Wendy On Vacation, I Think

Lake Diva and her antics.

It's nice to see Wendy acting like a total goofball as it takes much of the pressure off me. Not that it's any hardship for me to captain my own sinking sense of the absurd.

Though Wendy is on vacation in this picture it still looks like she's a singer. I'm not sure but I think she may be trying to make a digital recording.

In the background, Maurice Collette, a summertime neighbour and captain of Via Lago (Doral 21), looks on in bewilderment.

Wendy 'performed' this stunt in Kingston Creek, a deep and delicious offshoot of Belleisle Bay.

Chert Cousteau-eaus

Quelqu'un peut-il voir le Calypso?

Like Jacques and Philippe Cousteau before us, Julian and I boarded our exploration vessel and headed out to sea in search of underwater riches.

Well, maybe not riches. No dubloons or triploons. We were searching for rocks, but not just any rocks. Chert. Once again I was looking for chert, the rock used for tool and weapon making by the indigenous people of this area.

This time around I brought my young associate, Philippe. Errrr, I mean Julian. Note: I may be suffering from Cousteauism. C'est possible. Julian and I decided to have an underwater look at what might be the area where the chert was known to exist. We found lots of jasper underwater but we're still not certain that we've found chert.

At this point I've decided to contact the expert in chert, a UNB professor named David Black. Perhaps he can shed some light on our quest. Cousteau, of course, would have trudged ahead on his own (it made for better tv). Moi, je vais faire le chemin facile.

Fifty-footitis

The trout won't stand a chance!

There's a term in boating called 'two footitis'. It's a disease. You buy a boat and within a year or two you start suffering from two footitis. You want a bigger boat, perhaps two feet bigger, which makes quite a difference in roominess.

The boat in this image, Whitetail, is a cure for the disease. It's a custom made lobster fishing boat that's 50 feet long and 24 feet wide. I used to have a powerboat, Maud, which was 23 feet long. Whitetail is wider than Maud was long.

It's a good thing that I got rid of Maud before Whitetail arrived on the lake. Twenty footitis wouldn't have cured me. Whitetail lives just down the lake from me during the off-season for lobster fishing. She makes other boaters, and trout and lobster, nervous.

I'll Have Mine 'On The Rocks'

Shadowy Figure

Well, I tried desperately to windsurf on Grand Lake yesterday. Things didn't go in my favour. When life gives you lemons (i.e. no wind), you make lemonade (i.e. go for a stand-up paddle).

It's nice to have options. No wind? No problem. I took my stand-up paddleboard out on the mighty Washademoak après supper and enjoyed a wonderfully serene glide along the rocks of the Pines Conservation Park. I saw only one other boat on the lake on this picture perfect evening. Is everyone dead? Or are they simply watching television?

Seriously...where the hell is everyone?

Going Native...and Loving It!

Pine Island, Washademoak Lake, may have been a playground for the locals (way back when)

It must have been a hard life back in the day. A hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, two thousand years ago...hardly matters.

On Saturday morning I launched my war canoe, which happened to be a 12-foot tin boat with a 9.9 H.P. outboard, and proceeded down the lake to find a source of chert for making weapons and tools. That's what the First Nations people did, more or less.

On the shores of Washademoak Lake, near Belyea's Cove, lies a source of chert that the natives knew only too well. It was the only known source in New Brunswick of a rock type, called chert, that was ideal for making arrow heads, spear tips, and cutting implements.

I (surprise, surprise) didn't find the chert source but I did  discover an inner sense of the importance of place. I was happy to be where I was, rock-hounding on the Washademoak shores. Beyond that, I also had a huge sense of appreciation for what life must have been like hundreds of years ago. Not easy.

I'm not sure how the natives chipped away at the chert to make tools. What did they use to break and shape the rock? I tried using a hammer on a piece of jasper and I failed. They succeeded, but how? I suppose it's like building a Stradivarius violin...all the technology in the world won't replace craftsmanship. There is much to learn.

This Is Getting Absurd!

Now available with floral talc evanescences!

I can be skeptical from time to time, especially when I hear something that sounds retarded yet is delivered by someone who, medically speaking, is not retarded. Tasting notes, for wine and whiskey, are either written by retards....or read by them. Note: I know where I stand.

This one is a classic:

Bright amber colour. Complex aromas of waxy honeycomb, spicy poached pears and peaches, white potpourri, and salty buttery cashew brittle follow through on a silky, round entry to a dry-yet-fruity medium-to-full body with great balance and depth. Finishes with a long, lingering wave of flavour with caramel apple, anise, cinnamon raisin bread and floral talc evanescences.

Whoever wrote this was either blind or has no mirrors in their house. How could you pen that and then look at yourself in the mirror with pride, as though you were making a contribution to the wellness of the planet? I'll bet the author owns an assortment of bow ties and fondles himself while watching the Golden Girls. Ack.

Zack Attacks The Kayak

Zack Nielsen

At our recent Nielsen family party (2012 Edition), the kayaks proved to be a massive hit. Kids ranging in age from 5 to 48 seemed to enjoy them immensely. Max and Justus probably spent more time in them than anyone else, but Zack really had the hang of how to use them effectively.