Being home again...

I imagine there is no one who doesn't feel the commendatory impact of being back on home territory after a prolonged absence. A palpable subjectivity overwhelms me upon my return home.  It helps that we live in a notoriously prepossessing rural community within the National Capital Region - and one which in particular bustles with undeniably artistic activity. Recently we have heard of local denizens who - to our utter surprise - are even contemplating removal from the territory.  Given the proximity of endless services, professionals and stores it is difficult to understand what more one could possibly want.  There is for example an estimable general hospital, two chartered banks, three pharmacies, schools for people of all ages and religions, an optometrist, two dentists, several lawyers, accountants, chiropractors and massage therapists, three coffee shops (and a coffee roaster), a brewery, a national grocery store, the County land registry office, many churches (though no temples or synagogues), an active and singular retail and restaurant sector, a variety of excellent residential opportunities for both tenants and owners, numerous parks, two hydro-electric generating plants (public and private), a magnificent river passing through the centre of the Town and a nearby 18-hole golf course.

All these external advantages don't begin to diminish the especial attraction of being among one's own territory and things.  It was mere hours following our return home that we succumbed to our passion for bicycling on the bucolic country roads, the heart-warming combination of Arcadian scenery and fresh air.

Over the past several days we have importantly modified our collection of stuff by disposing of things which have rested secreted and unused in closets and elsewhere for in excess of 4 years since we moved into the apartment.  We naturally intended to take care of those items ages ago but other duties got in the way of less demanding change. At last however we arose to sufficient frustration to motivate an abandonment of the superfluous objects. The subsequent activity cleared more than the physical spaces; there is a very real sense of spiritual elevation and mental disbursement. One family photo has been removed from a desk drawer to a wall in the study - so not everything has been precipitously tossed.

We have been back home for one week. During that time we have attended primarily to domestic matters, important personally but not otherwise critical.  Beginning next Monday we start a series of medical (heart institute, GP and neurologist), dental and optometric attendances.  Some of these meetings are predicted to be merely bureaucratic but others are not guaranteed to be so inconsequential. As anxious as we are to conclude those conferences there is no choice for the moment but the march of time. But by the end of April we should at least have a fresh and current understanding of where we're headed in the longer run.