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Health & Fitness

Drifting And Dreaming

This is what summer is all about.

"Believe me, my friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing."

Words to live by. Spoken by the Water Rat in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows. And Ratty was right! It is July and the height of the summer, and as often as possible I take my kayak out on the Pemaquid River to become part of that gently flowing watery world that so enchanted Rat and Mole. Life on a river.

And it is a world apart with subtle differences each day for those who have eyes to see.  Fish, birds, turtles, insects - great zooming gangs of large dragonflies, delicate blue-green damsel flies landing on my arm or leg. I stop paddling and just drift along. I lean back, feel the sun on my face, look at the clouds, enjoy...well, just enjoy. No demands on my time, no need to accomplish anything, no "should." I am. It is the small rivers that I like best. No ocean kayaking for me. No white water. Black water all the way.

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It's a funny thing about boats. You start out in a canoe or a kayak, and then you get interested boat lore. So you read some books about small boats, and if you spend any time in Maine, you realize that there is a boat-building shop near you. And soon you think, well I could build a small boat? That would be a good little project. How hard could it be?

When we first built our cabin in Maine, we had arranged for an electrician to come wire the house, but he didn't come. I would see his truck in town sometimes, and he would be towing a small boat. That guy's going fishing, I would think to myself. On some bad weather day he would come to wire the house. But on good days he was out in his little boat. And now I think he had the right idea.

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When you get old, it's the days out of the river that you remember.

Five or six years ago, maybe more, I don't remember exactly. After we had been using a canoe on the Charles River, and the Sudbury River, I got the idea that maybe Park and Rec could offer a series of 2 or 3 paddles each year. Adults could bring their canoes or kayaks and spend the morning on the river, stop for picnic lunch, and then paddle home. I asked them about it, but nothing ever came of it. A group I belong to here in Maine (The Pemaquid Watershed Assoc.) has paddles - from June thu Sept.  It's nice.  

Attached is a photo of some turtles I used to see. A storm or the winter, something moved the log they used to sit one so I don't see them at this location any more. 

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