~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Guermantes and Meseglise ~ Monday, September 11, 2006

There may be only one journey, but there are many ways.

I was talking to my brother recently, and saying that though I still love walking, I'm a little tired of the two routes available to me out of our neighborhood: one to the left, the other to the right.

He pointed out that in Proust, there were also two ways--the Guermantes Way and the Meseglise Way. And so, of course, I knew that the leftways path for me was the Guermantes Way and the rightways path was the Meseglise Way, in the lexicon of my own particular geography.

And I have been out walking these last couple of days. Autumn is definitely here--I need a sweater or jacket when I go. But I do love it. I just hope there will still be lots of leaves left by the time Glenn and Mum arrive.
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 11:20 AM::::
0 comments






Saturday afternoon in the Universe ~ Saturday, September 09, 2006



Today feels extraordinarily like a Saturday afternoon in Germany. By which, of course, I mean that it feels extraordinarily like a Saturday afternoon in the Giessen of about 12 years ago, in early autumn.

And it's strange that I should even say that in a way, because I am sitting at our dining table, looking at our gorgeous, treed back yard (where the leaves are still predominantly green, with just the lightest flecks of yellow, almost like slanted sunlight on a late afternoon, hitting just a branch and changing its colour). The ground has a light smattering of vibrant red and yellow (and just a few brown) leaves--but nothing approaching the thick canopy it will be later in the season.

Compare this with the world I knew in Giessen. The view from my room: a tall wide window and door leading to a balcony, overlooking a series of slanting roofs and alleys curving off into the distance. The feel of the grey sky is the same as it is here--somehow different to me than the grey sky in Vancouver, though I couldn't have said why.

The other home view I had in Giessen was from our kitchen, looking out over the street and high enough to be able to see over the wall and into the cemetery just across the way. Perhaps this is part of what evokes Germany for me today--the grey sky and the decidous trees, for I seem to recall that Giessen, like Waterloo, featured primarily decidous groves and forests, rather than the array of coniferous trees, occasionally sprinkled with decidous, that is more common in Vancouver.

So perhaps, it is the feel of the grey Saturday afternoon, the look of the decidous trees and the sense of quiet outside. I haven't heard the movement of many cars or much activity, and that also reminds me of Saturday afternoons, after the market and the shops are all closed, and we are stocked up with food for the next day and a half, until the shops re-open on Monday. It feels like the world is quiet and dreamy and lost in the gentle grey of the afternoon. As if everything is closed and everyone is snuggled up at home, comfortable and cosy--enjoying the day outside without needing to be a part of it.

That is why it feels like an autumn day in Giessen, circa 1994.
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 12:13 PM::::
0 comments