Category Archives: Thoughts

A Cuppa For Thor

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What is it about hot drinks like tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and gluvine that settles the mind and body at the start or end of the day? Is it simply that it takes time to cool before we can drink; time were we can reflect on the tasks ahead or past; time to just sit and be.

I love thunderstorms. Though when I was a child staying at our chalet in Quebec in summer, we would often experience long violent storms without any power for several hours. It used to scare me when I was very young, but over time I found the sound and display of nature’s fireworks impressive. @ShawnaCoronado tweet though evoked a double entendre of Thor as a plumber complete with butt crack.

Eos’ Glow

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photo by @thechannelc and used under the terms of the Creative Commons

As always I never have a camera to capture the scene of my thoughts here in Cannes, but @thechannelc has a beautiful moment she captured during her trip to New Zealand that fits just as well.

A Sunday evening twilight alone and tweeting by candle light and laptop glare; supper, wine, haiku games, and random snippets of on the spot philosophy (in French no less), more wine.

I was a little maudlin by the end of that evening and thinking way back to when our family used to have an holiday apartment in the mountain village of Leysin, Switzerland (tourist office). How at night there are no lights to wash out the vast view of the stars, how air is so clear and fresh, and the water like crystal and sensuous across the tongue.

Of course come next morning, I felt a little naughty, and who better to share a naughty thought with than an online friend I’ve never meet like @amykate. Not sure she caught the double entendre though of the haiku.

Resonate Thoughts

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I’ve written before about The Grandfather Clock (Tempus Fugit) that came from our former family chalet. Well it stands right next to my desk, ticking and chiming away the moments of each day. This morning while preparing my earlier post and playing haiku games on twitter, I snapped out of a moment of reverie as the clock struck the top of the hour. A flash of l’Esterel and the seasons past came to mind along with a wistful smile.

Erato On The Pull

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I was out last Thursday walking to a night club for a little amusement. Maybe pull some bird. It was a lovely full moon, with a faint misty haze before it, diffusing its soft light; scent of jasmine strong in the cool night air.

Erato, as Wikipedia explains, is one of the Greek Muses that inspires lyric poetry, typically romantic and erotic verse. And Selene is the goddess of the moon I’ve often written of.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (club), no sooner than I composed the haiku as a note on my cell phone, some women crying and smelling of spilt beer stops me in the street, tells me about the recent death of her mother, and asks if I can help her back to her hotel. She clearly was having trouble with the vertical axis, so I help her out, find the hotel, and see her up to her room. Next thing she’s wanting me to come into her room and spend the night.

While this sounds like some teenage fantasy come true, I really didn’t fancy her, and it would not have been proper to take advantage of her in such an emotional and drunken state. I had to tear myself away from her as she tried to pull me into the room.

I think I should be careful about invoking Erato’s and Selene’s names in my haiku in future, cause I clearly I got more than I bargained for.

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Milkweed pod from the cover of Words And Music and back of liner notes for The Book Of Secrets.This morning while walking Baka and listening to Lorenna McKennitt’s album The Book Of Secrets, I started to think about the suggestive photo of the milkweed pod on the back of the liner notes.

I imagined a woman lying nude and asleep in my bed, me awake, simply watching her, and how much would I ever come to understand her. I then wrote these two versions and I couldn’t decide which of the two expressed that thought more clearly.

So far, nothing has happened yet after having invoked Erato’s name twice in one morning, but the day is far from over yet.

Parting Clouds

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I rose early today, not from restlessness as I had a week before, but to the sound of the infernal alarm clock reminding me that I actually desired to be woken so that I might go for a 10Km run. It wouldn’t have been so bad I suppose if I hadn’t been having an interesting dream. So 15 minutes later I rise, dress in my kit, and take Baka out for his morning walk.

It was an interesting morning. It showed such promise of being an overcast day, with a light fragrant breeze of jasmine. It was silent except for the chorus of birds and the faint rustling of leaves. No one around to disturb the dawn, but for the solitary toll of a nearby chapel bell.

Today’s run was slow, even laborious since I neglected to stretch properly before starting out. My knee reminding me of that fact (and that it might be time for new running shoes). Still I pressed on listening to Delain’s album Lucidity on my phone (no I do not want an iPod).

Along the way I could see the clouds out over the Mediterranean sea, between Cap d’Antibes and Cannes, and how the sun was trying to break through. Observing the struggle of the light, I composed a haiku on the fly as it were.

Alas the sun appears to have driven off the clouds for now. Looking forward at Meteo France for the Alpes-Maritimes though shows promise of being partially cloudy, maybe even rain (muhahaha), this V-E Day long weekend.