Over The Wild Blue

First step of my journey lifts me over glaciers, massive mountains and countless unnamed frozen lakes. A passenger beside me returning home for a few days off remarks on the wonder and beauty.
We land in a rather cool, damp Vancouver.
Frenzied family visiting ensues.

Yesterday I head back to the airport, through very tiny hail, looking at frosty roofs and yards; not so typical for Vancouver of the 21st century, though it wouldn't have been at all out of place prior to my mid teens.  I remember the turning point - it would have been mid March 1974 - there had been a powdery snowfall and I looked up through misty clouds at the stars, a rare glimpse and a pause following any precipitation. The weather seemed to rapidly 'warm' in the next months and years, warm being a relative term when going from cold, wet to cool, wet.
I'm happy to live in the Land of the Snow.

So...I take my seat in the middle of three. One of the last passengers to board requires that I and the aisle guy get out of the way so he can take his window seat.  He gets settled in, starts his movie and pulls the freaking blind on the clearly visible landscape below.
Asswipe.

One more evening of intensive visiting: a sister-in-law not seen for 15 years, due to estrangement from The Husband, little grand neices/first cousins-once-removed, son, daughters, brother.
Pizza, beer, babies, bombardment of words...
Quite glorious.