath my steady walk there and back.

“How quick and rushing life can sometimes seem, 

when at the same time it’s so slow and sweet and everlasting,”

~ Graham Swift, Tomorrow

Coffee Break

A view from my table inside 
13th Ave. Food and Coffee House

Which is more important? The coffee or the break? The coffee must be dark and milky rich, to ease me into my next book. Of course a salad and a cookie rounds it out just right. The music familiar and toe tapping. I was fortunate to share the space with only one or two others. After a day of heavy lifting of words and ideas, I came to this favourite spot for respite and to read.

At the front door of 13th Ave
Food and Coffee House

“When you rest, you catch your breath and it holds you up, like water wings…”

~ Anne Lamott

13th Ave Food and Coffee House

3136 13th Ave.

Regina, Sk.   S4T 1P3

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