Summer of '77 in Calgary more specifically July and it was time to groom the ski slopes at Sunshine just a job tip from the Biology teacher 10/20 fruit flies and starch slides drosophila melanogaster and iodine not coomassie blue when there was no question of what to do on account of the latest light dusting or blizzard blow fresh powder or breakable crust or straight up slush there was just removing rocks fine raking the the memory of corduroy a grain that was in the landscape the way the curl remains in maple even after planing and sanding and the cat's paw leaves its prints on cherry and the flame gives birch its sheen and the bird's eyes stare back at you from yet another maple and not the mark of the grooming machine or the scrape of the cultivator but that was only one Summer and it was a long time ago other Summers were equally physical but involved a different kind of commerce still special getting to know people my age ...