Yesterday was the first of National Paddling Week and we attended a birthday gathering for a sweet little two-year-old, the daughter of a nephew and his wife. Before we arrived for this pleasant event north of Napanee we put our kayaks in on the Salmon River and spent an idyllic 90 minutes paddling along the tree-lined waterway. We were alone for virtually the entire time, at least in terms of humans. It was also blissfully quiet when it came to the "unwanted sound of everything we want," to use Garret Keizer's phrase.
Ruth-eye view of the Salmon River June 2018
We were surrounded by the "cloud of witnesses" of other creatures instead. The maple forest was filled with birdsong and kingfishers chattered along the river. Our greatest delight, though, was the astonishing number of dragonflies and damselflies which weren't present even two weeks ago. When we stopped and were still for a moment they would land on our boats and us before darting away again.
Ruth, St. Martin's New Brunswick Bay of Fundy
We enjoy paddling on the ocean and have done so in the Bay of Fundy and the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. This sort of paddling always requires a degree of vigilance which respects wind and tide and frigid water.
Yesterday was a tranquil and contemplative meander on a balmy and warm afternoon. We could be attuned to our Maker and be gently hopeful about the everyday complexity of the created order. We have paddled amidst icebergs and had a pod of porpoises swim beneath us, both of which were thrilling experiences. Yet the Tiger Swallowtail butterflies and the Painted turtles we saw on the Salmon were wonders to behold as well.
Much has been written about the spiritual discipline of walking. It's important to remember that long before European contact Canada's history was written along its waterways.
We have been paddling together for 44 years now, in canoes and kayaks, and God has always spoken to us on the holy water.
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