"You have stood before some landscape..."

The time change means that I’m riding the train home during sunset, instead of in the dark. This means I can see the parts of Hamilton that were previously hidden on my commute to and from Toronto. I can now see the gorgeous vista of Cootes Paradise and Burlington Bay spread out to west and east as I enter the west end of the city, all frozen and coloured by the dimming rays of the sun. As the train pulls into the city, the old brick homes and stone churches of the lower city rise on either side of the track, clustered together like cozy human rookeries. Then, a long tunnel, and a sudden emergence into sunlight by the stone walls of Whitehern House.

Looking westward over Cootes Paradise always evokes a peculiar feeling of sennsucht, the desire for a city I’ve never seen, for a countryside that lies just out of reach beyond the hills. I know for a fact that beyond those hills there are simply houses and streets, and eventually farms and flat land, but I suppose that just makes it all the more poignant.

Sadly, I only had my cell phone camera with me today, and had to photograph the scene through a dirty train window, from across an aisle, so you can only catch a fleeting glimpse of the fleeting glimpse of "...a country we have never yet visited." You get the impression that, if only the train would stop here, you could disembark and walk to Arcadia.


"That unnameable something, desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World's End, the opening lines of "Kubla Khan", the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves."

Temporary Bachelorhood, Day Four

Mostly quiet day today. The girls were back last night, which was nice. I'm not used to an empty house. We snuggled and read stories till bedtime, and then I stayed up fairly late to try and catch velvetpage on instant messenger. I did, and we have a nice chat before I went to bed. Claire was up a great deal, possibly expecting velvetpage to come get her, but I managed to sleep a fair bit.

The girls went to my mother's for part of the day while I worked from home on a curiously irritating project that would have taken, literally, about an hour to resolve if I'd been in the office. The girls came back while I was still in the midst of things, and the project was literally not complete until around 6 PM.

I played with the girls for a bit, then got them to bed and settle down with a book. About 15 minutes later, sassy_fae and catsarah arrived at my door with an enormous pot of homemade chicken soup and some dessert cakey type things. We sat about the table eating and drinking tea, then retired for the living room for more conversation. Thank you very much for coming over, ladies. :)

In lieu of a photo from today, I offer some camera phone pics from the weekend:


velvetpage checks her tickets and travel info at 4:30 AM in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel.


Downtown Hamilton at 5 AM.


Elizabeth, about 10:30 PM on Saturday night, after a long evening playing with a friend. Asleep in the toybox!