The right path

Sunset on the drive back to Toronto from Montreal yesterday evening
*

The drive between Montreal and TO takes five hours. Yesterday, heading back to TO, I looked at the clock and realised that had I not extended my stay, at that time (or thereabouts) on that date (Fri 31 July 2009) I would have been taking off from the Toronto airport for a five hour flight back to TT.

Instead, I was taking a 5 hour journey by road.

Along the route I spotted a total of five inuksuit (plural of inukshuk) standing on rocky cliff faces beside the highway. Each one 'jumped out' at me because I had read about the inuksuit just days ago in an original fictional piece a friend had sent me for feedback. Based on the meaning of the inukshuk, my immediate thought upon seeing each one was "I am on the right path".

Source of image and below text.

They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."

Where would you love to wake up tomorrow?

(Canada chronicles continued ...)

Saw this downtown Montreal on Wednesday evening and thought it was a great idea. You email them and tell them where you want to wake up tomorrow and they write your answer on the window in real time. Read more about it here ... and email your answer if so inclined.

... and now for some French lessons à la Montréal

(Canada chronicles continued ...)

Je suis ici à Montréal (I am here in Montreal), I mainly seem to be drawn to take photos of signs, maybe because they're in French. A great way to learn. Life is our best classroom.
Maintenant, le mercredi soir, je suis ici dans ce café 'downtown'. (Now, on Wednesday evening, I'm in this café downtown). Just in case I don't go to any cafés to blog or check email tomorrow, I'm pre-shceduling this as Thursday's post.
After buying a drink or something to eat (I bought darjeeling tea), they give you a card with a code to type in and connect to the wireless. Pouvez-vous comprendre le français?
J'aime cette poubelle (I like this dustbin). If I'm reading it correctly, it's basically saying 'hungry dustbin seeks dirty pizza'. Funny. Great idea to get people to throw rubbish in the bin by sticking clever signs like that. I wonder if it will work in Trinidad.

Stop

Because there are others ... think. Slow down. (At least, minus my dictionary and given the context, I would guess that 'ralentissez' means 'slow down').

And who can translate what this French chien (dog) is saying?

Wawa is the name of the company being advertised, but this Montreal billboard also implies that "wawa" is how dogs bark in French (or at least how humans would spell a French dog's bark).

I often wonder if animals in different countries have different accents. I first really wondered a few years ago when I was in Grenada and heard a barking dog, closely followed by a bleating goat, both sounding (to me) markedly different to those in Trinidad.

Has anyone else ever heard or wondered about animal accents?

Toronto tendrils

(Canada chronicles continued ...)
Maintenant je suis à Montréal autre fois (Now I am in Montreal again). Circled in red in the above photo is the café I'm in now (Café Choix Suprème) ... "the café down the road" where I use wireless internet once I'm here.

I used Supernova to spontaneously snap one of the huge billowing Canadian flags on the side of the highway as we headed to Montreal. Considering our speed, the way the flag was billowing, plus the fact that I had both zoomed in and snapped really quickly ... look at the clarity. No blur. What an amazing little camera.

*

Yesterday, leaving Toronto, I felt strange and sad. A cloud sat on my chest. Maybe it was the act of packing clothing into a little suitcase for the week in Montreal that made me feel on a subtle level what it will be like on the day I pack to return to TT. Had I not extended my stay, I would indeed have been leaving ... in three days. As we drove out of the city, heading for Montreal, the strange feeling persisted. I had felt it the last time too ... as though there were little heart-centred energetic tendrils connecting me to TO. I could feel them stretching and becoming thinner the further we pulled from the city ... but they didn't disappear. I sat quietly, feeling to burst into tears.

Sometimes I think "Am I making up this feeling?" No, how could I be? "Am I creating an illusion?" No, I don't think so. Then I think: "Well, am I on holiday?" No, it's not that either.

But ... why question? Just enjoy what is enjoyed and leave it at that.

Nothing is a coincidence

(Canada Chronicles continued ...)
One day last week when I was in Montreal I was walking with my cousin. We passed a shop displaying some brightly coloured images on fridge magnets and coasters for $1 each. I was drawn to a bright image of Cupid. My cousin was drawn to the image featured above. We made our purchases. As soon as she paid for the angel, she turned and gave it to me.

Maybe because I was in a French speaking place, the name Celestine popped into my head as I looked at the image of the angel. I then remembered the 'Celestine Prophecy' and the fact that there is no such thing as 'a coincidence'. Before we continued along our way, I said to Celestine (in French): "Show us signs along our path that lead us to the answers we need right now to advance our lives in accordance with our happiness."

Along the way, we passed many signs that had the word "Angel" in them ... whether on advertising, the names of buildings or even embedded within names of streets (e.g. Blvd Langelier). 'Coincidence'? Were we looking for it? Or was there really some kind of angelic presence?

We were on our way to look for a labyrinth in a park about 2 hours away on foot. As we walked, we were talking of a few things ... one of which was 'fear'. I was telling her that everyone feels fear at some point and that we need to push past it to get to the next level and where we want to be. At that moment I had looked at Celestine again and the cross she was carrying reminded me of an image I had seen once of my hero since childhood - Joan of Arc. How relevant. I started to tell my cousin about Joan and two of her quotes which I love:

(i) I am not afraid, I was born to do this
(ii) Act and God will act

Just a few seconds later, I looked up as we were about to cross a street... and right before us was a street sign: Blvd Jeanne d'Arc! (Joan of Arc Boulevard)

We were blown away. Coincidence or confirmation? Long story, but in that moment I confirmed the decision to extend my stay here an extra month.
Yesterday I was walking through town with a friend and saw this stick (above image) on the ground. It's the second one I've found since being here. It's in the shape of a divining rod. I see these "Y" shaped sticks as a sign that I'm being assisted in finding something important to me.

As my friend and I walked, I was telling her (relevant to our conversation) about a time I was in a meeting (in TT) and one of my peers had run out of the room, traumatised by a phonecall that a very dear friend of hers had been killed that morning in a car accident. After a while of several of us comforting her, I offered to take her home and stay with her until her sister came to keep her company. On the drive to her apartment, I didn't know what to say. What do you say to someone who has emitted such gutteral cries of grief and is still reeling in shock? The only thing that came to me was to ask her what were the things that she loved most about him ... what were some of her favourite memories of their times together ... what kind of person was he?

This kept her talking about things that she found pleasant, even though sad (given the circumstances). At one point, just before reaching her apartment, I saw a car heading toward us. It had her deceased friend's name (NICHOLAS) emblazoned across its windscreen in red with a huge red heart next to it.

"Look! He's hearing you talk about him and he's sending to say he loves you!" I exclaimed.

Coincidence? Confirmation? Consolation?

So ... I was telling my friend this story as we walked yesterday in Toronto with my divining rod ... and lo and behold, just as I finished telling it to her, we stopped to cross a street, I looked up ... and we both gasped as my finger pointed to the name of the street:

St. Nicholas St.

Coincidence? It gave us the confirmation that we are on the right path and are being guided.

Driving to Montreal (a video poem)

(Canada chronicles continued ...)

While driving to Montreal with my cousin Gene, I used the camera on my laptop to shoot this footage and quickly edited it as we were on the road. The music is a short track I quickly put together in Reason and looped it for the length of the video.

Les arbres me regardent.
Je les regarde aussi.
Le ciel est content
Nous sommes contents aussi.

The trees are looking at me.
I look at them too.
The sky is happy.
We are happy too.