Affirmation

It is always encouraging after making a hard decision to find there are others who understand and support the decisions we made.  Turning my back on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail was the right thing to do from a purely objective point of view.  Knowing I made the right decision hasn’t made that choice any easier or less regrettable from a personal perspective, but I just read an account in the NFCT newsletter of another couple that faced the same conditions and made similar choices.  The couple started the same day I was going to, 9 June.  They departed later in the day.  They chose to take their dog with them, but once they made Long Lake in a couple days, they realized the dog was suffering with the cold and wet conditions.  They chose to abandon the trail and get the dog back home.  As I would have done if other problems hadn’t surfaced, they returned on the 22nd of June to resume the trip.  They did find that the entire trip suffered from low water levels, and they also found lengthy portages that totaled 110 miles on foot.

Alaina enjoying her new rabbit.

 

On an aside, there is little that can compare with bringing a smile to a little girl’s face.  Our daughter sent us a picture of Alaina as she received her rabbit in the mail.  As I had earlier with the ram and turkey, I made each of the grandkids a rabbit.  These come from The Winfield Collection, and are part of a series of patterns for layered animals.  The animals are created from several pieces cut from plywood.  These are then assembled by shaping and gluing the pieces together and painting.