First of all, his blood pressure is down. He's been consulting a local health enthusiast/naturopath who has been prescribing a daily regimen of lemon juice, celtic salt, nettle tea and kefir. He is also eating for his blood type and staying clear of wheat and dairy products. He isn't craving foods at night and he has lost some weight.
To top it all off, he pwnd at the racetrack on Sunday. Dad races a vintage MGB in the VARAC circuit and, this weekend, he pulled a personal best lap time of 1:42. He says he feels like he's on cloud nine; invincible; unstoppable.
Quite honestly, I was very nervous as he was telling me all this. Maybe I watch too many Hollywood movies, but it's my experience that whenever life is giving you nothing but cherries, it is preparing you for a HUGE pitfall. My idea of pitfall insurance - a piece of wood. I am super superstitious. If I spill salt, I throw it over my left shoulder. I can't walk by a penny without picking it up. I don't open umbrellas indoors and I never walk under ladders. Why tempt fate? And, if I am ever stupid enough to open my mouth and say what a great time I'm having, or how great my financial situation is, or what a long time it's been since I had a cold/flu - I ALWAYS TOUCH WOOD. It's the cheapest protection against speaking too soon or counting our chickens before they've hatched.
If you Google this practice, you'll find I'm not the only cuckoo on the planet. Every culture from Arabic to Turkish has the same little quirk. Sometimes it's knocking under the table, sometimes it's touching a wall and(strangely enough) sometimes it requires spitting over your left shoulder 3 times. Ew.
Regardless, I am glad dad is on top of the world where he should be. I was hoping the same for myself today since it is Summer Solstice and one of the few spiritual holidays that I like to celebrate. In the past, I have stayed up all night long to mark the longest day of the year. Belleville often holds its annual Relay for Life 12 hour fundraiser close to this date which is a perfect excuse to do so. This year, however, I celebrated with family in honour of Father's Day and my Mom's birthday. We had a nice lunch together, which was brief, but entertaining.
I still had about 3 hours before my evening shift started, so I decided to go to Point Petre. If you come to the County, don't waste your time spending $20 to park at the Sandbanks and swim in the sludgy, slimy filth with 4000 cidiots (city dweller+idiot=cidiot) in Speedos. Find Point Petre and relax in the sun with a book like I did.
It's been far too long since I took the 10 minute drive to the point. I could barely recall where the entrance is. I was so frightened that my car would bottom out on the rocky terrain to the lake, but I was lucky enough (touch wood) to make it through unscathed. Parking wasn't a problem. I just pulled off the trail towards the rocky, 10-foot bluff. There were some other folks enjoying the cool, clear lake, but I basically had access to a private beach.
I immediately stripped down to my new bathing suit (Roots $71.99 at Sears... I have 30 days to get a price adjustment and I'm hoping it goes on sale soon - fingers crossed!) and let the crystal blue water take my breath away. That's when I saw the carp. These fish look alot like your common goldfish, except for the fact that they're either dark brown or grey and they are about 2 or 3 feet long.
The one carp was followed by a group of three and then a group of five. They swam peacefully through the water just steps away from me. At one point, I felt like I was surrounded. It was so cool. I just don't know how else to describe it. I guess, it's a poor person's version of swimming with dolphins. But, probably a lot colder and less noisy. Who wants to hear all that annoying dolphin chatter anyway?
I sun-baked on the rocky shore while reading Game of Thrones. I took some pictures of honeysuckle and hawkweed that was growing out of the cliff. I closed my eyes and listened to the nothing. The sweet, sound of nothing (nothing but a few thousand little gnats, flies, and other bugs) is so nice. After an hour, I packed up all my shit and headed back to the car to get ready for work. All relaxed and happy. Blissfully happy. Just as I was coming up the dirt trail to the main road, I saw a huge doe not 10 feet in front of me. I could have sworn she was there just to say, "Hey, thanks for coming out! Nice seeing you!" Like a message from the gods on this glorious, blessed day.
Speaking of messages, I should check my phone. Damn! It's in my beach bag in the back seat. Strange... I don't think the Bluetooth is working. I'll just have to wait until I get home. No hurry. I'll do about 60km/hour in to town. Lots of time before 4 p.m. Maybe I'll even stop in to visit my aunt's grave site in Cherry Valley. She would have loved such a beautiful day. Damn! There's a graveside service going on. Is it rude to strut around in your $70 bathing suit at a graveyard? Maybe I'll do it another time. Okay. Almost home. Good thing cos I really gotta pee. Damn! I should have known my period was coming. My pants were feeling pretty tight this week. Oh well. Nothing could ruin such a perfect day. I'm going to check out those pics I took at the beach. Now, where's that phone.... Hmmmmm. I thought I put it in this bag. It must be in here somewhere. Is it in the car? No. Is it in the bathroom? No. It's not on the counter. Surely I couldn't have left it at the point. I remember putting it in the bag. Do I remember putting it in the bag? Maybe I was going to put it in the bag. That would explain why the Bluetooth wasn't working.
