Live blogging from 3 am to 5:34 am July 13
I have arrived safely and soundly at Red Deer Cabins, where my body clock is saying that it’s 3 am and local time is 6 am, but I’m up because the gentle rain is bringing out some very insistent birds. I have already learned, without getting out of bed, that the crows in Madawaska call a third higher than the crows in Vancouver.
The trip was characterized by patience and was rewarded with success. The plane went mechanical just prior to pushback and one of Paul’s confrères trotted over and fixed it within twenty minutes, but we lost our slot time and the crew had to flog it to make it up. I got the last window seat on the flight and one of my seat mates was a charming ten year old boy. He was obviously an old hand at flying, brought a lunch and immediately fired up a couple of movies. I spent most of the flight tightening and loosening all my leg muscles to keep from seizing up or having circulation issues but did not otherwise get out of my seat. The flight was interrupted by what I considered to be trivial amounts of turbulence (as terrified as I am of flying, and really, I am, and apart from the Lake Amphibian crash back when Katie was in utero I have also survived one horrifying near miss on the runway in Toronto (that was the flight that took us out of Toronto for the last time to move to Vancouver, and it would have likely killed a couple of hundred people as it would have been a full on t-bone between two fully packed airliners one of which was full of fuel) I don’t mind turbulence, nor landings, nor takeoffs.) There were not one, not two, not three but FOUR screaming babbies on the flight. They were thoughtful though, they tagged teamed and we only got two screaming at once, and the one sitting closest to me saved her meltdown until half an hour before we landed. Air Canada headset ear buds are the most uncomfortable I’ve ever worn.
I watched Captain America 2.
The Budget rental is more than adequate for my purposes. It was a long fucking drive from Ottawa after the drive in to the airport, and the wait which, and then the flight, and then the trivial amount of time to pick up the car, and then the stop in Eganville. I accidentally called OnStar while attempting to adjust my rearview mirror, which was embarrassing and comical, and happened, god damn my eyes, less than a kilometre from my destination.
Sandy greeted me with hugs, Oka and IPA. Walked outside into the dark and in the first second saw a firefly. Then another. Walked down to the water so Sandy could soak her feet. Played Otto for a while by fire and firefly light. The sky looked to rain the next day, which it did. There are so many different birds and birdcalls. The Least Flycatchers nesting in the eaves have already rebuilt their nest once; they put the nest too close to one of the enormous logs holding up Sandy’s square dance sized deck, which faces on the river. A raccoon … holy cow a hummingbird just fed at the fuchsia in the hanging box over the deck. Okay, where was I with that raccoon. So many dead yearlings on the highway, and SO many porcupines I lost county. Dead yearling deer 15k east of here. The raccoon, damn, the raccoon climbed up the log and ate the babbies.
I’ve had two ginormous cups of sedately ferocious coffee. Sandy’s generating smoothies which (one piously hopes) will assist in the generation of verbiage, since I’m all about the writing for the next week.
Life donates its riches whether they are fireflies or storm surges.
I send fond greetings to Jeff and merp-inducing hugs to Margot.
