Happy with the Near Horizon

Cape Breton supplied well-nigh-perfect weather for our final day at Big Bras d'Or. Closeup day is never the favourite of a summer season at Bigadore but whatever melancholy might be afoot is abated by a sunny day. We made our final circuit of Dalem Lake immersed in the full spectrum of autumn colours. Closeup duties complete, we were ready to roll by the time Lynn arrived in mid-afternoon to deliver us to the Sydney airport. Having appreciated Dalem at close range in the early morning, I savoured a different view of the lake, from an elevation of ten thousand feet or so, in the late afternoon. The Air Canada Dash 8 flew close enough to Boularderie that I could study the whole island, from Point Aconi to Kempt Head, and pick out neighbourhood landmarks: St. James Church, Dalem, the Seal Island bridge. I offered a silent farewell.

Weather remained generous in Toronto, affording two blithe Indian-summer days for our country-mouse ramblings in the big city. On Friday we spent a half-day at the Royal Ontario Museum with Alice and the kids gaping at 'Ultimate Dinosaurs', the ambitious ROM exhibition of big and small southern-hemisphere dinosaurs: Giganotosaurus, Austroraptor, Futalognkosaurus et al. We rubbed elbows with the Saturday-morning hordes at the St. Lawrence market and walked Michael's Christie Pits neighbourhood, mildly appalled at the signs barring kids from playing street baseball or hockey.

Our Sunday flight from Toronto to Vancouver was uneventful, just the way I like it. We spent a day and a bit with Lexi and Ben, Doug and Allison. This being the west coast in October, the sun didn't shine but that was no deterrent to walking the woods and indulging Lexi's ardour to search for salamanders in the forest duff.

Rain stopped and sunshine broke through the clouds for our ferry passage through Active Pass and the southern Gulf Islands. The passage is very familiar to me but somehow I managed to appreciate the glory as if seeing it for the first time. By the time we reached the Victoria bus depot the rain was back; we were grateful to have Marc collect us for the last leg to Ontario Street.

For the past five months there have plenty of peregrinations to report: the latest cross-country meander, the adventurous fortnight in Iceland, the 'magical history tour' through the Nova Scotia mainland. Now we're happy -- at least for the time being -- to limit ourselves to the near horizon and to wander only as far as hiking boots or bicycles allow.