My next day off
we headed north along the Trans Canada,
the road that was known picturesquely here a few years ago as the Great
Northern Road. Past Island Lake and the Heydon intersection along the Algoma
Central Railway line, and then a jut through rock cuts and towards ant bluffs
and tree covered rocky slopes of the Lake Superior shore, Haviland Bay. Haven`t
been here for a couple of years and it is now a parking lot with intervals of
beach. It was still early and the children not too bored with driving so we went
on to Harmony Bay. This has lost some of its wild charm because of the parking
lots and comfort stations but is still beautiful, sweeping half-moon bays, some
large, some small, several miles of it, sandy and pebble covered points of
land. We went rock picking up the shore to the mouth of a small river. Stood on
a smooth narrow sand point and watched the meeting of two currents. The low
heave of Lake Superior, mingling with the outpouring of a small stream right at
the point of land, and formed a symmetrical inverted curved V for several yards
from the shore. The children are so hurt when their rocks are not praised and
cherished.
This reminded
me of the day at Point des Chene a few years ago when I was anxious for some
peace and quiet and sent the tribe Paul, Pat, Michael, Jimmy, Mary Anne Suzanne,
Mary Jane and Catherine off down the shore to look for stones. They came back (too
soon) and I praised their efforts too highly and off they raced off for more. Not
only they but they were having so much fun that they attracted other children
racing to the circle and dropping another on and racing back to the shore again
for another load.
It became quite
embarrassing. People passing by on the beach looked at me in my circle, looking
quizzical, shrugged their shoulders as if to say “another kook”, and went on. I forget how
I stopped the threatened rock fall but I am still a rock collector
Now I remember,
I do not have a rock collection really. I am searching for arrowheads and have
found spear points and pounding stones, and tomahawk heads, but along Superior shores,
I have yet to find my first arrowhead.
Mary lay on the
beach chair and wallowed in the sunshine. The girls and I toured the shoreline.
A day with the children renews my sagging spirits.
On July 16th I bullied Wilf into taking me to
St Joseph Island. It was a beautiful day. We made a circuit tour of the island.
I have been reading a lot about it but have been having difficulty getting in
and sorting out its many bays and inlets.
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