Waldo Words, Mountain Tops and Ocean Clouds

CLOUDS FORMING ON OCEAN

I like to sit in my yellow chair and look out the window. Sue says the chair is multi-coloured. I say it’s yellow.

​Anyway, I often sit in this yellow, multi-coloured chair and watch the maple leaves horsing around in the wind. I also listen to the river gurgling and the birds whistling songs that they’ve heard me scratch on my guitar. 

BUSTER'S BUDDY

What often pesters my mind is the worry bug. It uses buzzy words which warns me that I’d better watch the nice view now before some aggressive person or company get their money hungry hands on it. 

​That’s when I pick up my fat, dark blue book and look for a Waldo word. 

VIEW OF OCEAN NEAR JUDIQUE

By the way, Sue agrees that the Oxford Canadian Dictionary is dark blue. 

One particular day Waldo was standing next to the word, ‘GREEDY’.

​Greedy: “Wanting wealth to excess. Having or showing an excessive appetite for food or drink. Needing intensely.”

TREE ROOTS ON FRANEY MTN TRAIL

I believe this word is the crux of the reason for so much of our world’s degradation.

​Truth hides in multi-coloured places.
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BOULDER ON TOP OF FRANEY MTN

A few weeks ago we climbed Franey Mountain. I have four memories of this hike. One is how windy it was at the top. 

​Oh, wait, I have another memory that’s a sticker. That would make it number five.

It’s the memory of my hat blowing off my head and Judy, one of the hikers, having to make a big save so that my favourite hat wouldn’t blow over the edge. She should play for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I"M SITTING IN CHAIR ON TOP OF FRANEY

Actually another memory just came knocking. That’s number six. I remember the sign on top of the mountain that was supposed to warn people not to get too close to the edge. I think they thought they’d posted a sign of a man falling off the cliff, but to me it looked like a warning for a man not to go scuba diving in mid-air.

JUDY AFTER RESCUING MY HAT

The other three memories were: how hot it was, how breathless I would become from time to time and finally, how many mosquitos there were on the way up and on the way down. A billion of them were waiting for us in my truck.

​However, fun was had by all

VINCENT HITCH HIKING ON FRANEY MTN

On Sunday, three of us hiked the Cape Smokey Trail. The weather called for rain in the afternoon and maybe a thunder storm.

ON FRANEY

The weather in our real world and not the virtual world was sunny and warm with a little bit of a breeze. How different the world outside my window is from the world that is shown on the virtual screens.

KING OF FRANEY MOUNTAIN

ON FRANEY MOUNTAIN

My big dark blue dictionary has just pointed out another Waldo word, “REALITY”

​REALITY: What exists or is real.

This trail didn’t seem to be well-maintained. Maybe the Corona Virus had something to do with it.

HIKING THE CAPE SMOKEY TRAIL

At one point the narrow path was bordered on one side by what we like to call in the vernacular, ‘F all’. It was just a drop-off into a forest of spruce and pine. Luckily, it was only a small section of the trail, but one could say that if you weren’t paying attention or were looking into your virtual machine to see where you were while you were really there, you could actually find yourself scuba diving off the trail.

TAKING A BREAK ON CAPE SMOKEY TRAIL

I go back to my dark blue non-virtual dictionary where I find the Waldo word, ‘PAIN’:

PAIN: The condition of hurting. 

The little wooden bridges that crossed the wee brooks were in poor shape. At one point I nonchalantly leaned against one bridge’s railing and was lucky not to fall off. The railing began to give away and I almost tumbled into a world of ‘PAIN’. 

​One section of the trail was obviously a moose lavatory. It brought back some memories. Years ago I had a great idea. I haven’t had any since. This idea was great and I think Waldo would agree. The idea was, why not collect moose turds and sell them as Cape Breton golf balls.

​GREAT: Of a size, amount, extent, or intensity considerably above the normal or average. 

PUSHING THROUGH WINDFALLS

Another interesting thing about the trail was all the ant hills. Gigantic ant hills that dotted the side of the trail. One ant hill had a huge mound made out of thousands of spruce needles. I think that this might be the ants’ White House or Parliament Buildings.

I also saw Cinnamon Ferns, Bunch Berries, Twin Flower plants, Moccasin plants, Hawk Weed and lots more.

Now, you might ask, have I become a plant expert?

​No. Judy and Torey are plant experts. So I got a guided plant tour while I hiked.

CLOUDS FORMING ON OCEAN

Unfortunately, after passing through a thick section of wind-fallen trees, Torey tripped and hit her knee on a sharp rock. So, rather than carrying on with the climb, we stopped.

Luckily, Judy had first-aid material in her knapsack. I also contributed to Torey’s medical aid. I gave her an ice-pack which I’d carried in my public school grades one to five kid’s lunch bag. 

​We then made our way down towards a look-off, where we ate lunch.

​It was while we were eating our lunch and swatting at bugs that we saw a strange phenomenon. A way out on the ocean was a white island. This island seemed to be moving and rising and falling.
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VINCENT AND TOREY ON FRANEY

As these white islands moved closer we realized that we were seeing clouds forming on the surface of the ocean. We’ve seen something like this but not this spectacular. 

​And so, while driving down the steep and sharp-cornered Smokey Mountain road, I took photos after Judy grabbed my steering wheel and steered the truck and Torey prayed to Waldo for a Waldo word.

SCARED: Frightened, terrified.  

​Hopefully Torey’s knee will get better really, really quickly.  

STEERING, PHOTOGRAPHING AND PRAYING TO WALDO