Calm

My Maineiac mind has been a bit roiled, of late. The political landscape is unsettling, our state's Governor just will not act civilly, and work has been busy this summer. The latter is unusual, as I tend to see fewer clients this season. Anyhow, we realized that a good chunk of the summer has gone by, and we have not made it to our favorite kayaking spot off of Deer Isle/Stonington. The weekend was going to be cloudy, but we decided to make a go for it. I was worried that my pics wouldn't come out well with these skies. Boy, was I wrong. Between the carpet of clouds and my new wide-angle lens, the sky in these pictures is stunning. Don't you agree?

The sea was so calm. We were able to cover much more ground and circle islands that usually have spots that can be a bit treacherous with some wind and waves. With every soft paddle-stroke, my body relaxed. The briny air and the smell of the rosa rugosa growing on the edges between spruce and pine trees and the granite rocks was intoxicating. I kept inhaling deeply, trying to lock in the memory of it. 

This place is my healer. Hopefully, you can get a little feeling of it from these photos. 

Now, on to the second half of summer.

The Rudest Canadian

Tonight we drink our Goose Island IPAs in honor of the goose on Hog Island who tried to steal our lunch, today. It all started wonderfully, on a pristine day on Eggemoggin Reach. We pushed off of the boat landing in Brooklin, ME. 

That's Hog Island, up ahead. We beached there for lunch. After pulling the kayaks up onto the beach, we began to explore a bit. 

As we rounded the south side of the island, we noticed a goose wandering the rocks. This was odd. We figured it must have been injured. It's my understanding that geese will wait until another flock comes along, then join them on their migration. We turned our attention back to our picnic spot. 

We heard him before we saw him. "Honk! Honk!"  

"HONK, HONK, HONK!"

Uh-oh. He knew we had food. 

"HONK! HONK!"

Mr. Maineiac said, "Geese can be nasty. They nip. We need to get out of here."

So we planned a great escape. The mister grabbed the lunch cooler and went to the left. I ran to my kayak, hopped in, and pushed off. Mr. Maineiac got the Canadian to follow and then quickly changed course and ran to his kayak. We paddled madly southeast. As we tried to make a fast get-away, we realized that we were not alone. 

"HONK! HONK!" The Canadian had followed us into the water! 

We also made a mistake and had headed into the direction of a strong wind. The water was choppy and we were getting pushed into the rocky walls of the neighboring island. We had no choice but to turn around and head right back into the Canadian. It felt vaguely like an Albert HItchcock movie. Honking filled the air.

We decided to split around him. Mr. went left and I went right. Hate to say it, but I was relieved when the Canadian followed him. (He did have the cooler, after all!) Since we were no longer fighting the wind, we were able to cover a lot more distance in less time. The honking began to fade as the distance between us and the Canadian grew. We decided to head toward an island about five minutes away. As we paddled, I looked back and saw that the Canadian had gone ashore on a nearby island. (That one at 11 o'clock in the picture, below.) Yay! 

We settled into a rhythm and were soon beaching for lunch. 

We found a nice spot on some granite boulders and had a laugh about the Canadian. As we started eating our sandwiches, we heard it, "Honk, Honk." It was muted, but it was there.

I am not kidding. We searched the water, and sure enough there he was, heading toward us. He was just a dot, but the dot was getting bigger with each honk. 

Just as we were considering packing everything up,again, a group of kayakers came by as they made their way to the boat landing in Brooklin. The Canadian turned and began following them! It was a hoot. Initially, we could hear them exclaiming about how cool it was that he was coming right toward them. Then, he began to swim among them and held them up for quite a while as they tried to figure out how to loose him. Luckily for us, he followed them all the way into shore. They are just specks on this photo.

We sat back and enjoyed our lunch. There was no question, though, that we had just met the RUDEST Canadian, ever : )