A surprise Meeting

Sunshine is impossibly stimulating. It kills the lethargy that sets in during the gloomy weather. 

When it’s sunny there’s always something wonderful to do: I just go to a beach or a park. And in between it’s actually pleasant doing the millions of things that have to be done here to maintain the place—like cleaning up the gardens and I re-seeding some thin areas in the new lawn.

Wednesday morning I did lots of little errands before Sheba and I went to meet our new (and small) dog-walking group that meets three mornings a week. They were dogs Sheba knows from the Sunday walks plus some new ones and they’re all young, like her. She gets much more exercise when we are with other dogs.

At the start of the walk I was introduced to Di and near the end of the walk, I wound up walking and talking with her. She was talking about growing up and I asked her, “Where did you grow up?”

“West Vancouver.”

“So did I!” I exclaimed in sincere amazement. “An indiscreet question: When did you graduate?”

“Before you.1957” 

“Oh. Me: 1965,” I said, but we talked about sharing the experience of going to the only high school in our community. It was like living in a small town, I said, and she agreed.

“You might have known my sister,” she said. “She is closer to your age.”

“What was her name?”

“Well, my maiden name is Riccard. I’m Dianne.”

“And Lynn’s your sister?” I was staring at Di. I’d stopped walking and grabbed her arm.

“Yes! Did you know her?”

And I silently teared up. She was a great friend; our fathers were close. I often sailed on their boat that often won the major sailing races. Plus: She married another acquaintance from high school, Jim Charlesworth. I cried because a drunk driver killed her at a very young age and here I was with her sister whom I’d never met. I was overcome. Lynn was the sweetest of women.

We talked all the way to the end of the walk and hugged goodbye. We’ll be seeing each other often on the walks, and Jim lives on Gabriola. He’s remarried. 

Life continues to surprise me here. 

I’ve been asked to write a story about saving the man in the grocery store with Robin. The store wants to post it on their bulleting board to honour Robin and alert staff to the kind of things that can happen. I look forward to bragging about what Robin did—what we did.

I came home and did laundry. Truly, from the sublime to the mundane in ten clicks.

But I also took my first steps on my new lawn. The grass is thin and tender still but I ventured out to re-seed places that needed it. The birds eat the seed as fast as I can lay it down. The day was spectacular so Her Highness and I went, of course, to Drumbeg, in the afternoon.

The magic of Drumbeg worked immediately but at one point a military helicopter flew low and overhead and it triggered a nasty seizure.

In the evening I watched Andrei, with pride, as he baked a piano full of cookies shaped like musical notes on the Great Canadian Baking Show.