Rescue Mission "Dragon Fly"...

In light of my recent viewing of the new Spider Man movie, I figured this would be a good time to post a more "close-to-home" story of heroic proportions.

The day at the beach was fairly non-descript.  Partly sunny.  Partly cloudy.  Folks splashing around.  Kids dunking one another.  Horse flies fiendishly lurking and hovering over unsuspecting adults and children alike.

But above the din of humanity and horse flies there was a silent presence.

Dragonflies.

They too, hovered and danced and made great efforts to consume every last mosquito within a mile radius...approximately.  One could only hear them when they swerved out of the way of feverishly flapping folks.

As husband and I sat and viewed this site, fairly close to the water's edge,we happened to notice something unusual going on in the water.  It appeared one great, lovely Dragonfly had ditched and was being tossed to and fro in the ongoing waves.  He (she) appeared to be in a sad but merciful death roll at the mercy of each passing, frothing wave.

Then we saw it.  Another of his species did what looked to be an attempted rescue.  He hovered over the one rolling in the water and got hold of him momentarily.  A great clashing, rasping sound of wings was heard even from our vantage point but alas, the fellow dragonfly was just too much for the rescuer and he aborted his mission, leaving the poor #1 dragonfly flailing about as he waited for his certain demise.

"Dear", said I, "can you go pick that poor Dragonfly up out of the water?  Perhaps he could be revived!"

Husband wasn't too sure about it.  I mean, one dragonfly amongst thousands...and he most likely was dead by now anyway. 

We sat and watched.  I told him I could hear him flailing about!!!!  After considerable time, husband walked over to the water's edge,  walked up to his knees and plucked the poor fellow out from his certain watery grave.

They sat there together.  One human rescuer.  One wet dragonfly...barely alive.

The dragonfly began to move bit by bit.  First wiping the water away from his enormous eyes and swivel head.  I do believe he wanted to see where he was and who it was that took such care to rescue him.

The sun warmed him.  The breeze allowed his wings to dry ever-so-slowly. 

They sat there together....man and beasty.  Once husband even got to chatting with the poor fellow.  During the conversation, husband noticed that his bottom section of his front left leg had been lopped off.  Would he even have a chance of living without a foot?  We weren't a "Dr. McIntosh, Entomologist", that's for sure!!!

Husband persevered, holding him gently on his hand, whispering who knows what into his senses. 

The wings began to dry.  His legs began to move.  He wasn't a lost cause.

What happened in that half hour, between man and dragonfly, will forever remain a mystery.  One part of creation connecting closely with another in ways that one can only wonder about. 

It was an engrossing scene for me.  The more I watched and waited, the more I realized how each of us in God's eyes, is beautiful and special...because God made it so....and each creature, human, or otherwise, is worth rescuing, worth saving, worth everything.

Dragonfly eventually gave himself a stretch and a bit of a shake, testing his wings a bit to see if all the water had evaporated.  It was only a brief moment before he took that lovely, delicate, blue and green body up and into the air, but I thought I heard him whisper "thanks", as he sailed up and into the cosmos, alive and well once more with his own kind.

It was a life-changing experience for me, be it ever so small.

Lots of other exciting things happened too, on the beach, but we'll save that for another time:)

Updates on life....

It’s a very warm, cloudy, humid day today at Waskesiu. Husband and I went for a drive around attempting to see some wildlife but I guess one will have to go to Saskatoon this week to see that (today’s Star Phoenix)!!!! It’s amazing that so few people are able to intimidate such great numbers. Hope their party goes well!


I’ve been thinking a lot about my ‘former’ co-workers these days….wondering how they are, what they’re doing, if life is treating them well and vice versa. How the ones who have recently retired are doing….Corny, Darwin, Dave, Brian…. It still feels very strange that I will not be returning to the office, to the people that have over the years, meant so much to me. In ways I cannot quite understand, it seems almost unfair that one should have to experience these feelings of….severance….for lack of a better word….of being cut off from the lives of these folks who have been a daily part of my own life. I believe September will bring about a major shift in my thought patterns as I learn to live more quietly, more intentional, perhaps, than I ever have before. I’m beginning to see that life, even later in life, brings opportunities for rethinking old ways and old habits, of learning new ones that may benefit me and others. I’m not exactly sure what those may be but I shall attempt to be intuitive to those possibilities.

I have been enjoying these days of ‘aloneness’. Not sure why either. Perhaps it is that I’m having to take time to think on many things and one doesn’t do that kind of thing well with many people around. And another thing I’m finding is that I believe for many years I’ve been experiencing sleep deprivation. No kidding!! I’ve been able to sleep 10 and 11 hours every night…no problem. It’s a far cry from 6 and 7 hours a night while I was working.

So, for now, I will enjoy my time with husband and granddaughter. She will be leaving soon and that, of course, will be another shift in life for us left behind. I don’t expect to see a great deal of her from now on but I trust that the many things she has learned and experienced thus far, will hold her in good stead as she moves forward along her path in life. It’s not like she’s moving a little ways away so I must get my head around that too, that there won’t be weekends and various holidays where we can expect to see her. But those are my feelings, things I must deal with. She, on the other hand, is excited to be moving on to new cultures and experiences and schools. It’s amazing to see how far she’s come!!!

Perhaps this evening will find us pickerel fishing…Randy knows a good spot???!!! We shall see! I wonder when I’ll be able to post this???? Typing it in the trailer and when I get to some WiFi I’ll post it.

I’m thinking of you all…….with much fondness…..

Tried and failed....

Just attempted a post but nothing happened.  bummer.

I'll try again another day...until then, a fishing we will go in the morning.

Weather warm....humid...cloudy.

Lots of folks shopping in the little shops and sitting in cofee shops as opposed to the beach.

Enjoy your lovely evening then.....

Let's see....

Today was a rainy day up here.  Warm.  Humid.  Cloudy.  People were shopping and walking about like no bodies business.

It's a good evening too for playing cribbage with Randy and Teresa.

Just Skyped with Matt.  Brittney heads back home for a few days off with her momma.

Tomorrow will be a fishing day....if the rain holds off.

Let's see....

Sittin'....this time at Pete's cafe....

Just thought I'd update you a bit since last we spoke.  It's been one HOT week!  No power outages though so that's a plus.

We're sitting here at Pete's Cafe in Waskesiu after a full run-arouind day at home doing stuff....grocery shopping, laundry, farmer's market, the stuff one does when they come to town.

Then it's flying back to lake to take Brittney out for supper here.  We ordered.

One order of nachos.....as an appetizer.

One Big Kahuna....that pizza language for yuummmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

When we get finished up with supper we'll go over to The Evergreen to Skype with Matt for a bit and see how his week has progressed.

Ta ta for now then....hope your lungs are holding out with all the smoke happening.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay....

wastin' time.....that's what it appears I'm doing for the most part.  Yesterday was a fishing day of all days and our 44th anniversary too!  It was exciting, to say the least.

We figured we would go out and fish the day away yesterday as we have so many anniversaries before.  Headed for the Heart Lakes where we decided to fish with worms as bait.  Well, that didn't go off well to begin with.  WORMS???????  Never before have I fished with anything live on the end of my line!!!  But being our anniversary and all, I figured I'd make the husband feel good by going along with the plan.

An hour or so into this with the fish eating all the bait and us getting nothing but a lot of frustration, I took the bull by the horn....not Ken....and had had enough of that live stuff.  Give me a good old spoon...yellow and black to be exact.  Wham!!!! We started to reel in a few little ones....Jacks of course.  Not many but I managed an 11 pounder in the third Heart Lake.

After a lot of that we decided to head for the big lake.....Crean.....and go to our old favorite spot, Jackfish Bay.  We hadn't been too successful there in quite a while but hey, in those years, the little gaffers must do nothing buy get bigger and bigger as the years. progress.

Husband said when he and Randy went the other day, they fished into the weeds and they caught a few there.  So that is what we did.  Hit the weeds and got three right away...all little fellows.  I got me to thinkin'......if all those little guys are in the weeds, the big suckers must be out in the middle of the bay just crusisin' around lookin' for yellow and black spoons to eat. 

So....whoooooossssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I flung that hook a long ways into the middle of the bay.  Two turns of the reel and whaaaaaackkkkkk...he struck like a lightening bolt and I held on for the ride of my life....me with tendinitis and all.  I knew I should have brought that dang support piece...oh well, too late for that now.  I was caught in a battle royal with a fish I had no clue as to it's size....only by the feel.  I could tell he was a whopper.  I reeled and reeled and reeled and then he'd take off like hell was on his heels...maybe he knew it really was.  Anyway, away went the line....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....and I'd try reeling again.  My wrists strained and my biceps thought they were in Olympic trials but I pressed onward not letting them know that they were helping me get the biggest fish ever!!!! 

I finally could see something on top of the water slowly moving towards the boat....weeds....but under those weeds was the fellow I was looking for.  I was yelling to Ken that I didn't think I could go any further as my arms were ready to render themselves useless, as opposed to being some sort of bionic super hero's just moments ago.  He was getting closer and I was losing my grip....but I couldn't let go, just couldn't.  It was a battle to the death!  (I'm reading the Hunger Games).  So I finally gave up the ghost....momentarily...and let Ken have a go at reeling and I took hold of the net.  Be danged if the beast didn't wrap himself around the anchor rope when he got up to the boat.  Ken pulled off the weeds that the creature had attempted to wrap himself in and gave the rod back to me so he could get him around the rope.  I could see him clearly....BIG...HUGE....ENORMOUS....way out of my comfort zone for fish catching, but I wouldn't let him go...for anything.  He got right up to the boat and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......away he went again.  I held on like there was no tomorrow, fighting woman against beast, wondering if I could win or leave it up to him to flip off the hook and leave me in the dust.  I persevered...closer and closer.  Ken had the net ready in the water, first one side and then the other...into the water it would go ready to scoop up the devil incarnate.  We were both ouuuuuing and ahhhhhing..... when scoop....up he came into the net, where Ken dragged him overboard.  Now THAT was some fish!!!  He wouldn't fit into the live well so we had to do him in right then and there.  A horrid death but he will make us some fine eating in the midst of a cold Saskatchewan winter.  He was close to 18 pounds and I'm sure I'll never catch anything like that again....nor do my wrists want to try.

So, that's what I've been up to.  I'll have pictures to prove my story just as soon as I download them.

Yep, I'm enjoying the hot weather too!

Fly in....fly out....

It's what we did today.  The bronchitis is getting the better of me, so it was in to town to get some high powered antibiotics to calm the lungs and now we're getting ready to hit the windy trail to the trailer.

Here are some pics with the new camera...but not cropped, or digitized etc.

I've got a whole manual to read up on to get everything just right.  May take me until this time next year to figure it all out!

In the meantime, it's a good time at the lake and I'm just resting up to rid myself of this illness.

Take care out there.....