“Wal-Mart makes me appreciate Safeway,” said my father as we wondered through the megastore’s isles looking for any food that wasn’t zero fat and sugar free. Thank goodness we are leaving the land of manicured landscapes, excessive air conditioning, and fast food. We are flying to New York, where we will spend approximately 24 hours. Then we will enter a country where spanakopita’s and feta are the “fast food”.
At the airport, whenever I see the van labeled “Sky Chefs” I always giggle to myself. Of course, these “chefs” only serve cheap peanuts or pretzels. If we wanted anything “gourmet”, like a sandwich, we would have to pay an exorbitant fee.
From above, the clouds look like puffs of spun cotton that have been artfully arranged by a sculptor. There are soft peaks, spikes, and dark valleys. Some of the clouds look like egg whites that have been liberated from the force of gravity: wispy bits seem to fly in improbable directions. Amazing too, is how all the clouds appear to be magically suspended along a single plane. Flying north along the Atlantic seaboard, the stark whites and greys of the clouds create contrast with the unvarying ocean below. Their shadows give texture to the unforgiving blue that stretches on in all visible directions from my small window.
Near the beginning of the flight, the seascape was not so uniform. There were boats, islands, and a spectacular spectrum of oceanic coloration. Dark blue faded into sapphire, which melded with turquoise as islands approached. Even after we had passed the islands, the tropical ocean shade remained. I fancied that I could see right through to the ocean floor and to formations in the sand.
With so few landmarks, it was difficult to feel grounded in a sense of perspective. The cloud shadows looked like islands; each different colour appeared as a change in elevation. It was as if an imaginative child had colored in a topographical map, but they had bypassed the normal greens, and instead drawn with the blues.
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