The hour approaches...

Not uncommonly the approach of the end accelerates the dénouement while heightening its spellbinding elements. In just over a week we are bound to depart Longboat Key and return to Canada. As if by an intended mockery the weather lately has been nonpareil - dry, clear air and brilliant sunshine day after day.  Each morning is an awakening to ecstasy! Nor does it make matters easier that each day I discover new advancements and welcome vaporizations - literature, people, music and reflections.

The hopeless creature of habit I am, I cycled again this morning to Bayfront Park. I sat on a bench and gazed longingly at the vistas which soon will fade from immediacy. There is profit in this diminution; it is a prescient reminder of the bliss which currently prevails. Embellished by memento mori the significance is more acute. So overwhelming is the intoxication that I haven't time to dwell upon anything other than the present. It has taken me literally decades to achieve this now palatable result.

Following my ride I lay on a chaise longue at the beach. I walked to the pier again today.  I sat on the weathered concrete edge for a moment, idly hanging my feet into the turbulence and sand, staring at the swirls of salty foam and water. The combination of dazzling yellow sunshine, emerald water and wheaten sand was mesmerizing. People ventured on and off the pier, traveling to the far end then back onto the shore to resume their walk. The wind was from the northwest so upon my return I was able to swim in the sea and ride the waves homeward. Clusters of small children, sounding like squawking seagulls, milled about the beach, dashing in and out of the sea.