Sunday, July 02, 2006

Suddenly

...it's July. Posts will be sporadic until September.

The last couple weeks seemed to pass in a blink. I wrote, painted, gardened, watched birds, found spiders, washed walls, started painting the house and walked and walked and walked. I was told some great stories. Some fantastic thoughts came to me as I was brushing and flossing my teeth. Maybe if I'd brush and floss a bit longer I'd finally get my novel written.

While it's already been a summer of sensory overload, three things stand out.

Last week the cat and I stood in the sun room and watched the high school grads' annual drive-by parade. The honking horns, the RCMP's flashing lights, the occasional siren, and the screaming chorus of woohoos really impressed the cat. Her ears were flat for the entire time. I had been working on a poem that morning and as I watched the parade pass by I wondered if there were any writers among them. Maybe in twenty-some years one of them will be spending a morning on the beginnings of a poem, trying to feel out a line. I'd gladly give them the line that I was working on.

This weekend I decided to go to a free pancake breakfast in Flin Flon. While my love of pancakes is not news, I can't remember if I've ever been to a pancake breakfast. My hankering for pancakes was strong, but what I craved most was the experience. I went expecting to see something unusual or useful. Something I could write about. As I stood in line I observed the smiling pancake flippers, the smiling sausage turner, the smiling syrup pumper and several picnic tables full of smiling people happily chatting between bites. As we looked for a place to sit, I took note of the sunlit steam rising from my pancakes. The pool of syrup. When we finally found an empty spot, I put my plate down and stood there frowning, suddenly realizing I'd have to somehow get my legs over the picnic table's bench in order to sit down. I had a skirt on. There was no graceful way.

Speaking of grace, yesterday, against a backdrop of greenstone and trees, I watched a tiny motorcycle become tinier as it sped into the distance. On it, under a huge helmet, was a small child wearing a bubblegum pink dress.

5 comments:

Tracy Hamon said...

It's always tough to dive into a pool of syrup with a skirt. Reminds me of this one time...

Brenda Schmidt said...

ha!

By the way, the pancakes were divine.

Ariel Gordon said...

Bah. Pancake breakfasts are always so...painfully...early.

And then there are the cheerful people that attend pancake breakfasts.

Ariel Gordon said...

Please tell me that you weren't cheerful while pancake breakfasting...

Brenda Schmidt said...

Uh. Well. Pancake does have the word "cake" in it. One can't help but be cheerful when it comes to cake. Speaking of cake, I had a glorious piece of blueberry coffee cake at The Orange Toad yesterday. If you're ever in Flin Flon, The Orange Toad is the place to go for coffee and home made baking.