beautiful place
to spend a few days
no agenda
no timeline
no worries
immersed in peaceful and historical beauty
“if you can attain repose and calm, believe that you have seized happiness.”
-julie jeanne eleonore de laepinasse
—
london, ontario, canada
on the via rail trip home
i was in the lucky seat
prepared to wield the mighty hammer
to save us all
on an as-needed basis
just like thor.
if he was a happy, sleepy woman
with a scratchy throat
wrapped up in a cozy scarf
sipping bailey’s and coffee
on a meandering canadian train.
—
‘courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.’
-carl von clausewitz
and i was wondering where the bachelorettes in town are living?
—
“we had a one bedroom, one bathroom,
one closet apartment with four girls.”
-connie sellecca
—
london, ontario, canada
‘the four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl.’
-dave barry
—
london, ontario, canada
a stop by a pub with a cozy fireplace
for a leisurely quiet lunch
and then i saw this –
a menu note at the bottom
‘bottomless fountain pop and vanilla ice cream’ for children
things could quickly go in a different direction.
“i accept that there may be things far grander
and more incomprehensible than we can possibly imagine.’
-richard dawkins
—
london, ontario, canada
after walking many miles
through the parks at home
i traveled north for a visit
to a whole new town
and when walking through the city
i once again find myself
in yet another beautiful park.
—
‘i don’t know where i’m going from here
but i promise it won’t be boring.’
-david bowie
–
victoria park, ontario, canada
in our getaway spot we are graced with
our own private phantom of the opera.
—
“musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”
-louis armstrong
left detroit behind
crossed the river
got on the train for a canadian getaway
looking forward.
andrew killawee is a canadian tv producer who recently had his wheelbarrow stolen and he announced this with a sign outside of his home: “BRING BACK MY WHEELBARROW.”
a few days later, the sign had changed: “THANK YOU FOR BRINGING BACK MY WHEELBARROW.” apparently tersely worded demands for stolen property, in rural canada, lead to results. and results lead to politely worded replies.
all of this might have gone forgotten—a brief, humorous tale of small-town crime, one among many brief, humorous tales of small-town crime that happen in small towns across the world—if it hadn’t been for twitter, where an acquaintance of killawee combined the hand-painted signs into a single tweet.
her tweet went viral, and he later noted his regret at not being more fluent with the service. “well it took a lot of hard work, but I think I can now retire. thanks to my friend for really making the big push here … i’ll learn twitter one of these days.”
—
“i mean if we even had a wheelbarrow,
that would be something.”
-william goldman
—
credits: erik shilling, atlas obscura, andrew killawee -photo
-richie norton
I didn't have my glasses on.... 