Canoing Mishap

First off, this is not me in this picture. However, when I saw it I was instantly reminded when something similar -- perhaps worse -- happened to me.

We were camping in Saskatchewan. We had a lovely beach. Sunsets were idyllic, somewhere between romantic and spiritual. The setting was amazing.

Gordon rented a canoe. I anticipated our family canoe trip around the lake at sunset.

Finally the sunset was upon us just as Gordon pulled the canoe to shore for us to board. After all the girls were clad in the life jackets, Gordon got them situated just so, making strides to distribute the weight proportionately. Problem 1: there ain't no way the weight distributes evenly in this family.

After the girls was seated safely, Gordon took his place. At the time I wondered why he sat before me, but now I realize it was the continuation of the aforementioned effort to distribute the weight. Reminder: there ain't no way the weight distributes evenly in this family.

With camera strapped around my neck -- important to capture this special event in photo -- I walked toward the place Gordon instructed me to take. The girls smiled lovingly; their moods were appropriately set for this spiritual moment of canoeing as a family on a calm lake at sunset. I lumbered awkwardly into the canoe. It rocked precariously. Gordon looked pensive, the girls were wide-eyed. When Gordon gave me the go-ahead, I sat down. That was problem 2. The canoe sank to the bottom of the lake and everyone leaped up yelling, "MOM."

I lost all presence of mind. I sat there waiting for the canoe to buoy, to rise back to the surface. Of course at this point the canoe is not just burdened with me, it is also holding a hefty amount of lake water. As the kids yelled at me, I regained presence of mind and realized the boat was not going to rise to the surface.

Again I lumbered awkwardly, this time out of the boat, now fully aware of what had just happened. Gordon tipped the canoe over to empty the water and then the family reloaded the canoe and went for a ride in the sunset. I took pictures from the shore.

No Training Wheels

While we were camping Deborah turned 7. We went into town for a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake and she got to buy a couple things at the mall. She got $20 from Auntie Christine and dutifully spent it on kid's lip gloss and such. Where oh where does this child get this propensity?

We are negligently behind on teaching Deborah to ride her bike without training wheels. It's recently become an issue as she's watched kids much younger than her riding without them. Being "away from it all," was all the motivation Gordon needed to teach her. It was a delightful experience watching them.

We're Home

We just returned from our first camping trip for the summer. We went about and 1 1/2 hours out of the city. Good friends from Calgary met us on the second day of our stay and we had a great time camping side by side. Our kids played gloriously well together; the weather was beautiful; the campsite was wonderful; the beach was lovely and clean. Other than one drenching wet night, it was perfect -- and even rain seems kind of cool when it breaks the routine and the heat.

Between the 2 of us, we had great meals and we adults had stimulating conversations while the kids played. Admittedly, Gordon and Tom are MUCH bigger talkers than me or Christine, so she and I had to endure lots of conversation that was slightly on the boring side. But, I knocked off 2 novels as they talked, and that was fun for me.

Several things were said that made me laugh:

--On the beach, I watched as obese woman after obese woman walked by me in swimming suits that didn't hide anything. I wanted to be polite, I really did. But after a while, I lost the battle. I whispered, "You know, I may not have a great body, but I thank God I have enough sense to keep it covered."

Tom, who I've never heard talk like this, added: "It's nasty. It should be illegal."

--This trip stressed Lucy out. She badly misbehaved on several occasions. Tom and Christine had their Pomeranian with them and she got to run loose. People are much more tolerant of a wee dog being off-leash than they are with a Lucy sized dog being off-leash. I kept her on her leash. Lucy felt the injustice and so did I. She did a number of things that were totally out of character for her.

Among other things, she didn't listen well when we told her to be quiet. Once when Lucy was not obeying, Gordon decided to speak for her, -- that is something the rest of us do on a regular basis. As I said, "Lucy sit, LUCY SIT," 4 or 5 times, Gordon said, as if speaking for Lucy, "I could be a police dog, I just don't have a natural inclination."

--On the night of the big rain, I was sitting around the firepit cooking a wonderful meal of chicken breast, corn-on-the-cob, a roasted potatoes. Drenched, but carrying on, Gordon said, "You look like your spirits have been slightly dampened."

New Sandals

Gordon and I have new sandals. They are 100% plastic and anything but pretty. I got a pair last week for $3 and beamed with joy at the thought of showering in them at the campground. When I got home after purchasing them, I was thoroughly impressed with their comfort. Several times I bragged, "You just wouldn't believe how comfortable these sandals are."

On our first day at camp, Gordon's $50 sandals broke. He went into the nearest town and came back with a $3 pair of black plastic sandals. As our girls frolicked in the lake, Gordon and I sat in our padded chairs in the shade reading and talking. Several times I noticed Gordon holding his legs out to look at his plastic clad feet. I asked if his sandals were comfortable and he said they were amazingly so.

I resumed my reading, but noticed his legs were still outstretched so he could see his sandalled feet. Noticing me looking at him, he said in a tone of enlightenment, "Do you realize I could take my $50 broken sandals back for a refund and buy 5 pairs of these and still put $35 bucks back in my pocket?"

I howled.

Camping 2006

When we left the city, our van was burgeoning with camping supplies for the week. We were a sight, I am sure. The top of the van carried supplies; the bikes rode precariously on the bike rack; one seat of the van was removed and replaced to full capacity with our week's livelihood. Lucy, green with motion sickness, was on my lap hanging out the window, her ears blowing 5 inches behind her head. We were only a few steps behind the Beverly Hillbillies.

As Lucy's Dramamine took over, her need for fresh air was replaced with a need for a snooze. She clamored off my lap, and with much effort found a spot under the girls' feet to call her sleeping spot. Once she was settled, Gordon looked over at my side of the van which wore a furry film. He took it in for a few moments and then groaned, "Seeing all that fur gives me a soft spot for plants."

Greig Lake, Saskatchewan 

We're Home

We are home from our camping trip. We enjoyed safety, good weather, and our location was gorgeous. When it's all said and done though, there's no place like home. It is so good to be back; water from the tap, a toilet down the hall, walls that keep the mosquitoes out -- all luxuries I'm quite fond of and take for granted.

When life settles down (I have many post-camping messes to attend to) I will blog again.