A cloud hangs over the bay,
and Iris looks out on the morning.
She returns with specimens:
seaweed, driftwood, stone.
* * *
A cloud hangs over the bay,
and Akiva drives out in the morning.
Out in the morning, out in the morning. Akiva drives out in the morning.
While Iris and I went for a walk up the Sainte-Marguerite river,
Martin stayed by the bay and played with metal cars with Akiva.
Upon my return, I noticed we were situated in the perfect location for shooting 4×4 truck advertisements!
I made some mock-ups using Toyota advertising slogans and Lorem Ipsum text.
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In the afternoon, we went on a hike.
In the evening, we made popcorn with a cute little popcorn cage that we held over the fire. I made a couple of batches and timed it: six minutes to pop over good coals. Martin wanted to make a batch, so I filled up the cage with corn. Wanting to be a guy and beat my six-minute average, he tossed a couple of logs on the coals to build up a roaring guy-style camp fire. Unfortunately, Martin never did spend much time studying the physics of campfires and did not know that before you get a roaring flame, the logs have to catch fire. Then after you get a roaring flame, you have to wait for good coals or you just burn the kernels. It took him a good 20 minutes of shaking those kernels over the cold fire in an uncomfortable squat position before I relieved his suffering by moving aside the logs to reveal the coals. Sorry, Martin. Sometimes, it hurts to be a guy.
At the sea in the morning, the tide was out,
so we went exploring.
One can walk a long way into the bay of St. Margeurite without getting one’s knees wet.
Far, far out into the bay at low tide, even the bird people had dry knees.
Then we turned and walked up the low-tide river.
Beneath our feet, little green things enjoyed the sun while waiting for the tide to return.
* * *
Later in the day, Iris and I took a walk together.
We discovered an outhouse that would prove to be the only place Martin could poop.
For this reason, I have immortalized it in my photo album with the grand headline,
“Remote Outhouse Saves 50-Year-Old Man’s Colon from Bursting on Week-Long Camping Trip.”
Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of my mother and brother while they were here.
Fortunately, I did take many photos of Iris wearing Dan’s sun hat at the Cherry River Marsh.
Right here in town there’s a place to rent kayaks. You don’t even have to own one. If you’re happy starting off from the same spot all season— which I am— a person can join for a mere 60$ per season. This includes all the kayak rentals and the PFDs and no boat hauling. And the kids are free. Why didn’t I join at the beginning of the summer? Who knows! But even joining at the very end of the summer was worth it. Both kids wanted their own boats. Akiva would have been happy turning a few circles at the boat ramp and getting out. I promised that if he would paddle down the river until he got tired, I’d tow him back. Because in addition to coming with paddles and PFDs, the boats come with tow ropes for tugging in tired tots. How nice is that!
Looking on the map, one might think that Raymond Road is a road one could drive
from one end to the other.
It isn’t.
Due to a gate at one end and a gate somewhere else in the middle,
the center of the road is able to accumulate a good amount of greenery.
It’s nice.
Looking to photograph a picturesque scene upon the road less traveled,
I ask my children to please run up and down the lane.
They do.
I got a haircut. Akiva decided to get one, too!
When we got home, Iris put a silk scarf around his neck.
We went out to the back field to take photos.
I wanted the sun to illuminate their faces. Iris obeyed demurely.
Akiva did not want the sun to illuminate his face.
My next tactic was to get them to run into the sun.
He’d have to look where he was going, I reasoned.
Just a few more runs back and forth—
Certainly Akiva will be willing to stand still nicely for the camera soon—
Eventually we came to an agreement:
Iris would have the sun shining on her face and Akiva would not.
For a good explanation of how Newton’s cradle really works, watch this video:
For my dad’s 79th birthday, I took my children to play at the Point Drouin covered bridge in Compton.
He was unable to come. Happy birthday, Dad!
