Thursday, April 23, 2009

To my fellow Canadian bloggers: You have a beautiful country.

Since I was about 7 or so, I have frequented an area in Ontario called Lake of the Woods. While living at home about every 3 years or so my dad and I would make the 24 hour drive to Lake of the Woods for a week of the most wonderful fishing in the world. I was so lucky as a child to have a father, still living by the way, that took me along on these adventures.

So many years have passed now, my dad too old to make the trip anymore. However, he still lives through me and my 23 year old son because now we make the 24 hour drive and stay on the same island...sometimes even in the same cabin that me and dad stayed in so many years ago. The last time Zach and I went was late May of 2007. The water was still very high due to a late ice thaw that spring. My son is of the millennium generation..very wired...hip and connected via twitter, Facebook, a Mac, ipod etc. Even my millennium son however, slows down and disconnects for a week to walk the same paths, fish the same coves and watch the same 11:30pm sunsets I did.

The evening this photo was taken was magical. The line of trees, normally grounded on a bald rock the locals call pelican point were rising out of the high water covering the small island by a few feet. I turned off the motor and we drifted. Neither of us speaking to each other...I think we both just wanted to be alone with our thoughts. The still quite brisk spring air, the far off sounds of the goony birds diving for their last catch of the day and the local stillness surrounded our thoughts... almost hypnotic. We drifted back into open water with the sunset now almost past and headed back to the cabin with memories that Zach will spin to his future son as they drift by this island on a late spring evening at pelican point.

17 comments:

Indrayani said...

aaaaahhhh!!!!
Thanks!!
we love canada !!!
yuuhhooo!!

Karrie said...

what a beautiful picture Dan! I have never been to Canada but it sure does look beautiful from your point of view!!

Dan Felstead said...

Indrayani...
Parts of Canada that I have been to (other than the brutal cold) remind me of the pristine wilderness I found in Alaska. One of those moments when you know that you are looking out over land that is true un-trampled wilderness.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Karrie,
If you ever have the chance be sure to visit our neighbors to the north, a varied landscape much like the US. There are plains and prairies, majestic mountains, quite villages and great expanses of true wilderness.

Dan

boneman said...

Truly a beautiful land, for sure. I've spent no where near enough time in Canada, but, I do love going there for treats such as this!

Dan Felstead said...

Boneman,

Lake of the Woods is about 90 or so miles north of International Falls. If you google it you can see what a beautiful area it is.

Dan

Dani said...

This is lovely! I noticed in a comment above you mentioned Alaska and knowing the wilderness you are looking at is completely fresh and new, "un-trampled", as you called it. My brother lives in Alaska because he simply fell in love with that! He's one of the few that lives there that still loves sunshine though- he keeps SO many plants and takes them in for the winter so his cabin glows from the inside and is known throughout the area for being the warm daylight house because of it. It's simply lovely- I've never been there but he's posted pictures before. How I hope that someday I can go visit him. :)

Dan Felstead said...

Dani,
Yes, I have spent some time in and around Seward...south of Anchorage by the Kenai Peninsula. It was the small town that the tsunami destroyed from the 1967(I think) earthquake. It of course is rebuilt now but remains a small fishing village. The surroundings are truly breathtaking. I want to return since I have only barely scratched the surface of such a huge magnificent state. Since your brother lives up there...be sure to visit someday. Of course you are much more used to the mountains than I so it may not be as awesome to you. But to a midwesterner...it is heaven!

Dan

Heather said...

Oh, wow. That picture is gorgeous. And I love the rich tradition that you have kept intact with your own son. So special. I know you cherish your memories of that place very dearly.

shabby girl said...

That photograph is unbelievable! Boy, there's some stories in there!
Must be some place to have your son let go of the ipod, & texts, right?
Hope the adventure continues for you to eventually include a grandchild! Wouldn't that be cool!

boneman said...

well, I just posted a group of pictures taken with a grocerystore camera (plus, which means there were two settings. medium view, close-up view) which I had developd as a disc instead of film.
It was the reason I wanted either a digital camera OR a really good SLR (I don't know what else to call them besides a 'real camera' which makes digital photographers really upset)....

Anyway. I have a cheap digital now.
Don't know for how long, though.
I saw a canao in the store the other day...a little more than $200, and it seemed to have things I wanted.
Maybe after my show....

Anyway, I posted the pix on the end of the first post at my time flies blog...BALLA, or, Muskoka, Canada.
Moon River, as the natives up there call it.

Dan Felstead said...

Heather,
I do cherish those times together. Fishing at Lake of the Woods has been the one thread that links all three of our generations and hopefully it will continue with Zach as he moves on with his life.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Yes Shabbygirl...

My dad in his earlier years went with me and Zach and hopefully I will be able to do the same.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Boneman...
Two things...
First of all I went to your Time Flies blog but could not find the pics...can you give me a link? I would like to see them.

Secondly,
I used to be a film camera bigot...thought there was no room for digital but with the newer cameras...even the less expensive ones, I think digital has now finally come into its own. I think there will always be folks who come down on one side or the other. Kind of like vinyl versus mp3s or Mac versus Windows PCs.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cynthia L. H. said...

Dan,
Wonderful photo. How you capture emotion in landscapes with your camera is truly miraculous.
High-fives to you for building memories and traditions with your son. My youngest brother and my dad go trout fishing on the Blue River, not far from here, quite frequently. I want to encroach on their time together and tag along...but I know that it is sacred. Just wish I could be a little bird in the treetops and take it all in from that vantage point!
;^)
C

Dan Felstead said...

Cynthia,
Yes that time is special for us. But like any other teenager...even Zach who enjoys it now, went through a period of about 16 to 19 when he didn't enjoy it. At that age, they have other things on their minds!

Dan