Reflections

This card is indicative of how I've been feeling lately. What do you think this lady is thinking about? A lost love, her young children now grown to adulthood, a new job, an old job she really, really loved, her future.....it could be one of a dozen unfulfilled dreams. This stamp from the SU's "Summer by the Sea".

This particular image reminds me of a time we took our children to a cottage for a week at Miller Lake, near Tobermory, Ontario. It was a wonderful week, the boys were able to build sand castles on the beach, learn to paddle a canoe, roast marshmallows over the fire, play in baseball games organized by the resort staff. We had so much fun. At that time I was in my "grind my own coffee beans" phase, so for a week in the wilds, I just HAD to take along my coffeemaker and bean grinder (what if they only had an old purcolater style pot, heaven forbid!). I'm an early riser, usually before 7 o'clock, and I would fill the grinder then wrap about 4 towels around it to soften the noise so that no one else would wake up. I brewed the coffee, poured myself a tall mug and headed down to the dock. I would untie the rowboat that came with the cottage rental and step into the boat, coffee in hand. I would settle myself on the seat, coffee nearby, unhook the oars from their casing and push off from the dock. I think that being in the middle of the lake on a beautiful summer's morn with the sun barely risen, sipping a fresh coffee in the quiet is THE best way to start a day. The only sounds were the waves gently lapping the side of the boat, soft summer breezes rustling the trees (it wasn't a huge lake) and chirping birds. On some mornings I was treated to the call of the loon.....such a beautiful and mournful sound. Peace and tranquility before the reality of having to chase 5 & 7 year old boys all over the place. Then one morning something happened and I didn't go out in the boat again for the remainder of the week. As I was sitting quietly in the boat, suddenly there was this loud thump, almost under my feet. I sat very still for a couple of minutes trying to figure out just what had caused this noise. I finally decided that it was a shark. No kidding, I believed it was a shark all the while knowing full well this was a lake, not the open ocean. And it was a fresh-water lake at that, not salt water. It didn't matter that I knew it could not possibly be a shark, every fibre in my being screamed, "Get the heck outta here." The coffee went overboard, the oars were once again released from their casings and I rowed like I was possessed back to shore. Finally, my heart rate returned to normal once the boat was secured at the dock and I was on good old terra firma once again.

That was the last of my early morning rowing excursions. In reflecting on this, I wish that I had listened to my head instead of the butterflies in my stomach. Sharks! C'mon Barb! I knew better, but allowed my fear to override the absolute joy of those early morning visits to the middle of the lake.

That's my reflection for today. The card was coloured using Lyra Watercolour Crayons and the technique is the "mirror" technique where you stamp the image onto a mirror block stamp and then onto the card to get the "mirrored" look. I also used on of my fancy SU corner punches to adhere the image to the blue c/s. Thanks for joining me today.