...we got out for the first paddle of the year.
Nothing terribly exciting - just a couple of lazy laps around the little test-tank of a pond just five minutes from the house. When we first moved up this way ten years ago, most of the pondside buildings were modest summer cabins - now it's sprouting impressive homes on nice big hillside lots, with Lawrence Pond Road becoming a 'preferred' address. The pond's really quiet this time of year, with the speedboats and Sea-Doos still in the boathouses or hauled up ashore.
Tucked away in a sheltered spot, there's a small seaplane, one of two that makes the pond their home base during the summer. We often see them flying really low over our place, as they make the final approach for landing...
The treat of the trip was the ducks - lots of 'em all over the pond. Semi-tame and undisturbed by noise this early in the season, they'll let you approach very close indeed, close enough to really see the wondrous shimmering emerald green of their heads, and observe their chicks at close range.
But it's ducky supper time, so the main order of business, nosy humans not withstanding, is to get those feathered kiddies fed and ready for bed...
And finally, for a special little treat on the drive back home, there's the sight of the ocean and the sky awash in colour, as the sun's just after sinking beneath the hills behind Brigus...
Not bad, not bad at all, for a first paddle of the season. Got some work to do, tho, of course - the old abs need tuning up, the arms need work, and a certain someone who shall mercifully remain nameless is going to have to figure out how to somehow levitate out of that cockpit when the paddle's over ;->))
