ooooops…

It seems to me that I should have made a couple of comments about the human interactions that helped make this two week journey more special. I am not going to reveal any names in order to protect the innocent (isn’t that what Sgt Friday used to say on Dragnet?) But rather I will simply comment on the moments…

The conversations at the Lake were special in that they brought back some memories from long ago and integrated them into more contemporary knowledge of people and places that continue to play a role in my life. They were leisurely as well as occasionally inter-generational, which allows for sidebars and off-ramps that reveal surprising insights into the wonders of living well…

People attending art exhibitions tend to help expand my own understanding of the exhibits themselves as well as providing moments of levity as we discuss why we even go to such places. It is also interesting to learn what exactly an exhibit does to inspire others.

The visits around my former life at the University of Saint Paul (because it has become apparent that as much as some might like me back, conditions and administrative attitudes are such that I’m too old, too white, too male) tended to bring back only positive memories and thoughtful insights that ironically resulted in my wishing I was still an Adjunct Prof at that institution. Sometimes people remind you of just how good life has been and that moment suggests you really aren’t too old, too white and too male.

Conversation surrounding the Stratford Festival always centers initially on the plays that have been seen but soon expand into the history I have with that area going back to when I first starting attending when it was still in a tent (which it was to some degree again this summer). Moreover the linkages I have to the farm I worked on for several summers in my youth make it seem that it was not that long ago, even though the villages, the farms and the general atmosphere has definitely changed (for one thing, the church that my father preached in at Harrington burned many years ago and has been replaced with a quite modern looking structure, for another the farm now has a colossal new barn that looks nothing like the old one).

There were also conversations in restaurants, pubs, patios, around dining-room tables, even beside a horse barn, and so on that were special and reminded me that there are people in one’s life that may not live near but remain extremely important to one’s overall well-being due to their intellectual and/or spiritual and/or emotional capacities to elevate one’s appreciation for living and life.

To all who contributed to my trip I do owe much gratitude. It was a wonderful two weeks even if the BC Lions had to lose on the last evening…

Continue to enjoy your autumn…
g.w.