Cleansing and Clearing

(Canada chronicles continued ...)

Yesterday afternoon when I left home around 3:00, it wasn't raining. By the time Kelly and I met at Bathurst station for 4:30, it was. We were meeting to go to the labyrinth. On the way there (got off at Queen subway station) we went to Henry's and I bought Supernova, my new Canon Elph who took the pics below. By the time we left Henry's, the rain was heavier. We put plastic bags on our heads and walked to the labyrinth.
Because of the fairly heavy rain, we momentarily wondered if we should take a 'rain check' on the labyrinth walk. "But just come and see something first," I said to Kelly. I took her to see the special finger labyrinth near the entrance to the walking one ... designed for the blind. When I had seen it a few days ago, I found it to be so thoughtful that I wanted it to be the first thing I would take a shot of if/when I bought a new camera. (But it turned out to be about the third or fourth thing I took a shot of).

I was impressed by the fact that there's even something (the explanation, perhaps) written in Braille (which in this shot looks like butterfly eggs).

Once near to the labyrinth it was hard to resist its magnetic pull. Rain or no rain. We walked in purposeful silence, wearing our plastic bags (Kelly wore a Henry's bag, I wore an Honest Ed's one). I had opted to bring the bags because the last two times I'd walked the lab I noticed it was really dirty, with everything from cigarette butts to Tim Horton's debris. As I walked ahead of Kelly, I picked up the rubbish (mainly soggy cig butts) on the path (using green Post-It notes as 'gloves' so I wouldn't have to touch the rubbish directly) and put it into my other Honest Ed's bag. Not only did I feel like I was 'clearing the way' and removing obstacles from our path, but it felt like an act of gratitude to this sacred labyrinth which gives so much to whoever walks it. The falling rain added to the overall cleansing.

I've walked labyrinths many times, but something about this particular walk felt like my best ever.

Afterwards, still wearing our plastic hats, we wandered smiling in the rain, amidst umbrellas and raincoats on our way to Dundas Station.
The door that stopped in front of us when the train pulled in had this lipstick heart on it. I think the message in this image is saying: Don't push or rush or hold onto the door to Love. Let it come to you and open automatically.