Number 4 - The Cat

I've been looking after the cat for a few weeks while my parents are out of the country. I wouldn't call her old, but she is set in her ways and has been in our family since I was in highschool.

The cat loves being outside in the sun, and her favourite spot is under some tall flowers in the garden where she can watch the world without being seen. I said to my mum a few weeks ago that when the cat's time comes, it will be in the fall. She loves summer so much that if she is on death's doorstep in spring I'm positive that the sunlight will rejuvinate her, whereas in the fall its disapperance will just plain kill her. In the winter she paws at the back door wanting to be out, only to look out at the snow with disgust when I open the door and turn her back in a huff.

This morning it wasn't raining as it had the past few days, and with her looking longingly out the window this morning I took the chance and let her out while I ate my breakfast, hoping that she'd come back when I was on my way out the door to head to work. The cat did not come back when I called. Cats are funny that way. Most days she'll come, but once and a while her cat-nature asserts itself and she ignores me completely.

The cat and I already have a tacit understanding these days since I work all day and am not able to feed her the required four times a day as my parents do, nor do I allow her into my bedroom at night since she jumps on my dresser and knocks things off one by one until I pay her attention.

All this to say that the cat was left outside all day, from 8am until 6pm as a result of not coming when I called. I had explained that this would happen if she didn't come, but alas, she did not understand. When I walked into the kitchen after work she was sitting at her post on the back window sill looking longingly inside. She had a glazed-over look in her eye, and I wonder how many hours she'd spent sitting there waiting for me to walk in. The moment I walked in, and I caught her eye, I swear I saw a brief moment of cat-love. She rushed in when I opened the door; although toward her food and not toward me, so I guess cat-love is short-lived.

After she ate she saught me out and curled up on my lap to be pet. I often curse the cat, but do have to admit she provides good company and gives me something to talk at (I restrained myself from saying "talk to"), and we have some nice moments together when the tacit understanding turns to genuine affection.

Number 3 - Light

My perfect moment today came when I was looking at a series of paintings and noticed the way that light is captured in them.

I recently met an artist who told me about the painting she's currently doing. She takes photographs and replicates them as paintings. The idea being that the paintings are objects that cannot be altered or deleted, unlike digital photographs. Prior to seeing them I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that they are the size of actual photographs, but I had no concept of the type of photographs she works with.

The way she captured light in the paintings amazes me.

Look at how the light is glowing from behind the clouds and lighting up the land.






And in this one the light reflecting off the silo rooves.








Here the glowing of the sky across the horizon.







And here the clarity of the water, and value difference as it deepens. Also, the light captured on his shoulder.






Looking through her paintings gave me the chills, and nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Paintings by Eileen MacArthur

Number 2 - A memory

This moment was not fleeting, it lasted a whole evening. It's one that stands out so clearly in my mind that even though it didn't happen today I want to record it.

A few years ago I was living further north and had a great friend with whom I worked. It was this time of year, hence why I've been thinking about it lately. One afternoon I got a phone call from her inviting me to go home with her after work. We drove north to the small town where she lives on Georgian Bay. When we got there her husband was waiting with the car packed and ready to go. We piled in and went down to the dock where they had a small boat.

In the warm late-summer evening we headed out on the water to Beausoleil island. Her sons were 7 and 9 at the time, a marvellous age when they're brimming with curiosity and energy. On the island we had a picnic, found small frogs, the boys played in the mud and splashed in the water. On the way back home we watched the sun set over the water as the boys slept in the back of the boat. It was one of those evenings that was so perfect I sat looking out over the water enveloped in a feeling of joy at life and surrounded by people I loved.

Number 1 - An unexpected song

This is the start of a new project. My goal is to find something every day that makes the world wonderful, even if only fleetingly. I have often collected those moments and re-told them over dinner. Moments like the time I read a ridiculous advertisement on the bus and noticed a man across the aisle doing the same. A moment later we happened to catch the twinke in each other's eye, both chuckled, and smiled with the knowledge of two strangers sharing a joke. Those are the moments I'm looking for. Those gilmmering perfect moments.

A few years ago I moved to the other side of the world for love. Recently that relationship heart-breakingly fell apart and I am in the process of starting my life anew. I've been focussed on sadness and grief, and a friend suggested I try journalling. Today as I was driving I was struck by one of those perfectly unexpected moments and started thinking about the depth they give my life, and that I should be focussing on those wonderful moments that happen every day. That was when I decided to start this project. For one year I am going to find one perfect moment every day.

Once in a while a day comes along that I know is going to be perfect, but most often moments of wonderful are as fleeting as a single heartbeat when something beautiful strikes a chord deep within me.

Today that moment lasted 2 minutes and 50 seconds as I listened to a song on the radio. I was driving along the 401 toward London, listening to the CBC. It is my great aunt and uncle's 65th wedding anniversary, and I was meeting them for brunch in Talbotville. Suddenly the opening chords of a song started that made me smile.

It is not a song that has particularly struck me in the past. Today though, it gave me that heart-bursting happiness as the music filled the car.

The song that came on was Susie Arioli singing "Beyond the sea". There was something about the quality of her voice combined with the words that had me imagining standing on the shore with the sun shining down and the breeze whipping my hair in my face.

Listen to it and see if you agree.

Image from http://www.brianbeasley.co.uk/gallery.asp