Installment number two. Follows our journey down the Nina Moose River, across Lake Nina Moose to Lake Agnes.

25 Thursday

Shoved off about 9AM. Nice paddling. Perfect weather. I don’t navigate lakes well. It’s hard to figure out the perspective.

Critters I saw today: one little green frog spotted while draging the canoe over a beaver dam,a young duck, a little toad I trudged past on a portage, one black & yellow snake which I scared the crap out of further down that same portage, a mommy duck with her little flock of ducklings, and — just now as I sit on a rock at our camp on Lake Agnes — heard a loon call. Then I saw a tiny little black spot bobbing way out on the water. Cool.

I scrawled some notes to myself on this trip — mainly so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed and forget what it was like. I’m glad I did, because it was a majorly overwhelming trip.

This installment came before I even got in the canoe. I had been gone since the previous Friday. I think maybe I was missing someone.

24 Tuesday, PM.

Sitting on the end of the dock, flat on my back. It occurs to me that clouds are like an eternal Rorschach test. First impression: Cupid’s arrow flying into a wispy Valentie’s Day heart. Then, suddenly there’s hearts everywhere — this cloud, that cloud… there’s another! Then, a big, floppy posey with dandelion leaves growing sideways out of Cupid’s heart. Then some stuff better suited to bedrooms and fantasies… and finally a big sky whale or was it a paramecium, magnified into luminous pink on the deepest blue ground? I find myself wishing I were snuggling with Helen on a blanket in the middle of a field, starting at the deepest blue sky — so deep I can see right into space — trading analyses of our Rorschach clouds.

Here’s a pic of Dad loafing in the canoe as Uncle Bo and I paddle across Lake Agnes on our quest to see wildlife before sundown. We ended up surprising some beaver outside their house. It was pretty cool.

I’ve finally located my notes. Stay tuned.

Okay… I’ve been on the road for 27 hours. Stopping off at home before the two hour push back to Philly. The boundary waters are the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I made some notes. Stay tuned — I’ll be posting them over the next couple days.

Almost there. Whew.

I need my jammies — these jeans are too restrictive. And this ice tastes like freezer. My eyes are bluzzy (fuzzy+bleary=bluzzy). And my neck’s itchy. The tag in this shirt is poking me. I can’t sit cross-legged on this stool. The stool’s too high, by the way. And it hurts my butt. and my wrists. I can’t write copy about my own band. And I can’t find a typeface that works well with New Century Schoolbook.

Waaaaaahhh! [pout] Where’s my binkie, dammit?!

This is a bitching cool t-shirt.

More cool stuff. Start at the front door:

Threadless.com - - Nude, No, More.