Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A re-surgence of energy

Wednesday and my 2nd day off.

Tuesday it rained for half the day, but today I had no chores and woke to a pristine sunny day.

After my morning rituals, I set off for my seawall walk. I had a re-surgence of energy and was able to make it all the way to Siwash Rock.

For the first time in a year, I paid homage to my mom at Siwash Rock and then visited Pauline Johnson's memorial in the park.

I made it clear (to myself and to the deceased poet) that I was not there to take on any illnesses this time but to honor the poet and the memory of my mom (who was an admirer of the poet) and to thank God for the deep lessons learned on my last visit when I wound up in hospital and unable to walk without a cane for months after.

Sometimes it is important to communicate with the dead if only to make intentions clear to oneself.

I wore a t-shirt as the weather was great but I took the precaution of applying a limited amount of SPF48 suntan lotion, being very careful not to apply any where it might contact my eyes.

I seemed to have passed the critical phase of my life (experienced last year during my "illness") shared with W.B. Yeats where the bodies and presences of young women cause such an upheaval in my innermost being. I was able to view and admire them without any visible repercussions today, and enjoyed the ambience of the beauty in my environment.

I knew before I left today that I would be able to do the walk without any excess clothing and my intuition proved accurate.

I was even able to dissuade myself from stopping for food along the way and settled for a home cooked meal. Knowing that I would arrive in time for the hockey game proved an incentive and indeed I arrived home with only an hour to spare before the Wings/Hawks game on TV.

It was a remarkably close game and kudos to the Hawks for fighting such a fierce battle but the Wings won in overtime and now it will be a repeat of last years playoff teams, the Wings and the Pens.

My sister Marilyn will be arriving for a visit next week and so I am inspired to be able spend quality time with her.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Moving with the Wild Grasses

I summoned up the energy for a walk to 2nd Beach this “weekend”. I wasn’t able to do it on Tuesday the most pleasant of the two days, but I managed a walk on a cloudy, moody Wednesday.

The seawall was nearly deserted and it felt like the middle of winter but those kinds of walks are usually very pleasant as peace and quiet rules.

It was chilly and I wore my winter coat but it was not quite cold enough to warrant a cap and so I let the cool breeze caress my ears and ruffle my hair as I walked. It was quite different weather than the previous day when I wore my t-shirt only on errands outside.

That day I thought of my son Ky, who has now made the transition from the heat of Delhi to the northern areas of Uttar Pradesh and the holy city of Varanasi (Benares) on the Ganges. It is a relief to know he is not idling in the stifling 100 degrees plus heat of Delhi.

There were very few cargo ships out in the bay but there were quite a few herons waiting for a ripple or a flickering image that would signal fishing time.

As I walked my eyes feasted on daffodils, tulips, dandelions and bluebells resting in elfin groves in the shadows of the tall new-leafed trees. I feel so very lucky to be able to walk into the coming spring season free of a cane to lean on.

As I approached 2nd Beach I contemplated extending my walk to 3rd Beach but for whatever reason and since my “accident” last summer I have felt a significant drop in my energy and my balance still has not returned to normal.

Last week I could only summon up the energy to get half way to 2nd Beach and so I felt that making it the whole way this week was enough of a success.

It is strange though to see my image in windows as I walk by these days. Gone is the spring and stride of the younger man I once was and in its place I see a more humble, slower moving grey-haired person in my peripheral vision, one I still have trouble recognizing as me.

It gives me pause to realize that my friends and co-workers will also recognize this shift of energy in me. But I guess this is a taste of what the word senior really means in physical terms.

This will have to be my time to learn to move slowly and gracefully and in the rhythm of the wild grasses.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Ky Quixote arrives in New Delhi

It is just after 12 noon and it is just after 12 midnight in India. The temperature yesterday was 107 F and going up this week as high as 111! I wonder how prepared Ky will be after the balmy coolness of London Town.

But today (or rather tonight as it is after midnight there and already Thursday May 7th) he's in India in the company of one of his friends and hopefully they successfully ran the gauntlet of bargaining cabbies at Indira Gandhi airport and have found a pleasant bed for the night with a hot bath so that they can start their India journey refreshed.

The first step was to disregard his dad's injunction to fly British Airways. I guess they found a better deal with KLM and flew from London to Amsterdam first and then to India.

Ky also left his computer in London, telling me he was going analog for this Journey to the East, probably a wise decision for several reasons, one of the main ones being that with the temperatures so high they will be grateful for traveling light.

It seems only yesterday that I was holding my newborn son in my arms and praying for guidance in raising him. He was born at home in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island in August of 1987, just a year after we had returned from India.

His birth (and the birth of our second son Kadir) was forecast by my sufi teacher in Delhi and Ky's middle name Nizam was given to him by this same man before his birth.

It is only fitting that 23 years later he will be paying a personal visit to the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, and I can imagine what a surprise Syed Ali Moosa will receive when the young man whose name was once only a promise knocks on his door.

How I would love to be there when this happens and I am hoping that Ky keeps a detailed record of this and posts a ton of pictures on his Flickr pages (Google: Ky Zoss Photos to follow up) although there may be a time delay as he doesn't have a computer with him and I think he is taking an older Nikon which means the film will have to be developed first.

Journey onward my brave young adventurer!