Remembrance Day

Life is good when you have just come from a weekend in the company of friends. You are riding in an open car, and you are not driving. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the air is warm, but not hot

You breathe, and the whole place smells of summer. This, you remember, is what summer smells like: fresh leaves, dirt, citronella, herbs growing somewhere in the distance, and bright flowers. Geranium, there's a summery flower. Summer's fragrance is that of full bloom in the sunshine. It's just about perfect.

Since you're not driving, you can tilt your neck back a little and look up. There are trees up there, and while clouds. To the sides of you are more trees, and cows. There are always cows. Do not trust a place without cows nearby.

If everything is truly right, the car is going fast down a two-lane road, fast enough so that the wind in your ears is louder than words in your head.

It's all good until you hit the strip mall.

Anyway, that's where I was this afternoon.

before - after