The heat wave finally broke yesterday. It has been, for us by the lake, a very hot and humid month of July. With extraordinary rains that flooded out our dock and a good bit of the town, very high temperatures, days with heavy smog caused by the fires in Northern Quebec, it has been a less than perfect month. But oh my, that lovely cool Canadian air is back, the sky is bright blue, puffy white clouds and a lake that looks happy again.

For the last two weeks we have been obsessed with the rains and the water rising. Our dock was fine for a few days at the beginning of the rains but it slowly became apparent that it was not going to stay that way. We are so lucky to have people who really care about us and when we needed help they came within 1/2 hour. They took the dock apart, moved the boat off the lift and then moved the lift in closer to the shore, and then put the boat back on it again. And we watched! The water kept rising even after the rain stopped. A state of emergency was announced in the village, people were requested to not drive their boats or if they did to please drive very slowly with no wake to protect the shoreline. No one could really go fast as there was too much flotsam and jetsom in the water and it was too dangerous. All the boat launches were closed and our marina was closed for 10 days because of the high water. It really was most extraordinary.

During the first week of this high water crisis we had wonderful company from our former home on Dataw Island. Peter and Lynn and their friends were on a tour of Montreal and Quebec City and they stopped here on their way home. We couldn’t go out on the boat so we decided to do a Louise Penny tour and go to Knowlton by way of the St. Benoit Abbey. We had a wonderful day touring and a great lunch in the village of Knowlton. Then we followed that with a dinner at Manoir Hovey. What a treat. I’m still sad we couldn’t show off our beautiful lake but I think they still enjoyed their time here and they saw a lot of the beautiful countryside that makes up the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

The boat is now high and dry. It is on the trailer and parked in our driveway. Not because of the water but because it is almost August 1st and we are heading north again to Lake Temagami. The end of the Camp Wabun summer season is almost upon us and, as we have for the last 10 years, we are heading up to the lake to watch “Paddle In” when all the campers return from their various adventures. We have heard a little from Jack but he has been out on trip for the last 16 days so all has been silent. We have heard nothing from Libby who should be arriving in Ungava Bay within the next couple of days. I can hardly wait to hear about their adventures. I’m pretty sure that Libby and her fellow canoeists have traveled in a part of the world that I will never get to see. What an adventure she has had.

As I am now very used to doing, I’ve been making lists and more lists of what to pack, what not to forget, what we need to shop for and what our schedule is going to be. We bought a big Yeti cooler as an anniversary present and will pack it with all the frozen food that we have prepared over the last couple of weeks. We are so pleased to be going back again. For us it is a big adventure and hauling that big boat is quite the task. Last year I was so worried about running out of gas as we hadn’t realized how much gas we would use hauling that big a boat. We get about 10 miles to the gallon so we definitely need to know where to stop and get gas along the way. It is about a 500 mile trip (800km) and will take us approximately 10 hours. We are getting a bit smarter and will stop for a night on the road so we arrive mid-day rather than early evening. Once we get there we have to get the boat into the water and unload the car. Always a challenge. We will have Katie with us this year (she missed last year because of convention) and the parents of Pippa who left here with Libby in June. Looking forward to seeing our Temagami friends and catching up with them.