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[Wednesday, August 21, 2002: Three pitch black.]
On the way back up from the docks, someone (I forgot who it was) recited the saying:
"Leaves of three, let them be."
Apparently she had found some poison ivy growing next to the path. Great, and I wanted to wear shorts too.
A bit further up the path, they also found some Trilliums growing in a patch. For those of you who don't know, the Trillium is Ontario's provincial flower. It's illegal to pick them, but LH wanted to "transplant" one back to her home. That would be cool, although I doubt it would survive.
After we got back to the cottage, LB dragged me upstairs to show me her room and do some water colouring. I figured that I might as well take part since she didn't have anyone else to play with. We went to play basball soon afterward. I ended up being the last car out, since we were waiting for someone who had apparently left on another car! We zoomed on after them but didn't find any trace of the other cars. Fortunately, one of the cars did stop and we were lucky we didn't make a wrong turn. Soon, we had joined up with the rest of the convoy and headed towards the diamond. They were driving awfully fast on those small, windy country roads. I was a little worried that there would be some sort of oncoming car which would eventually crash into one of us. RD, W, and LB were in my car, and LB kept talking, and talking, and talking.. Wow, that kid was unstoppable! She started telling jokes (most of which made fun of Chinese people) and asked if we had any to share. Unfortunately, all of the ones I could think of at the time were not appropriate for her, and I think RD was in the same boat. She then tried to get us to play word games and anything else to pass the time. The drive was long, and it took us basically near Huntsville, but the diamonds were pretty good quality, with night lights and all, and they were deserted. This meant that we had the place to ourselves, and played five innings of three pitch.
When we got back, LB dragged me back upstairs to continue with water colour painting. This time we were drawing pictures of ourselves or anything else. Let's just say that her rendition of me wasn't very flattering. *bops her on the head* But after I was up there for maybe half-an-hour, N came up and told LB that I was supposed to be relaxing and not to be entertaining her. That was my cue to go downstairs, but only after we finished the painting we were working on (basically the scenery outside the window).
There was a hot tub in the back, and I was itching to go in, except that it was pretty crowded most of the afternoon. I decided to wait until most of the folks cleared out before I tried for a dip myself. (Which meant that I'd have to soak in the grime that the previous soakers had sloughed off. Eww.) Anyhoo, the tub cleared out eventually and I got changed and took my shirt off. While hanging onto my shirt, I took a tentative step into the tub.. and promptly fell feet first into the tub. Shirt and all. That was a little embarassing. It was a little deeper than I thought it was. In any case, I sat in the tub for the next half-hour soaking up the heat and relaxing in the water. LB had fun splashing me with water and other water related activities that you usually see in pools. I don't think they happen that often in hot tubs though.
Soon it was time to eat so I got out of the tub and dried off. The food was good, we all had steak, and the dessert was excellant. My chocolate ice cream was very, very creamy, and some of the other desserts were fantastic! (Most were homemade.)
![[Midnight over Lake Vernon.]](../Pictures/2002-03-03/2002-06-22b.jpg)
I stayed up late the first (and last) night that I was up there. The weather was amazing, and the serenity (if you exclude the antics of a very energetic twelve year old) was refreshing. The moon was out and nearly full, so the lake and surrounding forest was bathed in the warm glow of the moon. My camera didn't have film that could take proper night pictures, I tried my best and this was the only one that came out.
This is a picture of the full moon over the midnight waters of Lake Vernon.
After eating our fill, we all sat around to talk and relax before going to bed. I decided to stay up late so I could watch the stars and enjoy the night air. The view of the lake was marvelous. The moon was full and easilly illuminated the lake and surrounding forest. I tried to take some pictures but the lighting was still not good enough for my film to capture anything decent.
![[The Crackling Fire.]](../Pictures/2002-03-03/2002-06-22c.jpg)
After most of us went to sleep, I hung out in the backyard with a couple of guys to watch and nurse the fire.
Here's a picture of the camp fire.
I watched the fire with GJ and G for some time. A raccoon came by as well. Whoever he (she?) was, he wandered around the patio and actually fell off! I was so stunned that the rodent lost it's footing, but it got back up again and wandered around the back, looking for food. My poor attempt at taking it's picture resulted in a very blurry photograph.
It was past midnight when I decided to go to bed. I wanted to see the sun rise that morning so I need to get a good night's rest.
