paddle on

 My west coast brother informs me that today is National Canoe Day in Canada.  It's National Chocolate Pudding Day in the US but I think chocolate has gotten enough attention.  I've seen many kayaks on the St. Mary's in the years since I've lived here; more since they opened a kayak rental place just up the river, around the bend.  I do remember one couple who were paddling a canoe last summer.  Do you suppose they had come all the way from Canada?  My husband and I owned a canoe many years ago.  It was an 18 foot yellow fiberglass canoe and it could be strapped securely on top of our VW camper (when the pop top was down of course).  We used that canoe frequently for the first few years we had it.  We never took it cross country but had lots of fun with our children paddling it at Chain of Lakes and other lakes in northern Indiana.  But then the time came that we realized we could save a lot of work if we just rented a canoe at whichever lake we wanted to explore.  Gradually it was used less and less, and finally my husband suspended it from the rafters in our downstairs garage, where we kept it for many years, on the chance that we might want to use it again sometime.  In the meantime the kids grew up, we grew old enough not to want to hoist a canoe onto the top of a car (the camper was long gone) and it hung on.  This tale does have a happy ending though.  When I was clearing out the house prior to downsizing, I mentioned the canoe at work and one of my much younger coworkers was thrilled to buy it so she and her young family could take their turn paddling a canoe.