How to October
Well that was a pretty fly summer wasn’t it?
Went down to the beach just before the rain and it was awesome. The sky to the west was soo dark, I mean that kind of navy blue/grey that makes you think of Aunty Em, a shallow bloom of pink like a freak sunrise at the horizon, and the water just seemed so incongruous, you know, like paint but a colour that doesn’t have a name and looks like a luminous combo of salt and shells and the nectar from a fruit you’ve never seen and then you look to your left and there’s a wide slice of tumult, the water sort of inhaling the sky and the sky sort of guzzling the water in stir-crazy greys. And then you look straight up and it’s as blue as July, a couple of white fluffy clouds and then you look back to the navy part and it’s both darker and lighter and you think there must be extra suns or something.
Thanks September, that was exhilarating af. A pleasure to see and a pleasure to say
When I got up this morning, 5:18 I think it was, it was dark as could be out there and I just sat a spell and thought of my old friend whose birthday is today. But he didn’t make it. None of us do. None of us make it out alive.
Anyway, here’s to Octobering with grace, motherfuckers
Not like those late-to-the-party Monarchs who are frantically throwing themselves to the wind these days. Did you miss them this year? I mean the congregations? In prior years they held meetings in the sycamore trees that bank part of the trails around here and they’ve been absent this year and I mentioned it to my sister who said didn’t you hear? They left early this year because of the hurricanes.
I don’t know if that makes your head spin but mine’s still going
And speaking of weird and wonderful alignments, I listened to WTF with Marc Maron yesterday. I love him. I totally dig the rantings of intelligent pessimists – the more vulgar the better – as long as I can turn them off that is.
Everybody should have an off switch
He was talking with Toni Collette yesterday and she is now my fave actress and person-in-general and if anybody ever wants to make a movie of my life (can you hear Daisy’s eyes roll?) I’d like Toni Collette to play me please. I think she’d get it just right.
She described a rare event that I, too, experienced – in a different country and a different time – one that I’ve never heard anyone talk about and I’d almost convinced myself that this phenomenonwas exclusively enjoyed by those in attendance on that summer night more than thirty years ago at Long Beach, on the western edge of Canada.
Here’s what she said:
I remember standing on the rocks at the beach at Bronte with a couple of girlfriends and we’d been swimming and I stood on the rocks and did a fake tap dance and all these sparks were coming off my feet. So beautiful. (Marc: what causes that? What is that?) It’s a chemical reaction in the water. I don’t actually quite understand myself but it lights up. It looks like fireflies. (Oh wow) So when you splash in the water – have you never seen it? It’s magical. (No. Does it only happen in Australia?) No. I saw it once, oh, wait, that was Australia, too, sorry. Maybe. No. It doesn't just happen in Australia. I think it happens everywhere. But it’s rare. Things have to be lined up for it to happen. It doesn't just happen.
We all dropped acid that night and our sparks were more like sparklers than fireflies and they shot up from the sand when we ran along the edge of the ocean. That was my last LSD trip because I knew it would never get any better and I’d be chasing those sparks forever
Anyway. It’s a gorgeous day out there and what with all the fallen walnuts and apples and deep bicycle track braids I woulda been down a thousand times on the trail this morning if it weren’t for my mad hopscotch and double-dutch skills. I guess I really did learn everything I need to know in kindergarten.
