No, this is not the last canoe ride of the
year. With good planning and better luck, that last paddle will
come the day before the last bit of ice covers the lake. It
could happen any time between the last week in November and the
last week in December.
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MATHER |
This week the ice barely touched the farthest
reaches of the shallowest, protected bay tucked way back in an
almost unseen corner of the lake.
All day the lake had been calm. Every time I
looked out onto its mirror-like beauty, I thought, "I should
get out in the canoe."
But there was so much work to do. Snow would
likely come. It might just decide to stay for the winter. There
was wood to bring in, kindling to chop, garden things to tuck
in, the green house to prepare for winter...
After lunch I realized it was well on time to
tuck the cedar canoes under cover. The little solo boat comes
into our bedroom to spend the winter in the rafters. Rather
than carry it home from the canoe rack, I decided to paddle it
to a closer point. Just as I launched the canoe, I told Allan
it might take me a while to get there.
My, but it felt good to be afloat again. It
had been far too long since I'd wetted the paddle. Slowly,
quietly, I
glided along on a lake as flat and clear as
glass.
A blue jay stood for a moment in the wavering
branch of an alder at the shoreline. It flew ahead and paused
on another low shrub. My path seemed to be the same as his, as
we leap-frogged along the shore.
I paddled to the end of our long bay, then
out and around the corner. Grey and brown, silver and gold. My
world was reflected in the perfection of the still, yet cloudy
day.
Returning into the bay, I passed the beaver
house on my way back. They have quite a huge feedbed. Will it
be a long winter? Another blue jay, (or was it the same one?)
flittered along the shore just ahead.
All the things I had yet to do in that day
began to tug at my consciousness. I found my way back home, and
pulled the canoe up on shore.
Just then, Kate came along to say hello. We
sat together on the sauna dock for a few moments, admiring the
beauty of the day. Then I asked her if she would like to go
with me for a paddle.
She said "Sure! I'll go get my paddle and
lifejacket!" So in a moment, we were back on the water, out and
about, reluctant to come home on this fine, calm November
day.
Viki Mather lives by a lake near Sudbury.
