Sweet Sister Sunday

It was a slow and quiet Sunday morning. My body, well-practiced in the art of tea-making, ran on automatic pilot and soon, a cuppa was in hand and computer turned on. I wasn't in any sort of work mode so my eyes easily wandered out the window, to the hummingbirds, then past, to the black-headed grosbeaks on the feeder. The blackberry is in its white bloom and beyond, the maple saplings waved gently in a breeze lazier than me. Quilted sky stayed up atop the spikes of evergreens on the eastern ridge. I never tire of this view, this continuous rhythm of earth, sea and sky changing patterns, laid out for us here in Joe's Bay.

Often this kind of reverie will lead me to turn the computer off again, so that I may learn more of what goes on in the natural world, but a little flashing blue bar on the bottom of the monitor caught my eye. It was one of my sisters, buzzing in on the IM. With a mousie-click I was able to say good morning (though it was almost afternoon in Toronto) to a sis I haven't been able to hug in nearly five years. Of course I always worry if it's bad news, with both my parents elderly and me being unable to fly to Ontario. Two of my three sisters live close to my folks, and the third is there in Toronto to help them for a month. She lives in France...twenty years since we last hugged, in England.

On a silvery Sunday morning I accepted a video call and was suddenly, deliciously, looking at all three of my beautiful sisters. I had to fight for a moment, not to leak with the fullness! They all looked so good, looked even younger than me, and I'm the baby! Yes, we discussed how my parents were doing but we also just fell into the banter and foolishness of sisters, ageless too in its rhythm and patterns. My eldest sister and I 'touched' hands on the camera lenses, knowing that we couldn't help each others situations but we could and always would love and support one another.

So today, though my peace is always in the garden, my joy was in a technology that could disappear thousands of miles. Today I had a morning tea party with my beautiful sisters and, though some discussion was not easy, there was also time to play. Wicked little sister that I am...I took out my camera and fooled them into trying the "Charlie's Angels" type of pose. Wicked, wicked little sister, I post the picture!