Solitude

We were at the cottage to 'close it up'.  We got up Saturday morning to snow (more slush than snow...).  Made for soggy work doing stuff outdoors.

My daughter went down to look at the lake.  It was quite the contrast - her dark coloured clothes against the white and grey of ground, water, leafless trees and sky.

It was a day of striking stillness and quietness.  No birds sang, people were indoors keeping warm and dry and the slushy snow seemed to absorb all sound.  It was so very, very quiet.

Times like this are rare:  Time to be still and quiet and alone.  Time to listen and reflect.  

We need times like this.

Whatzat(3)

Are you stumped yet?

MC (middle child) and I were out for a canoe (quite a rare event as MC is more into motor-driven watercraft) and he spotted something in the water.  I couldn't see it.  We paddled back and eventually found it again.  I think the only reason we saw it was because the sun was at just the right angle.

It was a log in the water - appearing to be perfectly vertical and right below the surface.  MC stuck his paddle in the water and had to put if right down under the water to touch it.  This meant it was about five feet below the surface.

We tried to take pictures of it, but that was tricky because the canoe is never perfectly still and, as mentioned, the sun had to be hitting this log just so.  The picture above was taken by sticking the camera right in the water and hoping for the best.

This was yet another example of the happy discoveries that can happen when you are WITH someone.

By the way - did you catch the pun in the first line?