March 13, I slipped on the ice in an isolated area. It took me 15 minutes to drag myself back into my truck, and two hours before my predicament was discovered by passers-by, followed by an ambulance ride into Cornwall Community Hospital.
One day later, a total hip replacement operation. Ouch! March 19: transfer to St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre, with daily rehab sessions. Ouch!
Then my computer crashed. Ouch! Back to handwritten weekly DWW’s. Obliging wife Juliet transcribes and edits my scribbles. Then follows the complex process of scouting a suitable image and transmitting it without a computer. This week’s photo was taken with my 250mm lens from my second-floor room’s vantage point.
With no access to the internet’s vast resources, this week’s column has been drastically narrowed to a simple challenge for you: “What country’s flag is being used as a protective shield from snow?”
From my limited and very narrow observation point I scrutinize all movements: the golden Lab gets taken for a half-hour walk three times a day. It enters and exits its apartment home by the back door. A tiny black dog enters and exits from the front door, twice a day. A couple walks their pair of lively huskies twice a day. An old house across the street went up for sale. When it lay vacant, two large trailer loads of junk were hauled away. For a week, more than a dozen prospective buyers walked around it, making all sorts of gestures with their hands, arms and shoulders. One week later a “Sold” sign was posted.
I can tell you all about the six different suppliers of foods, laundry services and technical repairs and adjustments. The 18-wheelers’ drivers negotiate the parking lot with respectable expertise. I admire how the western sky changes from dawn to dusk to night: contrails coming from the west and south, bound for Europe and Asia, the latter via a polar route. My habits are those of the reporter in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, “Rear Window.”
Some day my bonds and pains will be removed. Once again I’ll be able to get behind the wheel, pedal my bike and paddle our canoe. Some day. In the meantime, please, another Tylenol. Do you have anything stronger?
