July 8, 2002

Back in the gazebo for a second time. 12:25 on a sunny and warm July Monday. Overhead, I see a gull riding the air currents. No doubt he's searching for a well stocked garbage pile to pick his way through. He's flying over the right area, that's for sure. The Bridal Path neighbourhood is just across the creek valley from where I'm sitting. Lots of high class trash over there.

If it's summertime at Crescent School, then it's construction season. The first stages of building a new Arts Wing have recently begun, and form a constant aural backdrop for me from the other side of the school, opposite where I am sitting. A lot of old healthy trees are giving their lives and being torn out so that this next wave of expansion can take place. That's 'progress' for you.

That gull has flown off now, or at least is out of my line of sight. I often dream that I can fly. There's no arm flapping or jumping or anything of the sort when I do. I just will myself into defying gravity and up I go. It all seems so natural, so normal, when I levitate and zoom around in my dreams. It's too bad it doesn't happen in real life. I'd save a fortune on gas, for one thing.

There is a large earwig crawling along the beams of the gazebo roof. The prospect of it falling down on top of me doesn't spark my fire, so I'm going to vacate this place for the time being.

A bench! I've found a bench where there was none before. It's next to the fence that parallels the tree line surrounding the property. The bad part about it is that there is no shade. At this time of day, I'll start to cook in about 15 - 20 minutes. Still, that gives me enough time to ramble along here incoherently. It is damn hot though - 32C/90F and the sun is quite bright. My foolscap is almost too bright to look at without blinding me. There is a nice breeze though, and my hand makes a shadow where I'm writing.

30 feet to my right, a sign hangs on the fence. It is old, in relative terms, and somewhat weather beaten. It marks the beginning of a fitness trail that was blazed in the 1970s through the woods around the property. It fell into disuse may years ago and has remained overgrown with underbrush (what an interesting turn of words) despite recent efforts to restore it to use. My trek through the woods two summers ago was along both the old trail and the new additions.

I am starting to cook, sitting here in the sun. Time to amble inside and get back to work.

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