Colour and Sunshine

(Written February 27th)

Another sunny day!!  I was able to take Dad outside again....yes I put sunscreen on him!  It was a bit of a chilly wind but we found the sun beautifully warming and very bright.

Today is my sister's birthday.  I ask Dad if he knows that...he said yes but I'm never sure if he's covering up the fact that he might not remember clearly.  I'm never sure if I should ask him if he remembers something...I don't want him to feel bad if he has actually forgotten.  Dad reminisces again of walking the shores of the Zürich-see....at least I think that's what it is.  I have a deep regret in me that I never toured Zurich or Switzerland with Dad so he could explain all of his hang outs and favourite spots.  I know that at some point Andrew will take a trip there and want to go skiing on Zermatt....again...I think.  Dad has instilled this desire in my son and if I don't get a chance to take Andrew myself, I hope that he will have the travel bug and some great friends and go and explore Switzerland and Europe on his own.

When we came inside to warm up in the little glassed in seating area, I hear these two young people (I say young because they are younger than I am.....likely in their 20's) and they are talking with the young man's grandfather.  I chuckle at the conversation that goes something like this...

"Are there still loons on the lake Gramps?"  (I wonder if he means in general or like RIGHT NOW, which would then make it a pretty stupid question.  Of course there are no loons...they migrate dummy)

"Ya" the grandfather answers.  There's a substantial pause...

"What's a loon" the girlfriend asks.  Seriously????  It's on our fucking dollar coin!  Are you Canadian?  I hear she lives in BC and apparently they don't have loons out in BC....but...IT'S ON OUR DAMN "LOONEY". (Sorry about the potty mouth, it slips out every now and then)

"It's like a duck" the boyfriend says.  WHAT???  Now I'm just trying to hide my face and the incredulous look that I most likely have smeared all over it!

I won't go into the rest of the conversation, it was just weird.....and sad.  I find myself being a little too judgy.  That's my new word - judgy.  I hate judgmental people so I am very critical of myself when I find I am being THAT person.  It's hard sometimes to hold back the judginess....so I admonish myself and try to find excuses as to why these humans that I am judging are behaving the way that they do.  I am not sure if I fear being judged by others.  I believe that if your actions are with good intent, than ye shall not fear judgment!  Whoa...that sounded a little too religious for me.  Where does judgement come from?  A lack of knowledge or education?  A lack of experience?  Worldliness? I don't know.  I've stopped worrying about it for today.

I got Dad settled into his room again in a nice warm beam of sunshine (like a cat) so he could rest before Mom came over the dinner time.  With the beautiful sunshine, it was a wonderful drive home, very rich in colour and picturesque scenery.  I think about stopping the car a couple of times to take a photo but I always fear that the picture I take won't really do the scene justice.  So I carry on, telling myself that there will be many opportunities to see such things again and that my memory is as good as any camera...we'll see.  In my minds eye I snap photo after photo of scenes with long blue shadows cast on the very clean and unblemished surface of snow created by very stark, dead and grayed trees of pine or cedar.  It's wonderful!

My day ends driving to and from Barrie to take Andrew to his volleyball practice.  It's a good one and he is practiced well.

It was a good day.