Hopeful Signs

Before you get all weirded out by the little dots on this leaf, it’s useful to know that they are filled with refreshing lemon scent. All you need to do is crush the leaves to release it. This plant is in my kitchen window and its leaves look hopeful to me as temperatures here have been about -20°C all week.

Something exciting happened yesterday morning. I drove through a rainbow. (Let that sink in for a moment.) It was around 8:30 a.m. and sunlight was refracting on ice crystals in the frigid air creating a sundog in the street where I was driving. Amazing! I drove around the block three times to experience it again and again. It’s like chasing fog though, as soon as you get close to it, it gets fainter. Still, as I got up close, I could actually see the light hitting the ice crystals causing them to sparkle and act as mini prisms. One of the benefits of extreme cold temperatures (in case you couldn’t think of one) and a magical way to start the day! As an added bonus, when I was coming home from my volunteer job today, Hope and I spotted another sundog (in the sky this time). Rainbows are definitely a good sign. What could it mean?

All in a Dream

Massey Hall is a magical place. I saw Neil Young perform last night for an imperative cause. My cheeks were in high colour and I kept feeling like I was going to cry. Why? Because I love him and I can’t stand the thought of losing him.

Neil Young is an amazing man.  Musician (guitarist, pianist, organist, harp player, etc.), performer, writer, inventor, environmental activist… The list goes on. Genius might be the right word. I adore him. Am I making that clear?

What a night! The audience was energized and receptive. If you have the CD Live at Massey Hall 1971, you might get the idea of what it was like to be there with Neil in 2014. Highlights for me were hearing “On the Way Home” and “Helpless” back-to-back, “Old Man,” “A Man Needs a Maid,” “Ohio,” and “Heart of [freaking] Gold”!!

The evening ended with the perfect encore:  “Comes a Time” (one of the only Neil Young songs that I can play comfortably on the uke) and “Long May You Run”(I love the little nod to the Beach Boys in that song: “Caroline, No”). I realize that I’m practically naming the entire set list. Truly though, I loved it all. What a treat! Whenever I think of complaining about anything for the next while I’m going to remember that I saw Neil Young at Massey Hall and know that dreams really do come true. The song that’s in my mind this morning though is “After the Gold Rush.” Neil revised the lyrics last night to “Look at Mother Nature on the run / in the 21st century.” With the tar sands issue in Alberta and recent talk of recruiting astronauts for a mission to Mars, the song seems chillingly premonitory.

Because I didn’t get to sleep until after 2:00 a.m. last night (I was too wired!), I briefly considered driving my daughter to school this morning. Remembering the message last night though, we bundled up and walked instead with the sun in our eyes, crunching ice underfoot, and beautiful music in my mind. 

“All in a dream, all in a dream / the loading had begun / They were flying Mother Nature’s silver seed / to a new home in the sun.”

Her Feet Were Bare

Her feet were bare

that winter day.

The day her dream
and reality collided.