From September to June, I am an apartment dweller.
My apartment is on the top floor of an 8-storey building, and overlooks Lake Ontario and the city skyline here in Toronto.
Usually, it's the colours I notice when I stand at the door to the balcony in the morning, ritualistically sipping my lemon water with chlorophyll... but the colour scheme in winter here on the lake becomes pretty monochromatic, and this morning, it was the movement along the shoreline which captivated me for so long, and which aided in my procrastination from working on report cards...
My apartment is on the top floor of an 8-storey building, and overlooks Lake Ontario and the city skyline here in Toronto.
Usually, it's the colours I notice when I stand at the door to the balcony in the morning, ritualistically sipping my lemon water with chlorophyll... but the colour scheme in winter here on the lake becomes pretty monochromatic, and this morning, it was the movement along the shoreline which captivated me for so long, and which aided in my procrastination from working on report cards...
The first little bay was mostly frozen, but behind the island, the water rippled in the wind, and a little further down a spray of waves lapped gently up against the shore. Between the first island and the shore, a cluster of ducks huddled together in the half-ice/half water, a flurry of wings occasionally disturbing the peace as one or more birds either joined the huddle or departed it to get on with the business of their ducky day.
Further out, the movement was more vigorous in the water, and I observed the waves pushing determinedly towards the shores out behind the landfill park. Even the steady, silent city in the background had its moving accents: The blades of the large windmill downtown could be seen turning in the distance, a small plane flew overhead en route to CYTZ, and white puffs drifted silently from so many smokestacks, creating little white streams of "cloud" in front of the taller buildings behind.
The upper winds were relatively strong, too, and the real clouds overhead moved in large foreboding clusters across the grey winter skies.
Closer to home, a little brown dog is running along the snow-covered path, an enormous stick trailing from her mouth. Her owner lags behind but catches up as Dawg drops her treasure and stops to sniff a nearby bush. Even barren vegetation in winter offers a plethora of meaningful scent to the discerning canine!
I am drawn back into my apartment, and over to my desk, where my laptop sits calling to me amid stacks of neatly ordered piles of student work samples... "Report cards, Ms. Teschow... " I hear it calling gently... and then, a little louder and considerably more firmly: "Come on, lady, you only have two hours before you have to get your kids, get started already!"
Further out, the movement was more vigorous in the water, and I observed the waves pushing determinedly towards the shores out behind the landfill park. Even the steady, silent city in the background had its moving accents: The blades of the large windmill downtown could be seen turning in the distance, a small plane flew overhead en route to CYTZ, and white puffs drifted silently from so many smokestacks, creating little white streams of "cloud" in front of the taller buildings behind.
The upper winds were relatively strong, too, and the real clouds overhead moved in large foreboding clusters across the grey winter skies.
Closer to home, a little brown dog is running along the snow-covered path, an enormous stick trailing from her mouth. Her owner lags behind but catches up as Dawg drops her treasure and stops to sniff a nearby bush. Even barren vegetation in winter offers a plethora of meaningful scent to the discerning canine!
I am drawn back into my apartment, and over to my desk, where my laptop sits calling to me amid stacks of neatly ordered piles of student work samples... "Report cards, Ms. Teschow... " I hear it calling gently... and then, a little louder and considerably more firmly: "Come on, lady, you only have two hours before you have to get your kids, get started already!"
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