Remembrance Day is a stat holiday here in British Columbia, so Vancouver is a pretty quiet town today. November 11th is the day when Canadians pause and reflect on the sacrifices of its men and women who gave their lives in wars. There is a moment of silence everywhere in Canada. Jumping time zones, a ripple across the land. Here. Lush, as always, even in the late fall. Damp, green clouds washing up on the mountain sides. Weather ever changing. Coffee. Cafes. Mean streets. Birds and buskers competing for a few crumbs. A free land. We, the descendants, the survivors of those who gave. We could do better to hold up our end of this grim bargain. Pick up a little trash, give a little more, take a little less.
Some guy loses it altogether out on Main. He grabs fruit from a stand and starts throwing it at people on the street. Cops come and pack him up in their van. Like collectors, or dog catchers, they drive around town until they have a full load- then cash it in. I drink coffee and look at the flowers. Nobody else appears to notice this Vancouver moment. At least it's not raining. At least the chalk drawings on the sidewalk are less pathetic, still crisp beneath the artist's hand, still full of color and hope. The artist's mind still picturing coins tossed into a rag, poured into a pocket, sucked back in a single serving of what is and what might have been.
Tugs are moving up the Fraser River. Lumber tugs with forests of logs dragged behind. Tugs with barges linked one after the other. Somewhere a five year old boy is setting this up, hurling this dream out into the calm water to float. I'm captured by this boat. It's very similar to the one my friends and I are going to take down the Mississippi River. A big old, flat bottom, steel hull tug. Fifty three feet long. I'm going to bring the Blues to a whole lot of towns. More on this adventure later!
A lot of trees and bushes on Canada's left coast don't lose their leaves. Just sayin'. Myself, I'm basking in the luxury of this coast, knowing that I've got snow covered mountains and prairies waiting for me in the weeks to come.
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