Friday cloud blogging

Had the canoe out this past weekend for the first time this season.





We left the house at 5am in order put in just as the sun was rising -- the mist and fog and calm waters make the early rising worth it.









We picked the Tay canal and river as we've never been there before, wanted something relatively close and it was recommended to us. It was an amazing paddle -- so many loons and ducks and beavers shared the sunrise with us. Beautiful.

Above and below

Lake meets mist

This is the view of Mazinaw Lake at Bon Echo Sunday morning. The fog and mist were sitting heavily on the water, reducing visibility to about 15 feet. It was an eerie otherworld, both quiet and loud with tiny sounds echoing off the cliffs we couldn't yet see. It was one of the most remarkable outings.

This was our first visit, so along with limited sight-lines we had no familiarity with the geography to guide us (other than our maps) but it didn't take long to see vague darkness ahead - the cliffs.



Eerie. Quiet. Beautiful.











Looking back:



It's amazing to see trees growing in the rocks, many with exposed roots. And there were lots of spiderwebs hanging from their branches. The webs were coated in the heavy mist and looked like strings of beads.





Industrious critters.



The cliffs are known for the Native pictographs or rock paintings -- the following being one of the more commonly seen in photographs:







And one last surprise of the morning -- on the way back, this butterfly appeared out of the mist on the lake, catching me by surprise. It was so colourful against the grey sky.

Ripples

From Saturday morning's excursion, canoeing on the calm waters of Crotch Lake.

It was a gorgeous day weather-wise. Clear skies, sunny but not hot. When we put in, we were greeted by a beaver swimming around us, coming close, so close, even closer ... and then with a big! splash of his tail he was gone. (Though we spotted his little head from across the lake a few more times that morning.)

Canoeing on Meech Lake

It's been a long time.

A loooooooooonnnnngggg time.

So long.

I can't think of anything more soothing to my soul than being out on a calm lake in the early morning listening to the quiet sounds of water lapping against the canoe and dribbling from the end of a paddle, and not-so quiet loons calling to one another. And all the while, watching the sky and clouds shifting and the mist slowly swirl and disappear as the sun begins to warm the air.

I have missed this so much.