halfway there

North or South? Or should I straddle the line and call it a tie? From where I stood the arrow divided me in half but it would have been easy to take a half step either way. Have I gone completely mad? (I was already partway there) Actually we were standing at the plaque that marked the divide between the north half and the south half of the northern hemisphere - we were at the 45th parallel.

It is another blustery day that requires windbreakers and sweaters - we'd walked Morrison Island yesterday so we decided to take a drive so we could walk the dogs somewhere different. The Long Sault Parkway has a few campgrounds (closed this time of year) as well as other walkable paths so we headed there. Our decision was helped along due to the proximity of a grocery store - need more brussels sprouts for our thanksgiving leftovers!

The trees were spectacular in their crimson and gold robes, the wind was whipping, and the clouds raced across the sky. Invigorating! We found a good place to park and started walking till a monument in the middle of a field attracted our attention. The ankle length grass was green and wet, but didn't impede our progress. Dogs tugged at their leashes eager for us to hurry up - where, they didn't know, they just wanted us to hurry. The waist height stone base had two brass plaques attached: the one at the front proclaimed the importance of the spot, another was mounted flat on the top and had a long line to delineate the two halves of our hemisphere.

We thought it funny that a monument had been erected in this obscure location where hardly anyone would see it. There was no parking nearby for tour busses nor did public transportation pass that way. In fact, it was on a little road, a track really, which came off the parkway road which ran parallel to a local highway which ran parallel to the 401. I got it wrong - it wasn't 'on' the track, it was perhaps 150 feet from the track and so on…

Who knows where a drive in the country will take us!

Last night we switched on the fireplace/heater and cuddled up to watch 'Hector and his search for happiness'. It turned out to be a sweet movie with good reminders about what happiness is. I need sticky notes for the rough times.

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too."  ~Yogi Berra