Last-Century Cactus

Janae has been going through stuff and she found this:

This is from Pratt, probably our second year when we had to take photography.

So 1996-1997-ish.

Ponkapoag!

This weekend Aimee and I went to MA to do a 2-day map/compass hiking navigation class.

We took Amtrak to Boston and rented a car.

From there we drove to our tent site at AMC Ponkapoag.

We were right on the water, which was very pretty.

We brought tents instead of hammocks this time.

A few things about Ponkapoag:

1. You have to snail-mail a check plus paper registration form to book the site.

(I did this back in April)

2. There is no potable water.

3. The Spang tent site where we camped is next to a hiking trail and everyone will just hike right through your tent site, even though they aren't supposed to. And they will stay in your tent site to look at the water- even while you are cooking your dinner and brushing your teeth....

4. The airplanes overhead going to and from Logan are INSANELY LOUD AND NONSTOP until very late at night.

5. We were not allowed to have a campfire because of the wind and also a drought.

6. The pond is absolutely amazing.

7. After a sweaty grubby day in the woods, swimming in the pond left me feeling surprisingly clean and refreshed, almost as good as an actual shower!

8. A Squirrel Friend joined us for most of our meals.

******

I did 2 paintings of Ponkapoag Pond, both 6x8 oil;

My Belly River Box, sitting on the fire pit........

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Because of a lot of wind plus a drought, we were not allowed to bring a campfire.

This brought a whole new meaning to I'M SO GLAD I BROUGHT MY JET BOIL!!!

Seriously it saved me.

So... three nights of camping and we cooked all of it on our camp stoves.

Aimee had hers too.

I did what I always do best, I still drank a lot of tea.

*****

We both brought tents instead of hammocks.

Here is the night view through the top of my tent:

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We did a wonderful compass/map navigation class.

Some of it was review, a lot of it was new for me.

I LOVED it.

When we went bushwacking and finding bearings, we ended up at the EXACT point on the map we were supposed to be!

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Ponkapoag Pond really is beautiful and I took a lot of pictures....

Bracing with Chev

Tonight at the boathouse we had a very special guest teacher! 

Chev Dixon is a professional kayaker and good friend of some boathouse people.

He did a deck boat class for a specially-invited small group... I feel honored to have been part of it!

Tonight we practiced low bracing.

That's something you do when you're going to tip over, well one of the many things.

It was a wonderful class and I learned so much!

Deck boats are beautiful, and fun...but a pain to clean afterwards.

The Amazing Sludge Streak

Today I was keyholder in charge of the Sunday morning opening shift.

I got to the boathouse around 8:45am.

Normally, people start arriving by 9:30 for a 10am opening.

9:30 rolled around and I was still all alone... which was fine by me.

Everyone was probably wrecked from the historic Knicks win last night.

People showed up to kayak and I told all of them to come back at 11.

A delayed opening doesn't stress me out, not one bit.

I felt so chill and mellow and peaceful.

When I am keyholder in charge of a shift, I want good vibes.

People started showing up around 9:30 but we didn't open until 10:45.

It was a good shift.

Low tide can be pretty gross, and for a little while we had the most incredible 9and disgusting) sludge streak.

Of course I had to take pictures... and send to Bitz to let her know The Blob's cousin showed up today and says hi.

I feel like the sludge layers can be artistic, maybe one day if conditions are right I can paint the sludge.

That would be a fun painting.