Open season

Mr. Kaj and I met for a casual paddle near the Arboretum on Sunday. I had not been there for years, and I am not one to turn down a chance to paddle.

As it was a holiday weekend, it was a bit of a free-for-all on the water. Motorboats, sailboats, kayaks, rental canoes; they were all out there looking for blood. I saw some canoes and kayaks that have clearly been sitting in storage for years out there; show your boats some love, people. We met a pair of women in a tandem canoe that appeared to be coming in from the lake. No PFD's, and the woman sitting stern was using her bent-shaft paddle backwards. She asked Kaj how to do a J-stroke. Scary.

Anyhow, all this traffic made the water choppy [to me] once one left the sheltered confines of the Arboretum itself. I treaded carefully, but made it back in one, dry piece. Nice to see you, crazy people. Catch you next year.