Just for contrast's sake, here's what we saw a few months ago...
This weekend--Monday, to be exact--is a holiday. For no apparent reason, even, except that in August, it's nice to have a three-day weekend. This holiday is cleverly called Civic Holiday. All public servants, and everybody else, gets a day off. Some grocery stores even close (though not the local fruit-market-and-butcher-shop, which closes only on Christmas Day).
Because of the Civic Holiday, Canadians get a long weekend each month in the warmer time of the year: one at the end of May, one around July 1, one the first weekend in August, and then Labour Day.
In the U.S., people tend to disappear for long stretches of time in the summer, often without much warning and certainly without much rhyme or reason: "It's mid-July and I can. not. stand. another. day. at. work. Grand Canyon, here I come!"
What a civilized place this is. Even in a summer that's very strange--wet and skeetery and threatening clouds; 5 a.m. thunderstorms. Orange-gold slanting sunsets. Clear green grass that grows with crazed exuberance. All in the same day.
The summer liturgy continues. Family has come and gone; family is yet to come. Family is eternal. Ahh, the blessings.
