Village Vagaries

Though we missed the 3rd Annual Pancake Breakfast at Burnstown United Church - maybe we'll be able to make it next year - we celebrated this ideal brilliant mid-summer Sunday morning by going nearby to Neat Café for what proved to be a perfectly sumptuous repast. We four - and trusty little French bulldog Max - languished on the outdoor patio in the glistening sunshine, recapitulating, aimlessly sharing stories, interests and agenda. I overheard a blasé and hitherto unknown ambition from our friend to be a pilot.  What makes someone wish to fly, to want to sail in the air?  To me it rings of far more adventure than appeals to my native sensibilities; but I imagine those who are struck by the yearning are strongly motivated. His 49th birthday approaches. When is the moment right?

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

by T. S. Eliot

And indeed there will be time

To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”

Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —

(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —

(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)

Do I dare

Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse

...

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

Because our companions are urban dwellers (though originally from the Natural North), we posited the proposal to take the back roads to our place for a fleeting inspection. The venture took us through the Villages of Burnstown and Waba, White Lake and the Villages of Blakeney (formerly Rosebank) and Pakenham.

Apparently the clerical influence on the rural population was alive this Sunday morning - as the country roads were peaceful and unobstructed. We wound about the map, deliberately keeping off the grid, even coming upon a deer wandering across the dirt road at Bennie's Corners into the field, quizzically regarding our invasion. On the 8th Line Ramsay Township we passed by the Mill of Kintail (former residence of R. Tait Mackenzie, MD and renowned sculptor) and the home of the late Leonard Lee of Lee Valley Tools.

As we neared the metropolis of Almonte I diverted the patient wanderers into the Auld Kirk cemetery for a glimpse at our final piece of real estate.