OUR ESCAPE TIME

Monday, November 4th, 2025

Brickworks Park, Toronto

It came quite spontaneously.  Vascapati, a U of T student, called me up for a break from his studies.  I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk.  After all, the sun was shining, temperature was 14ºC.  “Let’s take the trail where I started my long-distance training for walking,” I suggested.  He had the time.  So, we left for the path that was ours and so many others’.  We were not the only ones with the idea of a version of escapism.

Traces of Halloween were still in the residential atmosphere of Rosedale.  The real fun began when we trekked down a ravine and then arrived at the old Brickworks quarry.  Waterfowl, turtles, and other lifeforms were abound where we took a meandering trail.  Then finally we came upon serious forest.  Here, squirrels, black in colour, reign.  They rustled through those dry, fallen leaves.

A new art piece from a local was tacked to a tree.  Another tree, a red maple, was irresistible and had to be hugged.  We did take ten minutes, not to speak, but to sit and absorb the escapist route, enjoying our forest bath.  Somehow, the ambiance and air could not be more perfect. We chanted. 

Two hours of this comfort, and we were back where we started from – 243 Avenue Road.  The loop we took was unknown to Vascapati, but being a touch disoriented is not a bad thing.  It’s great to act a little lost, then you can be found. 

We ate back at the temple ashram.  I rounded up my day on a Zoom call exploring now the Gita, chapter 10, on the opulences of the Absolute.  That walk was an encounter with opulence. 

MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU

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