It is precisely 6:30 a.m., Saturday, April 30th. This day of the year is of course most commonly significant as the date by which one must submit a tax return for the previous year. I understand however that when the day falls on a weekend - as it does this year - the filing period is extended to the next business day which in this case is Monday, May 2nd. Yesterday we arranged to meet with our accountant at 10:00 a.m. this morning to sign papers.
Last evening in anticipation of this appointment I commanded Siri to set the alarm on my iPhone for seven o'clock this morning. I have just remembered to delete the setting. In fact we awoke much earlier this morning around 3:30 a.m. While I didn't remove myself from the lair at that time, I profited by the occasion to listen to classical music through my Harman Kardon Esquire Mini Bluetooth Wireless Speaker which I bought in South Carolina (and hardly used there) and which upon returning home I placed on my bedside table in the hope of getting some use of it. It performs remarkably well! We also have a similar Bose mini system but I prefer the Harmon Kardon because the bass is less pronounced (though nonetheless rich).
I am luxuriating in the uncompromising pleasure of our little apartment. We're surrounded by dark mahogany furniture, brass lamps, Oriental rugs, mantle clock, carriage clock and grandfather clock, oil paintings, towering solid oak book case, crystal decanters, fruit bowl, vase and ball, extraordinarily life-like green apples in a large wooden bowl and unique ornaments. There are as well the exceptional views unobstructed to the southwest. I have long maintained that the corner location of the apartment on the top floor affords singular light from outside, Just having that additional outer wall is so much less restrictive than an interior apartment. We are meeting with our Landlord on Monday evening to sign a three-year extension of our existing lease (which terminates February 28, 2017). To my thinking the projection of our accommodation to 2020 is stabilizing. Oddly as much as I adore this apartment I would never buy it (if nothing else the soundproofing is lacking). We obviously tolerate certain shortfalls here because of our limited inhabitation (7 months of the year) and because we don't own it. Getting out of the real estate market has been a relieving enterprise though unquestionably it lubricates the extrication to have the alternative of such an accommodating Landlord. Even if our tenure were threatened in 2020, by that time I will not feel hurried to have to make new arrangements. Our residential investigations have taken us as far afield as Kingston, Ontario where we discovered what appears to be a pleasing apartment building along the St. Lawrence River. It is a more urban environment than what we have now but generally the limestone buildings and the history of the City of Kingston please me.
We plan to initiate our commercial exploit with the accountant by going to the Golf Club for breakfast, something we've regularly done on the weekends for years. It is a decidedly cool morning (exactly 0℃) but brilliantly sunny. I insist on wearing short pants even in this weather. By the time the temperature climbs to 16℃ this afternoon I'll be glad that I did. Now that we "winter" on Hilton Head Island I find that I wear long pants maybe three or four times a year! And I abhor doing so. It reflects my horror of driving my car in the snow!
Speaking of which I look forward to driving my car today. I never tire of it. It is part of my composition. I can think of nothing more alluring than a concrete 4-lane highway stretching before me. Thinking about it reminds me of our upcoming tour to New Brunswick in September. What I recall of the highways in Eastern Canada (when I attended Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, NS) is that they are marvellous. The prospect is made all the more attractive by the seaside destination. In an odd way I inherited my late father's maritime proclivity though I rather doubt he saw the same things as I in the vernacular. His for example might have included fishing which is an exploit furthest from my inclination. I see the colours and the wind and the sun.
It is now just after six o'clock in the evening on the same day. The tarnished grey light of the late afternoon sun is bathing the apartment. The cooking dinner aromas of Cilantro and parsley impregnate the air. There's fresh Ciabatta bread (and butter) too! And frozen yoghurt for dessert! With Canadian maple syrup!
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It is now just after six o'clock in the evening on the same day. The tarnished grey light of the late afternoon sun is bathing the apartment. The cooking dinner aromas of Cilantro and parsley impregnate the air. There's fresh Ciabatta bread (and butter) too! And frozen yoghurt for dessert! With Canadian maple syrup!
Moments before our conference with our accountant this morning we detoured hurriedly to Walmart where I purchased 22 silk long-stemmed white roses. They're identical to the ones I bought for my mother last week. I decided they'd be a nice compliment to our apartment and so much less trouble and expense than the real thing. Besides I wanted to use my Lalique vase.
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