The Habit Of Beauty

It hasn't been so brutally hot today.  In Vancouver, any temperature topping twenty-three C is considered brutal.  Yesterday it soared to thirty-two, or ninety for you stubborn Fahrenheit-ers.  On a slight lack of sleep I got up early and did my walk beginning at seven-thirty or so, taking me through five miles, some very beautiful miles, of Vancouver on my way to meet my first client today.  I try to walk a minimum of five miles every day and during a hot spell I always like to err on the side of cool which means walking in the early morning.  I was surprised to see that much of the Cambie Corridor is now up for redevelopment.  They have preserved the beautiful planted boulevard but the vintage early modern homes, elegant gems of the architecture style inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, have got to go.  Development, you know.  Right now it looks sad and hideous but I trust that when the damage is all done and rebuilt that it should seem reasonably presentable if not affordable to anyone earning less than one hundred K a year.

I resumed walking following time to rest and do paperwork in the staff room of one of the offices I work out of.  It still didn't feel brutally hot.  I am carrying water with me now in a recycled 500 ml bottle.  I freeze it overnight so that what I carry with me is a block of ice that slowly melts and there isn't always a lot to drink but it is cold and lovely and lasts throughout the day.  I did replenish it in the staff room.  At least twice.  I stopped for a while in the neighbourhood Blenz for an iced Americano and to begin a new drawing.  It is of two European Bee Eaters.  Here is a Google image or two to refresh your memory:

Sweet birdies, eh?  Don't know what's making his feathers itch, though.

I paused on the way to my next two clients to smell the perfume bombs of one of the most fragrant flowering tree that grows in my city.  It is a breed of linden or lime tree.  They grow all over the city and from mid June till late July they flood neighbourhoods with fragrance reminiscent of the finest French perfume.  The trees themselves are not much to look at.  Here is the more common variety:  The trees themselves can grow reasonably tall, great for shade and marvellous for fragrance.  One breed as I mentioned is less common and the fragrance one of the most exquisite scents that has ever graced our dear earth.

I remember well the first time I ever became aware of this magical tree.  I was living in a housekeeping room with kitchen and shared bathroom and a beautiful bay window in an elegant old house near City Hall.  One day in July I was enjoying a nap and while looking up at the coloured rainbows splashed across my room thanks to the pendant crystal hanging in my window I was also intoxicated by the fragrance of this rare linden tree.  I went outside to trace its source and found the tree growing just three blocks away.  Every summer I make a point of locating this tree or the few others that grow here.  This is a habit I have cultivated as a means of elevating my quality of life.  I call this the Habit of Beauty.

I finished work early following a successful meeting with my last client, shopped, went home and took a nap, getting up an hour and a half later.  I went out to buy mundane items in the local Shoppers after taking a walk in the neighbourhood, enjoying shade and soft breezes.  In the food section of Shoppers I heard a woman dressed elegantly in black complain loudly to one of the staff that they didn't carry ice.  A few minutes later, as I approached the front door of my building, the same woman emerged from the liquor store next door to my building, looked at me smiling and said, "My luck!  Still no fucking ice!"

In my apartment I enjoyed a simple yet sumptuous and elegant meal: leftover bean salad with broccoli, artichoke, egg and Asiago with cucumber and elegant grape tomatoes on the side and fresh strawberries for dessert and reflected yet again and I hope without smugness on how privileged and rich I really am.