HEY! New school year!---- you're on deck

Holy smokes I am exhausted right now...  It isn't so much the fact that I hauled myself out of bed indeed before 5 am (because I am crazy, that is why) but the fact that I ended up with 2 kayak sessions yesterday for a grand total of 9.3 miles or something to that effect....

Clouds began to breakup and the sun did indeed come out!

While I am certainly capable of going 9 plus miles in a kayak, I had also done a nice little weight lifting session on Saturday and concentrated on my shoulders, abs and arms. So, yeah, I feel MY triceps this morning.  And when I do fairly heavy workouts like that, I do not sleep well.  Because I wake up all the time and rearrange myself and fall fitfully back to sleep and then rinse and repeat.  I believe I got up at 1:30 and took ibu- evidence left on the kitchen counter points to that conclusion.  Lol.

This blue heron proved to be a little sneaky, but Lisa spotted him in a tree

It was a GORGEOUS day for kayaking though.  Both times!  I went on Butternut Lake with the Mad-Lisa friend in the morning.  We didn't see the eagle, as per usual, in the tree of choice- but we did scare up a blue heron and then followed the thing over to the other side of the lake.  And we founded him!!  YAY!  While there were a lot of fishing boats on the lake, it was pretty peaceful and nice.  Perfect temps, only light breezes- water therapy at its best.

The clouds were quite amazing- I was wishing for my wide-angle lens

Last night, the MA sprung it on me that he wanted to kayak with me--- so I am INCAPABLE of saying no to that, so off we went to Smith Lake.  I found some ducks and a loon and some fishermen- but only one boat full.  It was super nice last night and the river was like glass.  And then we got back in time to FaceTime with the Mad-Oldest son and his lovely family.  With those two girls, that can be quite the entertaining event.  Ava is starting to crawl around and Ella gets increasingly silly as she gets more tired....  It is quite enjoyable.  hehehe

Young mergansers

Anyway, I do realize the post title says something about school- so yeah, we have full-fledged, sitting-all-day, summer-ending meetings..... today and tomorrow.  And then there is Open House on Wednesday with school beginning on Sept.1.  I've just resigned myself to the meetings, as they must be morally obligated to "improving our teaching" or some such thing.  There is a session this morning that seems will be pertinent and sometime in the next 2 days I get to collaborate on curriculum with my compadre from the Glidden school- so there is that!!  I just hope that I have enough breathing room to keep working on my lesson plans.  I used to be able to have a semester worth of plans ready- but that was when I only taught elementary school.  So I retain that panic of not having more than the first 3 weeks pencilled in.  Though I know that is ridiculous and no one has a whole semester ready, unless they do the same thing all the time.  Which I am incapable of doing.  Which reminds me, I have a brand new first day of art for the elementary school in the works (I always love finding new stuff like this) and I have a HUGE amount of paper cutting that needs to be done- any volunteers???  Lol, just asking'!

This guy showed up unexpectedly right in front of me!  The light last night was lovely

Hey, when did it occur that it is so dark at 5am??  I know that there are clouds and an impending Thunderstorm, but wth is with that??  I think I am in seasonal denial.

A pair of fishermen were spotted- I have other photos- I just found this one interesting how the people pop out and the rest is sort of hazy-- and I see its a touch crooked.  oops.

Anyway, I have to finish this up and go do a few things- at least I do not have to dress up today.  That will be coming soon enough!

So, make this day a joyful one.  I, for one, will be avoiding the joy-stealers that lurk about the area.... I am going to make the best of the day if I possibly can.  Happy Monday!

A Mind Full of random- 26 days

Yesterday was indeed a lovely day in northern Wisconsin....  I got a walk and a kayak in and then a little gardening.  So, I did indeed sleep a bit last night.  Good news, for those of you who care or are keeping track.

NOT what you would expect to be seeing in the river  :)

I experienced a bit of frustration yesterday when I got home from said kayak and found that many of my photos were blurry.  **insert cursing**  WHY??  Well I'll tell you, I tried using a different setting(TV mode, or shutter preferred) and I didn't have my shutter speed set high enough.  MASSIVE SIGHS.  I keep feeling like I should have this all down pat, but it is all just practice and its all ok.  I had massive anxiety last night over the whole thing, though.  Thank heaven I had my Twitter friend, the Mad-O'sFan, to keep me occupied because I think everyone else was out having a night-life or sleeping or something.  Which is what I should have done- the sleeping part.  

So this morning I am thinking I should hop in the kayak and just go for a paddle and calm myself, but I am not sure.  When I get like this I am not sure of anything.  Now I am thinking obsessively about what I need for clothes for this trip and also shoes....  Really I should just be contacting my doctor and asking for sedatives at this point, because none of this is going to get easier.  However, if I walk or kayak by myself it is like meditation, so this is the thing I must do.

It was a gorgeous day out on the river, so nice to sit in the warmth of the day and when one forgets to sunscreen one's legs, you might even end up with a minor sunburn.  I had taken off my t-shirt in favor of my tank top, so I was able to cover my legs with the shirt for the second half of the event.  The river was just lovely, there was a little bit of activity in the animal world, and then there was the boat that ran into a rock or stump that gave us some entertainment.  

We were paddling along and were quite a distance, and saw this boat coming down the flowage.  While it was not going fast, someone was not watching for the serious plethora of rocks and stumps that are under the surface of this body of water.  The boat went UP over the rock at a minimum of 45 degrees, then of course started to level out a bit as it went ONTO the stump and tipped way over to one side.  I thought they were going over for sure.  Then they revved their engines with the prop pretty much out of the water so you can imagine how well that worked.  Eventually they pushed them selves off because it appeared he had a random 2x4 in his boat.... why?  We paddled way off to the side as there certainly was nothing we could do in kayaks....  and maybe we wanted to quietly mock them for trying to get into a place where a speed boat sort of had no business going.  But that could be just a rumor.

Otherwise,  it was a busy day full of gardening and animal care and trying to make sure the MA doesn't "use up" his spray paint of any of my stuff.  The man is a nut job sometimes. One time several years ago, he "used up" my cobalt blue enamel paint on the window sills on the back side of the garage.  No one sees this but holy crap that still gives me eye twitches.  I have been getting statements referring to me being gone all summer.... as in- why don't you get me such and such since you will be gone all summer?  Or I guess I won't plant such and such this year since you will be gone all summer.  All in jest of course.  Ha- what that says is I think someone is slightly worried about being by himself for 2 weeks.  And since he has no cell phone, unless I can figure out when to get in a quick FaceTime, communication could be limited.  But I'm working on figuring that one out. Poor baby.  Fortunately he is capable of taking care of himself of course.

A pile of painted turtles, who did  not move when I got within 10 feet of them- not typical

I am seriously cringing over having to back to school tomorrow.  These last couple weeks are brutal.  Fortunately, the hs kids all have projects.  I just have to get thing cleaned up with their help at the end of the week.... 

Oh the mad rush to clean all those art rooms up.... I think I will return to stressing out what to wear in Italy- that is a lot more fun.

Not sure what the day is going to bring today, but I am hoping for a little joy giving and I hope a little joy receiving.  And perhaps a little conference call with my seester-Rose to discuss life.

Have a lovely, joyful day.

27 days- A few pictures and such

Now, it is seeming like I am setting myself up for a daily count down to the trip, doesn't it?  The thing about me is that I really DO want to do that.....  how evah! We all know that could quickly go awry depending on a multitude of things including my particular sleep quality on any given day and my ability to get distracted by the least little..... oh shoot I have to do some shopping online- like TODAY!!!  You get the picture.

Isn't he an impressive guy? or girl?

I get to kayaking today with my newest kayak buddy, Lisa.  I have to figure out a Mad name for her, as I have a Mad English teacher already, but this will come to me.  Maybe I need to check with her before calling her the Mad-Lisa, ya know?  But on the other hand I have checked with no one else concerning their names, sooooo......  Focus, Debi, focus.

Gorgeous calm night

Mad-Lisa and I are going to go for a paddle today on Smith Lake, which I am looking forward to.  I very much enjoy the river, and I think we should go up to the Pixley dam.  I will let the wind and the river decide- and also my companion.  ONE OF THESE DAYS, people, I am going to get the MA out there, and it could be tomorrow morning.  We shall see.

YAY for summer (ish) weather

These pictures that I am posting are from my last journey in a kayak.  After a minor kerfuffle on a certain silly Facebook page, I have discovered that changing lenses frequently in the great outdoors can make ones camera sensor dirty.  Which (shhhhhh, I just didn't know) apparently happens to everyone.... why is it I didn't know this?  Because the camera I had didn't have as many pixels, because the lenses don't rock my socks like these do???  Because I didn't do a ton of outdoor wildlife photography before and didn't change lenses 55 times in 2 hours because I have a sick need to take cloud and landscape photos, even though I am supposedly out to photograph birds???  You choose.  Idk, but I have a specialized can of air being ordered as we speak and last night I did some interesting maneuvers that involved no lens and rapid-fire shooting at the floor to try to dislodge the dust.  It actually worked well but after taking pictures of a plain wall and scrupulously searching every centimeter of that image on my camera, there is a little left.  Did you know that there is such a thing as a pixel peeper??  HAHAHA  people who will enlarge other peoples photos and look at them like up  super CLOSE???  Who has the time to do things like that?  I have my own pixels to peep at and that my dears, is a never ending chore.  And then to rudely comment on some innocent art teacher's photo that she was so proud of for the perfect- if I do say so myself- exposure after fighting with it for several months now??  The things you find out at 11:30 at night.

FIERCE eyes

Anywho, my sleep quality last night was REALLY bad, so I need to wear myself out today.  Kayaking and a reasonable, say an hour, walk should do the trick.  Besides perhaps some weeding and the normal stuff that happens on a day.  So that is the plan!

Back to Italy, which you may as well get used to the fact that this will be a focus of this for a while,  I am starting a pile- a stack if you will- of things that I will be taking.**  And a list of the things I need to get online.  And I am definitely thinking about my footwear, as if you want to try out a few things you have to have lead time up here.

My kind of evening

And because this is VERY important to me- I figure that I have 31 days until I get to see Michelangelo's  David.  And THAT will give me a whole lot of joy!

But first its a lovely sunny day here, going to be in the 70's, no rain, not a lot of wind....  perfect for the kayaker types.  Weather we have been waiting for for about 6 months. Ready, set, get going on your day!!

**You would not believe the amount of time I spent on this sentence and trying to decide what exact punctuation to use.  This is a combination of the fact I like to be fairly accurate and also the thought of certain English teacher types that may or may not be reading this.  HAHAHA  Not that I am really all that worried about it, but I like to be in the ball park.  Don't judge me ;)

Saturday on the river and Sunday inside

 As I write this it is raining like crazy outside.  We haven't had a lot of rain lately and with all the dry grass and the windy days, the fire danger has been way up.  So it is really a good thing - and it gives one an excuse to rest inside.

It is a different Sunday from last week when the MA was frantically filing returns and mostly extensions, and was gone for 10 hours I think.  He is now doing Fred things that involve trucks and crowbars and wagons and possibly a chain saw.....  In other words, he is in his own personal heaven.  I have a little project to do myself that I have been putting off (um, blogging to procrastinate??) and probably should be reading my book for bookclub, but that will be later.

Yesterday I had lots of little plans, some of them were changed but the essence stays the same.  I went to a baby shower in the morning, after fiddling around outside for a while and then made an early exit to get in a kayak before the clouds (and rain) came in.

I miss my kayak buddy!  This is our dock and text and selfie spot (I do selfies- not him)  

I put on my wet suit thing and my splash jacket with a t-shirt underneath, because it was in the 60's.  Nice and warm for this time of the year.... the water is still REALLY cold though- hence said wet suit.  Anyway, now that I have this amazing lens and camera body (seriously - forgive me you guys for repeating myself.  I can't believe how much better this camera is than my other one.  My photos are still composed the same, but the increased ability for this equipment to pick up details and the exposure is just so different.....  I am constantly blown away by the whole thing.)  I take it everywhere.  And it is a "thing" to keep it covered and protected and tucked away under my knees, and it is another "thing" to change the lenses and keep them safe while trying to hurry to not miss a shot- ahem- you will understand this in a moment.  I am so torn between doing the kayaking thing to get activity (which I LOVE) and the whole wildlife photography thing. So I am trying to dovetail them with pretty good results.  I am going to do some pure photo shoot kayaks soon, though.  Where I sit and wait- which may outright kill me dead- but I can do it.

THIS is my place- the water in Wisconsin

So I had the MA and the Barber (the Barber was important, as he is the one with the cell phone)  take me down to the boat landing as they had something to do with the truck, and I took off.  I had to show them kayaking tricks first (lol- they are so goofy) which involved turning and paddling backwards and me generally showing off- the MA asked me to, so...   I think that someone is trying to brace himself for a paddle in his future.  Fred is not a big fan of water- when you come right down to it- but he is willing to go kayaking.  It will not be windy that day... long story.

Buffleheads- I didn't consider this the best picture, but it ended up being kind of interesting

I had started out my trip thinking that this was going to be mostly an exercise/fun trip down the river but within about 100 yards there was the first group of ducks - which I just looked up and it is something called a Bufflehead- huh.  Who knew. Followed quickly by Mallards and others that I couldn't see well enough to identify.  Then I saw a swan floating up river a bit.  So- ok- not just an exercise trip.  I kept feeling rushed as I wanted to get to the Lower Dam before it totally clouded up and try to get a good picture of the barn that belongs to Fred's aunt- used to be his Grandparents farm. The pic I got was fine, but I know that mornings are better, so I will be doing that trip again.  

The Farm

It was a fun paddle up that river- I stopped and changed lenses a badillion times.  Each time I switched to my landscape lens, I would see another animal....  I am SO grateful I thought to bring a little chocolate with me for a snack- I didn't have any other portable foods that wouldn't make a mess in my dry bag- and of course water.  It was tough paddling in some places, the river was going faster than it usually is and then on the way back there was the wind. All this is stuff I love, so don't feel bad for me.  :)  Anyway, I shed my splash jacket in favor of a t-shirt eventually and it was a comfy 2.5 hours.

One of my favorite shots so far this year.  Tundra Swan.

I caught up with the swan a couple times that trip, trying to get a little bit close to it, but not pushing it's personal space too much.  Obviously since I have lots of flight photos, I spooked it a bit.  Sorry swan.  But wow some great shots.  I have learned from a photog friend how to set my camera up for bird action shots, which I am really starting to understand.  Some of my  pix were a little out of focus yet, but that I imagine is the relative newness of my Canon 100-400 lens.  He's heavy and also the kayak seemed to always turn in the direction counter to the flight of the birds.  But cool to know I am getting the hang of panning the camera and all.  I do need to set up my camera body for multiple shots instead of single....  I am a slow learner I guess.  

Lift off!

So the annoying part of this trip was I had once again- in anticipation of said barn- switched to my landscape lens, which was a trick to stay heading in the right direction and not end up on a rock or whatever.  So I am almost there and I spot on a rock the biggest Snapping Turtle I have EVER seen or imagined.  Holy crap.  It's shell looked too small for its body- I can't even describe how massive this thing is.  Bigger than the one I saw last year way up by the other dam.  I guess it is possible that it is the same one, but jeez.  It seemed bigger.  So yeah- frantic switching of lenses almost commenced and then I decided to shoot the pic with the lens that was attached and as I floated even with him he bailed.  ARGH.  Oh well.  I will say that later, while practically zooming downstream (there was a current- lol) I saw this kind big thing poke its head out of the water- of course the turtle in question- he was checking me out.  LOL- keep your dogs and small children away from the water people.  A dinosaur lives in the Flambeau.

However these adorable little painted turtles gladly posed.  

Anyway, 6 miles is a long way for your second kayak of the season.  LOOOONG.  The last mile was tough going, but I just set my mind to it and dug down and went.  Didn't see quite as many things coming back, which was fine.  I was no longer in the photo taking mood.  I just wanted to get back so I could 1.) get to my bathroom 2.) take that wet suit off and 3.) quit paddling.  My shoulders were tired and my hands were getting sore.  Thank you to weight lifting for my endurance- and I know where I have to add to my routine- traps and the top of my shoulder.  Dumbbell shrugs are in my future.  I texted the Barber, who was with the MA, that they needed to drop what they were doing and get me.  They were waiting and I was grateful to let them load the 'yak and I babbled on about turtles and swans.

I was later treated to a trip to the Mad-Middle Son's house and I got to see Greg and Sarah and the babies and the doggies....  SO nice.  Then Mikey came over and ended up having steak for supper with his dad.  I of course did not have steak...  But the grill has gotten a good work out the last 24 hours.

Peaceful - it makes me sad, though.  I thought swans mated for life.  Poor thing.  Hope it finds one when it gets to the tundra

It was a long tiring day, but in a totally good way.  And last night I fell asleep to the spring peepers calling and the rain falling and I passed out until almost 7 this morning.  THAT is sleeping in for the Mad-Artteacher.  Haha, I am pathetic.  But always joyful!  Hope you are having a lovely relaxing Sunday all of you lovely peeps! 

Then a fabulous afternoon!

OH what a great day this turned out to be.

Kayaking in Smith Lake

I love to have these different adventures during my day---  all sorts of them.  Now some people may just think of this as "life" or "the weekend" but I like to frame my days in terms of adventures....  because that is what  a joyful person such as moi likes to do.  

Little cabin in the woods

I was really happy to have my good friend the Mad-Science teacher come and visit and go for a walk.  I gave her a mostly complete tour of the ranch, but for actually entering the Way-Back field (as opposed to the field and the back field) and the Pine Plantation.  Mostly she wanted to see the cabin.  

woods road

She was very impressed with it, which the MA was pleased to hear, and I hope she and her hubby can come back soon where they can be given a detailed account of the making of it by someone who paid attention, which was not me most of the time.  HAHA.  

Retaining wall by the cabin

She loved the stone fence thing here and all various pieces of craftsmanship that have gone into it.  I guess it is fine, but I really preferred the rustic path up to the cabin that was there before....  but since it is not mine (HA well technically it truly is, but that is another story)- I guess I should say that I don't feel a lot of ownership in it, it's all good.  I also say that if one is going to nag at ones spousal unit about taking cabin photos, one should clear the crap off of one's porch so it looks picturesque and photo worthy, but someone is not a particularly visual person so he doesn't see that sort of thing.  

Anyway, it was so nice to walk with someone!!  And no bugs and no mosquitos (which are their own category of irritating) and lots of singing birds and of course the spring peepers.

So!  Back to my adventures:  I got to kayak!!  It was a perfect day, even if a little windy.  And yes the water was cold and I was careful.  I got a wetsuit to wear so I can go this early for my paddles, and I did not regret having that on at all.  It was plenty warm, but I wasn't too hot.  I did get really thirsty, and I am glad I had water.  Turns out when I took it off, the suit was soaking wet.  Go figure, right?  Lol. 

I did find myself starting off with some major claustrophobia, as this thing - as it is supposed to be- is tight!!  and right up around my neck.  eeeeekkkk!!  I have issues.  But as I was sloshing around in the water, with my crocs and my little neoprene booties I was surely grateful for the protection.

This is not nearly as cute as my bare feet sticking up out of my kayak!  

Paddling was just awesome.  To be out in the quiet - NO boats were out- and all of the wildlife that I tried to sneak up on to with no luck.  I saw lots of ducks- Mallards, wood ducks, mergansers and some others I couldn't see well enough, but that was in flight.  Now that I have a feel for where they hang out, I will be prepared for them.  And I will try to be even more quiet....  I can be if I want.  And I thought I was, but they must sense the vibrations or something.

I cannot begin to describe the peace that I feel on the water or the way that my muscles immediately remember what has to be done.  My brain slips into a calm that happens very rarely, and I never have the thoughts of being insufficient, or that I am not doing enough for myself or others, or worrying about things that I have no control over.  It is the perfect meditation and I am in my artistic zone.

Getting a new camera is a blessing and a curse.  When I see something I want to just capture the image, and not have to stop a moment to remind myself to check the settings and figure out which button to use to change the f-stop, or all the things that are not quite automatic yet.  The blessing is that the images that are emerging from this camera make me smile.  And my new editing program is absolutely amazing.

But I still do have this wonderful phone camera that doesn't let me down either- sometimes I just have to use it for the speed!  

Smith Lake county Park

I got off the flowage after just and hour and 20 minutes as the wind amped up and I decided to call it an afternoon.  It was a lovely thing, but sometimes you just have to know when to say when.  The good news is that today I am picking up my new baby kayak!!!  And so people who want to go 'yaking with me- I have a second one meow!!!  And I have dry bags, PFDs, paddles and may (if I have something in the house) provide snacks as well  Lol.

So, after returning the MA's truck to him and found that he was going to be gone AGAIN until 8 or 9 pm (I don't care if you think I am being selfish and uncaring- I'm tired of tax season.  And he gets lots of sympathy, so don't have too much pity, lol)  I put out a pathetic text to my mad-second son and asked when a good time to come over would be!!  I miss those babies, and haven't seen Greg and Sarah for a couple weeks and I missed their faces.  As well as needed some company.  So the next adventure: holding babies and playing with Greggy!!

Ruthie!!   

A typical Oswald type day- get all the projects started!

This child is obsessed with tractors!!

I got to see the animals and pet the doggies and see the new berry patch being fenced in....  just so much fun to hang out with them for a while.

Anyway, that was my good day yesterday- I am thrilled to say that I do not feel the effects of kayaking in the LEAST.  I am so grateful for the school gym and my weight lifting- it really gives me the ability to do whatever I want and do it well- well at least well enough!  So off to a new day, it is about time for me to go get the truck, pick up some tax returns from the Phillips office, get my new kayak and pick out some accessories for it, get horse feed, and then get home for lunch.  Lol!  Ambitious I know. #haveanadventure

But that is the joy of the weekends and spring!

Open Water!

I am feeling really anxious to get out in the water this year, and have been keeping tabs on the state of the boat landing down at Smith.... Last Sunday (I think it was Sunday- maybe Monday??), there was still ice at the landing, but the open water was making headway.  Yesterday, I cheered as I came over the rise on Omaha Road and saw the water at the bottom of the hill.

So, what does this mean?  Well, I was going to go and get my second kayak today, but I got a weather update today saying we were going to be having really gusty winds today, so I will just wait until the MA is done with tax season and go get it next week.  I also informed him I WILL be kayaking on Saturday afternoon, and since he is still stuck in his office that day- it will work out fine.  There is really no GOOD reason why I need to get out there this weekend other than I've been missing it and I am hoping like heck to be able to find some wildlife to photograph as I float along. He also knows that it is just a matter of time before he gets dragged out into the water with me.  :)

Anyway,  I am anxious to be out and about.  I am missing my road trips with my certain partner in crime- the Mad-English teacher and have felt a little stuck at home.

On a totally unrelated note, yesterday morning had some really awesome clouds going on.  So of course, I took some photos.....

After my walk to the boat landing yesterday, I went on a little hunt for railroad spikes on the Tuscobia, but didn't find any.  I saw one huge beaver down the trail a ways, I hope that stupid thing isn't building a dam (yeah, right).  That causes problems for us later as the water backs up.  I guess we shall see what happens there.  

This is the results of the last beaver dam

Early spring in the north

On the Tuscobia- no mosquitos!!  No traffic- no noise-  I love spring

Always an adventure around here.  Lol. Looking to see have some warmth this weekend, but the fire danger is UP!!  Way up, so be careful people!!  It was an awesome walk, no one is camping yet, no ATVs on the trail yet, no mosquitos either!!  Talk about a joy.

Find your joy where ever you end up this lovely weekend!

I'll miss you Miss Sunshine- but just for a while

I was a happy and sad girl yesterday evening- I kayaked the Flambeau probably for the last time of the season.  It was a nice trip, I was dying to get on the river to take some autumn tree pictures, and last weekend I was a bit busy.  In retrospect, it is just fine, because I would have been HIGHLY disappointed as the trees are only now starting to really change.  The color this year is not the brilliant, fiery, warm colors of 2014.  And they are about 2 weeks behind in the change as well.  That is actually ok, that means we have an additional few weeks of actual leaves on the trees.  We like leaves here.

Next weekend I will hopefully be spending  time up in the greater Bayfield area with the Mad-English teacher and the Mad-Science teacher, so there will be no kayaking. (The other factor in all of this is that the MA will be busy elsewhere on weekends, so the kayak mode of transport is gone) The M-ET and I will hike probably twice, because we are like that..... and we enjoy being so tired we can't move on Mondays, it just is our gig.  HA!

Yesterday, as I was loading the kayak in the back of the truck, I again noticed how easy it was for me to tote that thing around.  When I began my kayak adventures in May, it was far far more difficult to do that.  I didn't realize that in May, everything was still difficult.  It was better than in, say, February and March, but I recall really struggling to get the boat into and off of the truck.  Carrying it any distance was a real problem, and it really affected my confidence.  But, I kept at it, as I am a determined little thing - there are those who will testify to that fact.  :)

It seems like life likes to throw little things at you to let you know that you are indeed not really in charge at all.  People, events, situations occur and appear that you never would have invited in at the time that they happen.  Or you may have welcomed them, but you had no idea the real impact they would make.  Some of these events- let's say broken joints- might have given you a chance to truly heal from injuries that have been subtle and insidious, always there and waking you up several times a night.  Or it might have given you a chance to rekindle friendships, allow you time and space to get to know yourself again, or really understand how important your ability to be active really is.  I think the whole - don't take life for granted - was really the lesson I learned.

So I went on many adventures with Miss Sunshine, and she was certainly instrumental in my healing and getting my groove back.  While I did the majority of my physical healing in the winter (wow was that good timing) and was pampered, and fussed over, and watched by many, many, MANY people near and far - I had to find my self confidence again.  Getting this kayak was certainly the right thing at the right time in my life.  I had so many adventures, overcame more fears than any of you can imagine* and had so much fun.  I have my friend Adam to thank for tagging along, and helping me hoist that thing around when I really couldn't do it very well, and enjoying some of the best experiences I've had, ever.  And certainly it was one of the best, if not the best so far, summers of my life.  I have never before thrown all shoulds and shouldn'ts to the wind and just DID.  I regret only a few adventures that didn't happen, but you just never know....

First solo extended kayak- do you detect fear??  ;)

I am all about the feeties in the sun

Kayaking for me has been the best therapy ever.  The motion is gentle, yet you have to dig in when the waters get rough.  The repetition is what strengthens the muscles and the tendons and the bones, but it is easy to stop and rest and "stump" for a moment to take photos and send text messages. So many private little joys.   It gave me a workout in the best possible way in all the places that I needed the recovery.  It provided me a way to become stronger without the use of dumbbells or barbells, which I was not ready for yet. When I tried to begin that too soon, I was just frustrated beyond belief by the amount of strength I had lost.  When I went again in August, after a summer of being on the water, it went much better and I continue to make quick gains.  The physical recovery is matched though, by the recovery I needed in all other areas of my psyche.

#HaveAnAdventure

Kayaking is a solitary sport, but it is really nice when shared with people.  I did a lot of that this summer, shared my enthusiasm with my friends, both on the water and in photos.  To go with another person, or people but do all the work yourself is just about perfect.  I am so glad I had my #HaveAnAdventure friend with me while we did all of those crazy things- mostly involving waves and large lakes.  We are NOT experienced and we know it, right Adam??  Lol.  Lately, though, I have had to go on the water as I began- by myself.  I needed to gain that confidence of being able to venture out solo.

kayaking friends

So cut to last night- I pulled my bright yellow buddy off the lake.  It was cold.  I know what is coming. I captured a few amazing shots and lots of mediocre ones.  I plunked my stuff on the dock and again got out of the boat without getting my feet wet.  I could stand up without any effort and didn't fall over in the boat (yes that happened.  HAHA)  The change from my first quick paddle around the dock area of Smith Lake- the day I bought the boat- came to mind and I marveled at the changes.  I feel so free on the water, so strong and confident now.  So different than when I started off.  Then it was an effort to keep the kayak going in the right direction, now I have a whole set up for my camera and finally figured out the right settings for these pictures.  Before I was afraid to go far from shore, and now the middle is my favored position- at least in the river.  I can channel Jen and paddle with my feet up on the deck for miles.  I can maneuver around like someone who knows what they are doing.  I still feel like an impostor sometimes, I never would have thought of myself as someone who does a kayak.  I was always a little afraid of the water, though I love being on boats.  I worried about being that low in the river, but am so grateful for the POV when I am taking photos.  I have gone places I have never been before, or seen those places in different ways, and to think the real impetus for this purchase was broken elbows....  amazing.

First time in the water- May 17

I actually shed a few tears, mourning the end of my summer last night, as I drove back home- regretting the end on one of the first days of October.  I think I did a good job of stretching it out as far as I could.  I will wait a few weeks before putting Miss Sunshine away, but I am not anticipating another trip.  I will substitute other adventures for my wavy outings, but I will be thinking of next year, when new and exciting things will be happening.

Some things I will have planned, some things will be spontaneous, some things I am sure will be unexpected, but I will be there to find some joy and be open to the things the universe wants me to know- I can't even imagine, but I can't wait to find out.

*Besides a slight over cautious feeling when I am on water, I also feared dropping my phone/camera/lens/paddle AND after reading the book "Bird Box" there was a whole other dimension to kayaking.....  Lol.... fortunately that didn't last too long.