Carpe Diem

The thaw continues for another day. It is interesting (to me, at least) to watch how the weather moves either across the country or up from the Eastern Seaboard (check Jon Eben’s blog for evidence of the former), and to note, perhaps surprisingly, the ongoing accuracy of Environment Canada’s forecasts. All that aside, however, the glory of the day can still astound. As it does today.

On a clear morning in late January the sun shines straight through the house to catch a corner of the kitchen. And it reflects off the large mirror in the living room to light the beautiful vase Wilma gave us and our little Bedouin couple from the museum shop in Damascus.
It melts the frost off the walkway and the windshield and illuminates the superstructure and bow wave of the Omega Lady Sarah, a tanker involved a year ago in an amazing Caribbean rescue, heading out of the harbour empty, possibly on its way to warm locations like Venezuela.
It is a day to be outside and to seize the warm radiance of the day, like the red squirrel that just ran through the branches of the pines outside my window. Or to stand by our doorway, warmed by the sun, and be thankful for it.
But I also know that winter is far from over and am hoping, if Environment Canada continues to be right, to be skating again in a couple of days and after that, even better, putting that snow shovel to work again (and maybe even getting our skis back out of the shed).