The State of Things

After a long few days of moving Katie and the children, we returned to Canada and then into Montreal to put the children on a plane to Toronto.  Margot flew from Asheville, NC to join us for the send off which ended up being quite an event.  We stayed with my sister in Montreal and eight of us went out for pizza in downtown Montreal.  I had won a drawing at a luncheon and the prize was a gift certificate for $75 at a restaurant called Café Parvis which is in the city.  Since I am not often in the city, preferring the quiet of the lake, I figured we’d better use it or lose it.  By the way, $75 doesn’t go that far when feeding eight people but it did help.

Monday we put the children on the plane to Toronto where they were met by camp staff and from there they were headed up to Lake Temagami and Camp Wabun.  Jack is now out on a canoe trip that will take him to Hudson Bay on the Winisk River.  Libby will be going on shorter trips in and around Temagami until the end of July when she will get to go on a longer canoe trip.  Both of them will be living outdoors, sleeping in tents and paddling a canoe all day long.  The team work that is developed over this time and the self-reliance that is nurtured is why we are thrilled that they both want to be up there.  No cell phones, no television., no electricity, no comforts of home, they are totally unplugged for six weeks.  There is a piece of me that says that sounds like heaven, there is another piece that thinks the world might end.  Towards the end of camp, John and I will head up to Lake Temagami for our own version of unplugging.  We will stay at a fishing camp on the lake and travel around by boat.  A car is useless to you up there.  There is limited cell phone coverage and very little contact with anything in the outside world.  It will be a brief time but one we look forward to.  In the meantime welcome to the zoo.

During the year I do not see family.  During the summer they are all here.  This past weekend we celebrated the 150th birthday of Canada and all my family are here.  My sister and brother-in-law, one of her sons and his girlfriend have been staying with me and are staying with me.  My brother and sister-in-law, their son and daughter-in-law and three of their grandchildren are next door and will be joined by their daughters and their families shortly.  They will have eight adults, two nannies, six babes five and under, all living under one roof.  We are quiet here in contrast.  We did have our North Carolina daughter here for a couple of days and now the New Hampshire daughter is here.  My 92 1/2 year old mother is staying in her own house about a mile away.  There is some sanity over there.  The comings and goings, who is where and what car needs to be moved, who is here for dinner and who for lunch, all gets thrown into the mix.  We can feed many at a time with all the expert hands on deck.  It is what summer and holidays are all about.  There is boat traffic on the lake and the town is full of tourists.  Ah, summer, and it’s only July 2nd!

 

 

Walking to Reach my Goal

I did not walk as much last week due to being focused on moving Katie and her family so I was determined to make up for it this week.  I started on Tuesday with an eight mile walk with daughter, Margot.  Wednesday, Wyke and I did a trail, called the Scowen Trail,  that was opened last fall after we had left to go south.  It is a beautifully groomed trail with pretty bridges over streams and cared for paths.  It is not long but it is very steep.  We ran into deer who snorted and bellowed at us as we turned one of the corners.  Wyke wasn’t sure what to do.  He was loose, not on a lead, but I told him to wait and leave it and what do you know, he did!  Thank you Natalee.  I don’t think I had ever been so close to a deer that it made those noises at me.  Maybe there were babies nearby.  Thursday I did a mix of woods, hills and road which we both loved henceforth called the Piggery Walk.  The views are spectacular and we go by a former Piggery that is now a local theatre.  Friday we were back on the Scowen Trail with my brother and his daughter’s dog Sunny.  Saturday we did a hike out to Black Point with my nephew Will and his girlfriend Helen.  At one point I was crawling on all fours to get back up the cliff.  With all that effort and after walking 26.12 miles my goal was achieved and I walked, and hiked, over 100 miles in the month of June.  As a result of all this, I have been pondering the question, “What is better for me, walking on the roads with hills and going 4 1/2 miles to 8 miles in distance or hiking up and down the hillsides around here, through the woods and sometimes climbing up cliffs on all fours?”  It comes down to distance versus effort. It seems when hiking I am using a lot more muscle groups and I am often stretching and reaching to get around things like fallen logs or leaping over streams or sometimes balancing on a log to cross a very wet patch.   I don’t really have an answer but I think a combination of the two is a pretty good exercise recipe.  This week I start Yoga!

 

The Saga of the Raft

Our nephew Will has just returned from a scuba diving adventure in the Galapagos Islands.  He came for a visit this weekend with his girlfriend Helen.  We happened to mention that the chains for our raft had disappeared with the ice this winter and did he perhaps have scuba gear and could he maybe find the chains and help us get the raft hooked up.  Will is nothing if not determined and creative.  He found a snorkel and mask – no scuba gear in our little town – and he dove until he found the anchor which is an old tire filled with cement and some sort of gizmo that the chain is hooked to.  He decided that if he had a long hose he could keep breathing and stay down the 15 feet longer and therefore be able to find the chain which was still elusive.  We had a brand new garden hose which he thought might fit the bill.   Well, the experiment did not work – the pressure of the water collapsed the hose and he couldn’t breathe through the hose.  Worked fine when on land – hmmm.  Anyway, he kept diving and eventually found the chain and with lots of effort was able to secure the chains to an old wind surfer using ropes and floats.  His crowning moment was when he actually took the raft, floated it from the shore and hooked the whole thing up.  The guy we hire to do this couldn’t figure it out.  Took my engineer nephew and his imagination to do it.  He should get a dinner for two at his favorite restaurant.  Thank you Will.

Recipe for this Week

I love Quinoa Salad.  Well I love any salad that makes a whole lot that I can eat for lunch every day until it is gone.  There is a family joke that my grandson always teases me about, he just won’t eat quinoa, so I have threatened to send him some in his care package for camp.  In fact I think I will actually do that.  I know it will get a laugh out of him and maybe, just maybe, by the time it reaches him after four weeks in the wilderness, he might think it tastes pretty good.  Well, I can dream can’t I?  Here’s a recipe that is quick and easy to make and should give you a few lunches anyway.  Enjoy!

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