241217 a candle for sun-return
K and I like to be out to see the sun rise, never and always the same. It is one of those things that I think resonate in our deepest brain, the part of ourselves that is pre-modern, that echoes back through millennia of human existence when life was precarious and the sun coming up each morning was magical, a celebration of another night of darkness survived.
Somehow the blur of tiny flakes, white rain, settling like powdered sugar on the grass, put me into an ineffable circumscribed mindset of winter, lighting a fire, settling in for the day, putting off errands in town. I wished, as I always do when it snows, that we might get a deep fall, be snowed in. I guess that I am blessed to be able to feel safe and cozy in that thought.
A rare and perfect snowflake looking more like a candy sprinkle than a random bit of ice fallen from the sky.
*****
December 3, in Toronto now. On the way home from the field with Rocky, I notice a beautiful coyote who has lost his tail. He walks casually across Ashbourne, ignoring the cars, stops to look around - his beautiful pointed face, black and tan markings. So self-assured. Rocky watches but does not think of pursuing. When we hear the coyotes howling at the vineyard, he listens but does not react. I expect he has met one or two on his travels. In his before life, he used to run away from his home to visit a friend several miles away and must have crossed paths with cattle, deer, skunks and coyotes. One evening he and our resident skunk came face to face just beyond the patio, but neither of them flinched: they seemed to bow to each other, "I know you - you live here too." and then Rocky came to my side and the skunk went on her way. She lived nearby that year but I have not seen her this past season.
*****
We had an adventure on the way from Quebec to Toronto. one of the back wheels had been making a dreadful noise and I was hoping to make it home to my own mechanic without incident. But suddenly the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. This was on the 401 among trucks and cars going 110 km an hour! We took the next exit, only a minute or two away and pulled into Colbourn, Ontario, with enough brakes to manage.
I phoned CAA, the most amazing company in the world, always at hand, with a real person on the line in a minute, to help you out of whatever mess you are in. The person on the line gave me a local mechanic or the option of a tow, but since we had to get ourselves to Toronto, we took the mechanic. The brakes, such as they were - there might have been one still working - it engaged when I put the pedal all the way to the floor - got us to the repair shop. This wonderful place, in the middle of nowhere, answered our prayers. Tim's Repair Shop: Several people sat about in the corner of a garage where three cars were on lifts ready for working on. Yes! they would be delighted to help us; it sounded like the brake fluid line was broken, or a brake pad had been thrown. "Who is Tim", I asked. "I am!" a long-haired young man replied. Wonderful. "We will pull your car in and have a look after lunch!" The four of them sat about sharing a companionable hour of rest, unusual in its feeling of rural unhurried peace.They offered a waiting room, and the dog was welcome too.
Well, didn't the parts place send over the parts within fifteen minutes of ordering, and two hours later Tim had us back on the road, having replaced a brake pad, and a couple of other parts. Such a miracle of kindness and efficiency!
CAA came through again. I think I have sung their praises before, but it is worth repeating. They always answer the phone within a minute or two, a real person, none of this AI nonsense some companies use. They send a tow or a repair person always under an hour even in the worst weather and busiest time, which person fixes the problem or tows you to a safe haven. I have been a member for decades. The cost is so low, but their services have been far beyond the expense: tires changed, batteries boosted, cars unlocked, once when a baby was locked inside they put an emergency rush on the call and were there in munutes, and a tow when the car was dead, to my own garage or a safe and helpful place. I do not know of a better company for service, except, of course, for most small, independent, businesses, whose service is excellent because their livelihood is on the line with every customer.
This was an excellent adventure. We were very lucky - it could have been disastrous, it was alarming, to say the least, to have the brake pedal suddenly go all the way to the floor. It has only happened when I have gone through a deep puddle of water, and response returned to normal immediately. Thankful that the next exit was so close and that Cobourn was only two km. down the road, and that Tim was so excellent and accommodating. I don't know if you would get such service in Toronto.
Tim's Repair, Colbourne, Ontario:
*****
Am fiuding small moments of magic in the city. One morning the branches of the cooper's hawk tree were faintly red from the rising sun: the same sun that rises each morning at the vineyard rises here. And frost on the yellow maple leaves.
Now, mid-December, almost the solstice. I will try to find the will to make a ritual for sun-return. In a long-ago life we used to have a solstice party: everyone brought a candle to light and lovely winter food to share and I mulled cider and wine.
Summa Yaga
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