Lilacs&white.

I had today handed to me in unexpected fashion. After dragging myself from sheets and hectically drinking some coffee, I arrived at my (literally) backyard workplace only find myself stepping back into my apartment moments later. Evidently (and understandably), our city is wrapped in hibernation today. Translation: no lunchers for me to serenade with offers of Pinot Grigio before noon. Thanks, Winter in May--you are kicking my financial ass.

Last night Melissa and Zach hosted a "we're leaving for the bush so come hang out with us" fireside gathering. It was rich with faces familiar and not; an interesting blend. As the night filtered by with a lazy ease, it began to snow. Morale hardly took a beating though; everyone just laughed in disbelief and layered on an extra scarf/sweater/blanket/body against them. Warmth radiated from that whirl of people in the night...from the spitting fire and cigarettes aglow and the branches of conversation that twisted together--lovely. As I kicked my boots to the side, home again in wispy morning light, the lingering bits of snow shed off of me and caused me to think listlessly of another time; a hotter time (because heat is summer and summer, for me, has been like this):

That summer was a charged one. It dripped heat and also complication. The open sky was our backdrop, and the air had never tasted quite that fresh licking down my throat. Stillness settled loosely in around me, and it felt like the way things should be. I swayed, without realizing it, into all things natural; neutral--tossed my naked feet on the dashboard, smoked Blacks for breakfast, and played in ditches. The details I care to remember are all a bit like that. Falling asleep against the river, surrounded by dead leaves and a sun that slung itself down like an offering. Driving down the highway through pools of darkness, contentment on our lips. The barest legs, and the stupidest straw hat dipping low over my forehead. Taking the dog for walks that stretched on for hours, somehow losing her again and over. Wandering through the ashy summer wheat. Morning disappearances to the the lake. Drinking beer in grain trucks. Pouring over a garden for the first flush of colour on pale strawberries. The smell of fire during the dying light of day. Watching the skinny moon. And so on and so forth.

There is more, but I am running dangerously late for a wedding social (gag) so I am pulling this to a pause for now.
Here's to a dreamy Saturday on all counts.
Rlb.