Every year, starting with the summer he was going into 10th grade right up until the summer after his freshman year in college, Neel spent his time at a canoeing camp in the Temagami region of Ontario, Canada. Located 300 miles north of Toronto on Garden Island in Lake Temagami, Camp Wabun was founded in 1933 by educators and has been connecting kids with the brilliance of the Canadian wilderness for 80 years.

Neel was meant to go the summer before 9th grade, but his mom had just died, and his dad quite understandably wanted his boys close to home. Even a year later, Neel's dad was somewhat hesitant. As Neel puts it, "He thought I was going to die."

Why? Camp lasts six weeks. Six weeks in the Canadian wilderness. So far from home that it takes a flight to Buffalo or Toronto, an overnight bus ride to Temagami, a long bumpy ride down a mining road and then a boat trip to Garden Island. Younger kids go out for a few days up to a week at a time, making maybe three trips over the six week camp. Older kids will do a two week and a four week trip, and the oldest kids do what's called an A trip where they're canoeing the entire six weeks. Neel would say that those A trips (he did three) were some of the best experiences of his life.

I won't wax on at length about what Wabun means, even to me, by osmosis. I truly believe that place changed Neel's life and mended his broken heart after his mother's death. His years at Wabun are completely woven into the fabric of who he is as a man, and if you know Neel at all, you know that's a wonderful testament to a place.

I'm also not going to make this post a giant "I told you so..." However. We've lived here for ten years this month, and while we're not directly on the water (much to my dismay!), we are surrounded by it. I walk two blocks to the Elizabeth River in one direction and 4-5 blocks in another and I meet up with the Lafayette River. We have tidal inlets, marshes, the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean practically at our doorstep. I might have mentioned once or twice (or perhaps more) to Neel that a canoe might be a nice investment. A-hem.

Apparently it took getting in the water to help him see the wisdom of my words.

When we set out on Saturday, Neel took the stern and put Callum in the bow. (We joked that all I needed for my spot in the middle was a parasol!) He taught Cal how to set the stroke and let the bowman know when he was switching sides. We paddled along the waterfront under the numerous docks that dot the water and enjoyed the change in perspective that being on the water can give us. A dolphin skirted past us, mere feet from the canoe. Out of the water, Neel showed Callum how to portage and impressed us with his skills!

The next morning, Neel gave Callum steering lessons. Neel was in the stern in his years at Wabun and he soon had Callum maneuvering the canoe on the still waters of the Sunday morning Elizabeth River. Watching them together, out on the water, well, that was a good moment for our family, I think. And you know what's fun? Calling the "paddle" an "oar" over and over. That'll make the 13 year olds really happy. You know what else was fun? When Neel found his 25 year old paddle that he'd had fashioned specifically for Wabun after a Native American paddle they'd found in the woods, I asked him if we could get it wet. ;)

We've gone back and forth with the idea of Callum at Wabun. Of course Neel would love it if he went, and we'd love for him to go. But for a number of years he seemed like a different kind of kid who might need different kinds of things over his summer. That might have changed this weekend. It's early to call, I know, but we'll see. I think Wabun would be so good for Callum. I'd love to see him there.

In the meantime, I think we'll get a canoe.

And in the meantime of that? Here are some of Neel's pictures from Wabun, over 20 years ago.

I really do encourage you to take a look at Wabun's website. It seems like places like this are harder and harder to find anymore. From its history to the seclusion of the Canadian wilderness, I think it's easy to see what a special place this is.

So my mom is here for a visit, which is just delightful, although she's been sick, which is not. It's forced us to sit and rest though, and I think that's been good for everybody.

Cal finished up his sailing camp on Friday, and I'll tell you more about that later this week. Neel and I went down to the Nauticus where the camp was held and got to watch the kids in an epic water battle, which was great fun. Cal wore is Tennessee Vols shirt in honor of my mom's arrival, but he was totally soaked by the end of the day and had to change!

We really followed my mom's lead on Saturday and took it super-easy. Ferocious thunderstorms and pounding rain all afternoon helped. Mom and Cal watched movies and I (inspired by Christine) cleaned off my desktop. I have some new projects in the works and I have to figure out a way to make space for them and fit everything in before my head explodes. Seriously. That desktop clean off is counting as my drawer clean out for like the next week, I feel so good about what I got accomplished. It felt great to trash some of the the things that had been weighing on my karma for a few years now. Old projects that will never again see the light of day! I feel brighter already! Now I just have to remember where I organized everything and we'll be good to go.

Let's face it. Sunday was pretty lazy too!

I made lemonade. We sliced peaches. A batch to eat and a batch for pie.

I've been looking around and doing research for a place for me and Neel start to meet with a personal trainer. We did this together many years ago when he was in graduate school and really loved it, and we want to get back to it as a way to do something both together and for ourselves. I don't really want to talk about this much, but I'm feeling quite desperate to be stronger and more fit. I've found lots of options here in town, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger and contact one. Nothing felt right. Yesterday, in the midst of checking out some options for renting canoes, Neel discovered that our local university (literally four blocks from our house) has phenomenal facilities, much less expensive than any gym, they offer classes and personal training, and now we're all signed up. Also, we can rent canoes too! It felt like a bit of a breakthrough.

Because it's summer (even though it feels, quite gloriously like mid-fall), we cooked out for dinner, and afterwards everyone felt the need to get out of the house. (Hopefully Ama is on the mend.) We grabbed gelato at Strawberry Fields (Local folks, if you haven't been here, it's a MUST TRY in Ghent. The gelato is divine!) and headed to one of my favorite spots in town, East Beach. You may remember when my friend Jean and I hit the Homearama here last fall. We skipped the houses and headed straight for the still-warm sand. Managed to catch it right at sunset. Not a bad way to end the weekend.

Not bad at all.

my paddle's keen and bright {life}

weekend recap, august 5