The Colours of Skaket Beach

The man in the silver car put down the windows, picked up his flute and started to play. The sweet sounds drifted across the warm sands and into the empty bay, the low tide leaving damp sand exposed for hundreds of yards.

A black photographer and an oriental model worked down in a dip, the setting sun behind her and her purple ball-gown, her face lit by a reflector and his flash.

An oriental woman with a club foot and crutches walked with her white friend, smiling at us as they went by.

Various groups of people littered the beach, annoyingly, as I was photographing Colleen and trying to get a clean and golden background.

The sun sank lower, flirting with the ocean, as the notes of Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring floated through the evening air (warm for me, cool for Colleen).  Brilliant yellows, golds, pinks and blues mingled in the sky.

The sun touched the ocean and my camera shutter crackled again and again, sometimes accompanied by flash to light up Colleen’s face, sometimes alone to get her in silhouette.

The sun disappeared.

Everyone burst into applause in appreciation.

I put my camera away.  The flute stopped.  Show over.

Unforgettable Canada

Day 1. Arrival. Quite the most spectacular thunderstorm I have ever seen, watched from the front porch.

Day 2. Walk along the Thames in London, in a beautiful park. In Middlesex.

Day 3. Go back in history one hundred years as we visit St Jacobs, a centre of Mennonite settlement (similar to the Amish)

Day 4. Family visit - meet three of my cousin’s children and their three partners and seven grandchildren. A riot does not ensue.

Day 5. Birthday cake at Grace’s house. See Cory’s magnificent cherrywood bar in the basement of his house. Eat the best steak ever (thanks, Doug). Dream about digging out a basement in our house in England.

Day 6. Travel to Sarnia on Lake Huron. See where Kathy grew up. Experience a gale coming in from the north across the lake. End the day with an excellent steak at the Keg, in London.

Day 7. Cross country to Toronto. Take a glass-bottomed lift up the CN tower with shut eyes. Lunch (steak) 1,000 ft above the nearby Toronto Porter Airport. Experience the surreal as we watch aircraft taking off and landing 1,000 ft below our restaurant.  Stand on a glass platform 1,000 ft (surprise) above the street and look straight down. Briefly.  Very, very briefly.

Brilliant breakfasts. Beverages.  BBQs. Early autumn colours. Chauffeured to and fro in the great Escape.

Canada. Unforgettable.