Back from the Lake

Kim and Shawn are visiting the Valley this weekend from Vancouver and Jeff and I are so glad we get a chance to see them before we leave on our trip.

Kim has a meeting with a local reporter on Sunday morning who is interviewing her about her first novel "The Tattooed Wolf". She's originally a local girl, you see. If you like great werewolf stories( and I know there are plenty of werewolf fans out there), go check out her book at www.kbannerman.com

Also on her website (on the links page) you will see the great soulful eyes of her faithful hound Loki, who accompanied us to the lake this afternoon, and who is as much enamoured of swimming as I, which is to say we both do it with reluctance. :)

On the other hand, the day is hot and how can I say that I have spent my entire summer without swimming when I live in a place like this? It really is beautiful out here on the coast of British Columbia.

So we drove down the dusty back roads of Cumberland, past the scrubby half-logged forestland filled with purple fireweed until we got to the quiet side of Comox Lake out by the dam. Almost nobody comes to this side because the beaches are rocky and too narrow to lay a towel on(and the path down steep and difficult if you are wearing open-back sandals) but the quiet and the shady forest are all around and the water is cool and inviting.

(Okay, actually the lake is glacier-fed and bloody freezing, but once you are in it feels lovely.)

One step into the water the beach drops away precipitously so there is really no way to wade in slowly. It takes a few minutes for me to feel comfortable in deep water like this because I am not a strong swimmer, but there was a little shallow spot (like an underwater island) that you could stand up on less than a minute from shore so I felt okay as long as I could head back to this safe spot when I got tired. I really should make an effort to learn to swim properly.

While we were there we saw a little brown frog, a garter snake, little fish that nibbled our toes, and blue dragonflies and damselflies that continuously alighted on our shoulders.

This part of the lake used to be land before the dam was built so the eerie dark remains of trees and stumps poked out of the water in little groves. I was glad the water was so clear because as it was I still kept almost bumping into the wood underwater.

Loki kept swimming in circles around us, looking vaguely worried that he might have to rescue us. He dotes on Kim and Shawn. Actually, they dote on him too.

After about 45 minutes or so, we were all feeling waterlogged so we headed back to shore. So reluctant to get in the water at first, I actually quite enjoyed paddling around in my careful way and was sad to come out. You feel so heavy and clumsy after the weightlessness of being in the water.

We had perfect timing though.The whole time we were swimming there was only two other people several hundred feet down the shore from us. Just as we'd made our way back up the steep path to the road above, the idyllic noises of nature were overwhelmed by the sounds of country rock as two motor-boats of beer-swilling shirtless cowboys barrelled into our little cove, stirring up the water and making waves crash onto the little log where our towels and clothes had been perched not five minutes before.

So much for paradise. Ah well.

We headed back into Cumberland to the Bannerman's house to pick up the painting Kim is loaning us (of the Tarot card, the Tower)and had a little chat in the garden with Kim's father.

He's the local historian around Cumberland (which is a historic little mining village)and he's busily getting ready to do a lecture for three groups of Japanese students at a local school. You should see the little wooden model he made of the No. 6 Mine--complete with coal-cart tracks and tiny little mules. I was impressed.