The wind through a dry forest canopy and the water over falls sing with the same voice. Both can pull you in.

In the autumn woods you can get lost in the aromas. The smell of decay in this one instance, is soothing. Rotting oak leaves, black walnut & butternut weave with the subtle scent of the asters and the black tea aroma of sumac. Sometimes it’s all so overwhelming. Yet sometimes there’s nothing. The air is devoid of scent.

Today I realized that wasn’t so. There was something. I could smell “cold”.

The coldest sight in the world is the last few leaves of a poplar tree spinning in the wind against a pale sky. Lie on the ground and look.

The car was covered in frost last night. Now the sun is always yellow. The sky is always deep blue. That is, unless the cold Canadian clouds bring rain. Soon they will bring sleet. I blame the Canadians for winter. . .

I was thinking about that cold day. The one where you set your kayak at the edge of the water and watch the hull crush through the thin eggshell ice that clings to the banks. It won’t be long now.

Sometimes when I paddle in winter I put my hands in the water to put out the flames.

I went paddling yesterday afternoon. It was cold. The water was warm. I thought if I could roll and just stay under it would have been a perfect day. I tried once, but just got covered in weeds.

I tried to paddle as fast as I could with my big bad Lendal Kinetic touring paddles. I thought about how I use a wing paddle. With my arms high and my strokes wide, I tore up the lake. Well, I went along at a speed somewhat faster than my usual cadence. 6.4 according to the GPS. Not sure the Explorer wants to go much faster. Maybe it’s just my weak froggy arms.

I found a another use for my paddle float. It’s a nice mat when I want to keep my fiddly bits off the ground.

I rolled around the web and found a picture of Alex with scissors stuck in his kayak. Why is this exactly what you’d expect?? Then I saw Matthew, Roy, Jeff Bjorgo and an inflatable doll. I see, it’s training camp. Was that almost a headstand? Was that a balance Board?? Was that a Croc??? Nice Pictures. Next year at QTC they may be selling a souvenir inflatable Jeff Bjorgo Doll. After all, wouldn’t we all like a little Jeff all our own.

I never wander the beach without my Hydroskins. I don’t want to scare the natives. Must be some rule in Slovenia that says you can eat all you like and still be able to sit around without a shirt. Of course you can do that in the states too, but not usually with the same results. Over the weekend I got to work and added a few more galleries for these guys. You may have to scroll down.

I just wrote a blog about that funny feeling in your chest. Then Silbs goes and does something like this? This is the guy who said he knows when someone is not long for this world. Last time we were together he kept asking me If I was ok. . . “You look a little flushed. . .”, he said. My first thought was, he thinks I’ve had it!! So now he’s trying to push me over the edge. . . or write my epitaph. . . maybe both in one go!

Hmmm, still thinking about Anglesey. By hook or by crook! Recently, I’ve been feeling more like the crook. But that’s another story. One way or another I’m going to get moving on my BCU coaching certifications. . Then I’ll have opinions, I’ll tell you what!!

In amongst all the evil in this world there is a lot of good. But then, it could just be the magic talking! I just don’t know. . .

Lying shirtless on the cold bed while some strange woman attached stickers to my chest was admittedly unique. Much different then when I used to bartend at this club where on “Male Stripper” nights drunk women would buy buttons off my shirt for 10 bucks each! Those were the days! I looked up at the nurse and said, “It sucks getting old!”. “It sure does.” she said as she flipped on the EKG to see if she was getting a decent reading. Another year, another physical. . .

I make sure to go have my physical each year. I remember an ad campaign a while back challenging men to have the brass tacks to go have an annual physical. Good idea. Many men are just chicken. I often said in the past I felt like a grew up in hospitals. I didn’t, but like most of us I’ve had my share of life altering experiences in them. So avoiding the doctor was part of my life’s plan. The fact that my father died at 33 put the fear of death in me early. As each year went by it was, to my anxiety filled way of thinking, even closer to the year the doctor was going to tell me I’d had it. So I didn’t go. Suddenly I turned 40 and I thought, “How come I’m not dead yet?” and something in me said I needed to go figure that one out. So I went and had a physical. You could read all about the trepidation and fear I went through last year. This year was much the same, other than I knew a bit more about what was going to happen.

Last time around I got lots of the “tisk, tisk” looks from the nurse as she unwrapped the blood pressure cuff from my arm and said, “153 over 90. That’s a bit high.”, then told me to get undressed and sit under that little rice paper sheet. I knew it. I WAS a goner!!. But in the end, I was sent away with some medicinal help and some encouragement regarding lifestyle changes I had been making on my own in the last couple years.

This time around I looked at the same nurse as she started pumping up the cuff until my hand turned blue and waited for the result like a lotto pick. “122 over 60″, she said while handing me another white paper sheet. It seems between my tiny little pill and my daily exercise we got a handle on that one. Good. Still, I was not really feeling quite right. We needed to chat a bit more.

As most of you long time readers know I’ve always had bouts of anxiety & doom. It passes for a time, then shows up again to bully me around for awhile, then runs back into the dark corners of my room. Thing about anxiety, besides it’s propensity to wring your brain like a damp sponge, is that it often likes to give you all sorts of strange feelings in your chest. It plays with you. Then if you’re a bit of a hypochondriac, you swear your having a heart attack. Then add childhood into the mix and you’re soon finding about 25 reasons you just know you’re on your way out. Thing is, you don’t tell anyone because you know, that they know you’re just “touched”. They won’t believe you or at the best chalk it up to your eccentricities. Either way, it’s nothing like sympathetic. So in your head, alone, you know you’re not long for the world! You start picking songs for your funeral, figuring out who to give your stuff too and mourning that one drunken night you never actual had, but wanted to have.

But this year my fine friendly family physician decided that it was time to address my unique world view. Thus the EKG just to verify that I was not going to drop over. Blood tests to eliminate the hidden boogie men and a little magic wand to quiet the racing mind. I’m not sure I believe in magic, but at 41 I’m willing attempt a few milligrams of faith.

Growing older isn’t really so bad. Only, you may have to drop the price for your buttons. I’ll let you know if I start believing in magic. At least until my next check up. . .

. . . I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in . . .

Many smaller lakes in the Midwest are suffering from years of over use, pollution and high phosphorus levels due to years of farm run off. Popular tourism destinations such as our local lake really take a beating. At Devil’s Lake over 1.5 million people visit the park each year. At that volume even if most visitors are somewhat environmentally conscious, they still leave large volumes of waste and destroy habitats. Damage is hard to avoid. It was worse still when the park had homes, resorts, tour boats and allowed gas motors.

But over use and pollution can paradoxically remove harmful organisms and leave you with a crystal clear lake. Over the past few years Devil’s Lake has been a grand experiment in lake rejuvenation. Some time back gas motors were forbidden which is one reason it is a popular paddling destination. In addition the Department of Natural Resources has begun a phosphorus removal program by drawing bottom water from the lake. Water withdrawal began in 2002 and since then the lake has certainly seen changes. There are now actually more weed beds and large algae blooms. Of course this is to be expected as the bottom is churned up. Yet, even now it’s much more common to see Bald Eagles, Heron, Osprey, Loons and other birds than just a few years ago. A good thing. Water clarity is improving but will take more time as phosphorus continues to be removed.

But not everyone is happy. Recently a post to the Devil’s Lake message board suggested we should allow motor boats back on the lake since this would again clear up the water, and remove “swimmer’s itch” which is carried by in by ducks. She said “I am now 36 and would never swim there in the conditions it has now it`s just gross!”. I replied, “You`re suggesting that if we would pollute the water more it would be less gross and you would swim in it again?”.

Funny world.

The fuel of great expeditions. . .

Well, maybe not all at once. Actually I’m not sure if sushi was consumed at anytime on the expedition but you may be interested to run over to seakayakingcornwall.com and see a short video about Jeff Allen & Hadas Feldman’s circumnavigation of Japan. Many of you will recognize the video from This Is The Sea II. If not, well here’s just another reason to go out and get a copy! ( notice how subtle I was. . .)

Now it is pretty obvious on the other hand that Mars bars may have been consumed in quantity while Simon Osborne was working his way around Great Britain a couple years ago. As proof of their demise I again invite you to head to Sea Kayaking Cornwall and have a look at Simon’s video as well. This clip was also produced by Justine Curgenven as part of an Nigel Dennis Kayaks promotional video.

Over on Jeff’s website there are also a couple new photo galleries you may enjoy as well. One from Japan and another from last winter’s South Georgia Island circumnavigation with Hadas, Nigel Dennis & Peter Brey.

Cool eh? A couple nice video clips and few photos to get your weekend started. As for me, I said once I was done teaching for the year. . . well, that has changed. It seems people in Wisconsin don’t want to give up on learning about kayaking so quickly this year. So I’m off to Madison to pass along what little I know of the sport. . . “Ok guys, This is a paddle. . . and THIS is a Mars bar. . .”