MISS Dahlia's BIRTHDAY
So, I wake up Friday morning immediately remembering that today is Dahlia’s birthday, the day when she completes 12 revolutions of the sun. My mind wanders back 12 years ago when she arrived here in Sudbury six and a half weeks ahead of schedule, born to a mother, Mary Bess Keitha Dabliz who faints at the sight of blood. How Mary Bess pulled this off, I thought, was a true modern-day miracle. And
As it turned out, Thursday had been a foreshadowing of what was about to occur on Friday. On Friday morning Mary Bess gets a call that Adam has been exposed to COVID-19 by a teammate on his hockey team and that he must isolate. Then on again…off again…on again… Birthday is…off again. Foiled by the fickle finger of fate; duped by the devious digit of destiny or as Doris Day would have sung it, “Que
A quick text to Rahul to inquire about his availability produced an instant reply. Yes! Oh yes… he was available! Shenanigans was on. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of “shenanigans” let me pause here to explain.
The best definition I could find comes from the urban dictionary where shenanigans is described as feisty fun with jokes and rowdy behavior. It is also described a
I met Rahul Dev at the Moonlight confectionery on Bancroft Drive in April 2012. He and his wife Manu had arrived in Canada on April 3, 2012 travelling from Punjab, India. Because he had been a doctor in India, he was immediately granted permanent residency and took up residence with Manu’s uncle and his wife Kamal who at the time were the proprietors of Moonlight confectionery. I liked to stop off
Back then I was cycling in Cuba on a regular basis in the winter and constantly on the lookout for someone/anyone who was prepared to accompany me to act as my “minder”, and fit enough to keep up. Rahul appeared to me to be a suitable candidate given his credentials and he accepted my invitation to join me in Cuba the first week in January 2013. And we had a ball. This photo is Rahul running the l
Now for Rahul and I, shenanigans means going to Guyland, building a fire (Rahul being the Firemaster); playing my list of 273 favourite songs very loudly, having a sauna in the Birdhouse where we discuss the intractable problems in the world and how they should be solved; going walkabout, and on the odd occasion drinking to excess.
This photo is Rahul and I hitching a ride in the back of a turnip truck (seriously), giving new meaning to the expression “falling off the...
Even though we ostensibly have nothing in common, Rahul and I have experienced some incredibly improbable coincidences. I was born in ‘48; he in ‘84. He is 37; I am 73. I was born on August 17; he was born on August 24. We both have a nephew named Ryan. He li
It was about 2 PM on that Friday afternoon of Dahlia’s birthday that Rahul and I set off from the Guyland Ferry Terminal by kayak. Destination: Guyland. Objective: “Shenanigans”
The temperature was in the mid-single digits and the wind from the west at about 15 km/h. This meant that we would be paddling into the waves. Sunset was predicted to be at 4:45 PM. We were going to have to hurry to complet
So off we went with me in the red kayak and Rahul in the larger and more stable yellow kayak, both of course wearing life jackets. I am a self-taught kayaker and have been enjoying the sport ever since that day sometime in the latter part of the last century when some SOB stole my canoe. I’m not sure what I would do if I ever flipped the kayak over whilst inside because it has never happened to m
Rahul and I have specific duties when we engage in Shenanigans, so we got right to it upon landing. It is his job to get the fire started and mine to tidy up the Birdhouse and get the sauna started. We proceeded with the confidence that comes from experience.
It is also my job to get the wine ready for presentation and adjust the volume of the music so that it can barely be heard on the mainland. T
It wasn’t long before I noticed that the sun seemed to be preparing for its dissent and, as usual, I had to pry Rahul away from the fire and get him and the remaining wine down to the sauna to prepare ourselves for the voyage home. I was looking forward to the journey because the waves would be pushing us forward and I knew that I very quickly would traverse the harrowing quarter mile between the
I was vaguely aware that Rahul was not behind me as I rounded the corner and paddled my kayak into the bay on the “port” side of our house. What startled me though, was Mary shouting at me at the top of her lungs from the deck off our sunroom-something to the effect that she had received a call from Rahul, and he had fallen out of the kayak which he had abandoned and that he was soaking wet, and h
Mary handed me a bag of dry clothes for Rahul (God I love that woman) and an extra paddle to be used by Rahul with the green kayak which had been previously stationed on the island as a backup. My red kayak had now become a coffin with two oars and a bag of clothes…and me. I paddled as fast as I could and within minutes the first thing I saw was an upside down kayak and floating beside it was a pa
And there not 20 feet away on the shore stood our Rahul Dev naked as a jaybird and wearing nothing but a smile. That water is ice cold this time of year and there was no need for a fig leaf to preserve his dignity, but those dry clothes I was carrying were going to come in handy. He recalled how he had leaned a little bit too far to the left where he reached the “tipping point” and the next thing
So, what are the lessons to be learned from all of this? Well number one-don’t kayak at night. Number two- if you are feeling a little “tipsy” it’s probably not a good idea to get into a kayak when it’s a little “tipsy” as well. And number three is you can’t count on conditions being ideal when a mishap occurs. We were incredibly lucky that, although it was dark, we had a full moon; that the lake