A Good Weekend?

Sunday would be 26 April, which has always been a special day for me.

I walked into this weekend feeling blue. The eight-year-old boy of an old friend of mine had prematurely passed away, losing his year-long battle with a rare form of bone cancer. Another friend of mine who’s sister had passed away, also to cancer. Another still whose five-year-old son had passed away a few months ago. Another friend who was battling an unknown neurological disease. I tried to do everything I could to feel better, and by all accounts, I had a great weekend but I was still feeling blue.

I turned my Friday evening brutal commute into a short road trip, stopping along the way at Ocean Beach to reflect upon, and say prayers for my buddy Jim and his son Lane that had just passed, of Tanya and her sister Beth, of Miriam and her son Holden, of Dawn, of countless others. Arriving home, after a nice walk with Taylor at Sherwood Forest, we settled into the night. I was emotionally spent, and by 8:30 PM, I was fast asleep. Waking up a little after midnight, unable to sleep, I watched again the movie I watched the previous evening – Interstellar, an epic space adventure set in the future about finding a new world to live in after recognizing that our planet Earth was almost dead. It was also a story based on science, specifically Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and the space/time continuum. But more than anything, it was the story of the bond shared between a father and his daughter, and doing whatever he could to come back to her. I loved it.

Saturday morning, we awoke to the sunrise and as the morning was moving along, Taylor and I went to Remington Dog Park, his first visit to a dog park since we moved to Sausalito. I was a little apprehensive, mainly cos Taylor plays rough; and if something happens, no matter what, because of his size, breed and demeanor, he would get blamed for the blowout, no matter how fun, playful and lovable he is. As it was, he had the time of his life, playing with other dogs, playing by himself, playing catch with me, and running all around the park. Luckily, none of the other dogs went after him, which meant he didn’t have the opportunity to knock them down. When I saw a Rottweiler enter the park 45 minutes later, Tay and I left. He was beat, but happy.

Once we arrived back home, I took out my paints. Sunday was one of my closest friend’s birthday; and so I started a painting inspired by a list she posted of photographs from around the world, one scene a photograph of trees around a pond with swans in the middle, happily oblivious to the beauty around them.

I spent the afternoon writing in my journal. And that night, watched the Manning family special “The Book of Manning”, chronicling the lives and careers of Archie Manning and his sons Cooper, Peyton, and Eli. And afterwards, once again, I watched Interstellar.

On Sunday, after waking up early to watch the sunrise, Taylor and I went for a nice long walk. I could tell he was still beat from his field trip to the dog park. We were celebrating my old dog Jack’s birthday. Jackyboy passed in June 2002. Today was his birthday. April 26th is one of my favourite days, if only because in remembrance of that beautiful Chow that was with me and with my family oh so long ago in Chicago. Once we came back and I fed Tay, I cooked myself breakfast – bacon with brown sugar sprinkled on top, fresh vine-ripened tomatoes with black pepper & salt each slice served with cilantro and both fresh & cooked jalapeño slices, carmelized pearl onions & shallots on the side and of course eggs over easy. It was amazing to say the least.

Then I started another painting and continued the painting from yesterday, adding more colour and adding the swans. After a few hours of painting, it was time for lunch.

I sautéed crawfish with Cajun spices, shallots, jalapeños, and kafir lime leaves served with tomato wedges. It was even better than breakfast; and I loved breakfast.

It was a good weekend.
And yet, I couldn’t shake the blues.