Parry Sound Adventures

I recently had the opportunity to go visit Julia's place and family in Parry Sound. It was great! Parry Sound is a beautiful area of Ontario, placed in a labyrinthine interchange of rocky, wooded land and the deep, blue waters of Georgian Bay. It's an outdoorsperson's paradise. The town itself is smaller, but nice. Julia's family was, of course, very nice and hospitable. It was a fun time, with good food, great people, and, later on, a very nice cottage on Georgian Bay.

As much as I could talk about many things that we did, it was my introduction to kayaking which was particularly memorable. As Julia is a kayak instructor, and I had never kayaked before, I wanted to get out on the waters as soon as we got to the cottage. After a brief lesson on shore, we took to the waters on a beautiful day. Naturally, I was awesome at kayaking and got the hang of it quickly. On the way to a bridge we were trying to reach, I saw an island which had flowers growing on it. I told her to go ahead of me, and that I would catch up. Suspicious that I was going to relieve myself, she did not hesitate to make a break for it. I got the contraband and set to get back into my boat, noting how clever I was. As I am used to canoes, I braced my hands on the gunwhales while getting in and proceeded to flip the kayak. After doing this a second time, I called her back to give me a hand and took notice of the fact that my foot was stinging. She laughed at me, and when I got back on land, I noticed my foot was bleeding, with the middle toe cut to the point where I could see the white tendons inside. When we got back to the cottage, Julia's dad, a physician, cleaned out my foot and stitched it up on the back deck. Without anaesthetic. It hurt, but being a male, I was thrilled to have the experience and feel kind of tough.

Lesson learned? I hate zebra mussels.

Lord of the Rings

On the following weekend, just over two weeks ago, I was able to do my small part to help my buddy, Ethan Park, get engaged to his sweetheart, Janette Doerksen. Although I did little more than show up, hobble over to the Eaton centre with Ben and Steph to deliver a clue in a scavenger hunt, and eat and drink at the victory party, I like to think that I did my small part to pay tribute to the great relationship between Ethan and Janette. Looking forward to the wedding guys!

Renfrew

Upon finishing my Master's degree, I took off for Ottawa with several family members. It was pleasant. From there, I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Jess's place near Renfrew, Ontario, with several friends. Jess, I must admit, has a pretty swinging life near the Quebec border. Her backyard literally backs onto an idyllic little river which is navigable by canoe and surrounded by beautiful green woods. The river itself is less than a half mile from the place where it empties into the rather larger Ottawa river, the last defence from Quebec.

Naismith and I naturally decided to canoe up the river as far as we could. Before long we encountered a set of rapids where the river dropped a few feet; it was nothing too serious, but still promised adventure. Always thinking clearly, I got out of the canoe, put on a PFD, and launched myself into the middle of the current some ways down, keeping my legs in front of me to protect myself from unseen rocks. It turned out to be quite a hit, and we occupied ourselves for a good time, progressing to the more intense side of the river. I got a little banged up, but we had a blast. We had noticed that the river seemed somewhat polluted, though, and when Naismith noticed that his throat felt really weird, we decided it was time to head 'er back.

All in all, it was a great weekend, with great people. Jess and her father modelled hospitality, which was no surprise, even when Naismith and I insisted on cranking up the country music. As sorry as we were to leave the place, the drive back was pretty great. As I went to high school in Western Ontario, driving through the Ottawa valley was a new experience for me. At one point in time, we ended up on a logging road, watching pavement disappear into gravel, which gave way to dirt roads, which eventually disappeared into the brush. We did, however, get back alive, which is always a plus.

End of an Era

After a long absence from blogging, I am getting back into the swing of things. There's a lot to catch up on, so I'll spread the updates over the next few days...

Well, the sweet day finally arrived a few weeks ago when I handed in the last paper of my degree! I now have my M.A. all but officially. The feeling of relief has been palpable, and it is still sinking in, as I have been on the road so much since that happened. I'm glad I got to do my degree here at Queen's, but by the end, school was beginning to feel like some sort of P.O.W. camp.

It's been a real pleasure celebrating being done with my classmates, as many of them move back to their parts of the country. As good as it is to be done, I have had good times with many of you people.

Godspeed.