Feeling stronger by the moment

My chiropractor, Dr Chow, discharged me from weekly Active Release Therapy (ART) two Fridays ago. I am so grateful. It has been a long road. I think I need to send him a fruit basket or chocolate, or whatever it is that a man would prefer. My man would prefer an Ibex gift certificate or maybe new hammer, yeah, he collects hammers. Don't ask...

I saw my orthopedic surgeon, Dr Parker, a few days later and he was astounded! He said he almost couldn't believe I am the same patient. He mentioned my thinner legs, muscle tone, weight loss... That's some pretty flattering stuff. And yeah, I have worked really hard to get here.

He suggested that I return to Dr Chow if I start feeling stiff or creaky. But really I am feeling great! I have to add that working part time has been a big part of my recovery. I am finally getting the extra rest I apparently needed so desperately. It just seems like I've been on a downward spiral ever since 2000 or so. I've had minor ups but mostly just slowly down down down. Now I finally feel like I am going back up. There really isn't any way for me to express how good this feels; how amazing and unexpected.

I am still paddling. I had purchased various combinations of wet and dry suit pieces last spring when they went on end of season sale. I was prepared to keep paddling when the water temp fell. The trees are so lovely this time of year. My friend Kat is correct that this time of year the Occoquan Reservoir shines. And here are some photos to illustrate it:

We met right at dawn on Monday the 28th October

We both had a shutterbug frenzy of trying to capture the lovely light upon the misty water

One of my best of batch

The sky also cooperated. Everything was so perfect, one of those mornings that remind me why I exist.

We both chose our Necky boats that morning. My Elias is my most stable sea kayak and her Eliza is simply her favorite boat.

Fall Equinox, Part 3

Well, it took me nearly 10 days to get back and finish talking about this one weekend. But sometimes I need to digest experiences. Ruminate, as it were. The most profound thoughts take a while, and honestly, I'm just not that good at expressing myself. Culmination: I realized I missed talking about the wonderful social experience I had that weekend.

In between the paddling (which was plentiful) we hung around with the various members of different reenactment family groups. Many of these people have known me for the better part of my life. Whether they realize it or not, we have "grown up" together. Largely these groups are involved in Iron Age reenactment. But the family feeling has grown quite extensive and some members hold and attend private weekend events, like this one, without ever attending the larger true reenactments.

As I've been absent for the better part of 7 years from all but a few classic SCA events a year, I have missed the smaller family style events. Between the recent Pennsic, women's crafting days, and camping events, I have reconnected with many of the people from my younger days. It has been a real pleasure for me to find them all again. Quite an experience to see where life has taken them, and how they have changed, knowing that I have grown and changed as well.

I have rarely had such a pleasurable time amongst "my people." It turns out I really CAN go home again. And so I have.

But like Steeleye said, when we sat down to visit one last time after helping him clean up "you came for the water, all these other people just came for the view." Yeah, I came for the water; the river. I can never imagine a future life without her. As much as I would like to move south into a warmer environment, I cannot shake the feeling that I would be unhappy without her.

I just read recently that when people move more than 50 miles from their original home their "happiness quotient" falls by something like 30%. As I grew up an Army brat I don't have, and never did, an original home. So I guess that's what the Potomac is for me, my home. As a water baby, competitive swimmer, and now paddler, water has always been central to my life and none more so than this river. From her North Fork on the South Branch, the backdrop for our new-couple's first get-away to where I find myself today, making plans to paddle with Brian tomorrow, she is the river running through my life.

Forgive my nostalgia, at least a bit.

Seneca Rocks, WV

The North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River

Our quiver for the weekend, Coltons Point MD

Me-Crossing the rocks on St Clements Island to go explore (credit Kat Ecott 2013)

My camera was malfunctioning but I did manage this shot of the lighthouse with the 40 foot cross in the background

My friends waiting for me to join them in rescue practice before we packed up for the trip home

Fall Equinox, Part 2

After lunch on Saturday the three of us launched and headed into rough water up river of the house. We knew the arrival of the rain was only a matter of time. My choice to paddle upriver didn't hand us any particularly great views so after just a bit I suggested we run back and head for a series of creeks down river. Kat decided to pull out as her shoulder was bothering her.

I asked to James to head into the first creek, which we had explored before but I needed just a bit of a break from the wind and chop. This creek is worthy of a "house envy tour" any day. But this particular day there were repeated blasts echoing from the forest around the largest building on the creek. I had previously decided the less loud blasts were shotguns, and after some disagreement the other party guests had to agree, shotguns. Truly huge blasts bringing cannon fire to mind began echoing off the water. Eerie creepy. Made me somewhat nervous paddling past the building's shore front. We couldn't get a good look at the building due to the fringe of trees but it looked like some kind of residence grown to comical size. Maybe a community center?

One of the "house envy tour" houses

I am not sure if this creek is Back Creek. I will have to look further into it. Look at those clouds in the photo above. Mmmm. A splash of rain fell on us as we exited the creek mouth. We decided to return to the beach and party. We found some of the best rollers of the weekend on our way back. To keep from taking the waves broad side we triangulated out, keeping the waves at our bows. Then when we had run parallel to the beach house we made a hard right and with following seas swelling, let the waves push us hard into shore. Nice.

We showered outside under the drizzle and deep cloudy sky. So beautiful. Now dry and clean we rested for a bit in our tent until it was time to cook dinner. Just as we pulled the meat off the grill the skies really opened up. We could have packed it in when we heard the forecast of heavy showers until at least noon the next day. But we didn't. We chose to stay and play hoping for a clear morning.

At about 7 am after a restless night spent in a damp bed with the tent dripping down on us, I looked at my husband and he barely opened his eyes and whispered "it's amazingly clear outside." Turned out the trees above us had been dripping on us so the light rain I thought was falling was just drippings left over from the night's epic rains.

We rose, stretching and digging in the bins for dry wet suits soon to be wet with spray. The sky was an amazing blue and the water, I have never seen the river this flat and blue off Steeleye's beach.

Me, Credit Kat Ecott 2013

My beloved

Our first Sunday morning foray

Fall Equinox at the River House, Part 1

Kat is always laughing. I conclude this after noticing that in the only two shots I have of her close up from this last weekend she is laughing in both.

Kat laughing at me as she leaves Steeleye's beach

My Uncle Steeleye hosted a weekend long celebration at his house on the lower Potomac, in honor of the change in season from Summer to Fall. Dahlradia and a smattering of Concusare, Anglesey, and Preachain attended, with some friends like mine in tow. Kat joined us there, in express desire to camp on the edge of a beach, bonfires and parties, paddle on the wide crazy Potomac.

Steeleye's Mengle-Wood-on-the-Beach and our little tents

The paddling would be superb, but first there was camp to make and Friday night nosh. When we arrived in Steeleye's yard Friday at 5 pm, the first thing we saw was the Potomac tossing white maned horses, rolling chop with white caps. Oh my. The Subaru's door blew shut on my leg when I tried to climb out. We, okay I, forgot tent stakes. The situation went from crazy windy to "oh shit" very quickly. But Kat, being a kayaker and therefore over prepared, fished out four extra tent stakes. Just enough to keep our abode on the ground.

Saturday morning dawned red, "red sky at morning sailor take warning." We loaned a stable boat to a joiner, Jennifer, and took off to circle St Clements Island. While circling it we found large rhythmic rollers to play in, as well as several beaches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clement's_Island_State_Park

Jennifer in Kat's Tribute leaving Steeleye's beach

The Lorax found the water next to his boat a bit deeper than he expected!

The water taxi being used for Maryland's Lighthouse Challenge. I was quite taken with its teal and white paint and nice lines.

We took out at one of the island's beaches and walked up a long tree lined lane to the lighthouse. There, we found an entertaining fellow under a tent with a guest book and leaflets explaining that we happened to land on the island during Maryland's Lighthouse Challenge. This charming coincidence meant we were able to tour the lighthouse which is usually locked tight, even climbing up into the light's tower itself. Woah!

View from the light tower

The island's stewards have let it return to a more natural state, allowing brush and trees to take hold in great tangles. Steeleye had previously explained that the island is one quarter its original size. Allowing Nature to care for her own helps stabilize the remaining land plus has the added benefit to wild life, much of which was in evidence.

Kat, the clouds gathering, and one of the two long docks on St Clements Island

Jennifer was game and didn't complain once, although I knew the water we found on the windward side of the island was big and fun for us but maybe not so much for a newbie. She didn't swim, we returned her to the beach in one piece as the clouds gathered and wind turned up a notch.

We beached at Steeleye's for early luncheon.

Spring forward, and I will!

I have climbed the last surgical hump. I put my great fears aside and went for the pelvic organ surgery to deal with the bit of mesh, or suture, that had been causing me such pain and misery for the last year. Today. And now, a week of bed rest more or less, and I will finish PT for my hips and I'm free.

Release me into the world! I'm ready for the spring's muddy trails. (note to self-get new rims on the Tri-Cross) And the rivers all around the DC area are calling me on to the water.

This year I start the year with a full quiver of boats well matched to my needs and abilities: A Wilderness Tsunami 120 for those playful days in the shallow rivers with rocks, and branches; my beloved Current Designs Solstice GTS for those long days on the bigger waters, rivers, bays, sounds, and long point-to-point paddles; and my new Necky Elias, perfect for playing in surf, moving between rocks, and navigating some of the closer waterways in the area.

Each boat has its pros and cons. I have considered selling the Tsunami. I am interested in taking some white water classes this year and could be talked into getting a more appropriate river boat. There's only room for three so the Tsunami would be the logical boat to sell. I am supremely confident in the boat. Its primary stability, large cockpit, and thick poly layup make it practical and practically indestructible. It makes a great loaner for visiting friends and family. It's also the heaviest boat I own pretty much guaranteeing that I can't get it out of the garage by myself. And being a shorter wider boat means I pay a hefty price when out with the big boats.

The Solstice, well, I could sing its praises all day. Its beauty, incredibly fine finish, and very comfy fit make it ideal for me. It's light enough for me to move in and out of the garage by myself and with the help of the Thule Hullivator it's no struggle to load it on the Subie and take off. Its composite glass/kevlar layup has held up very well to 6 months of non-stop paddling. I'm in boat-love. It's also, true to Greenland style, tricky in choppy water with swirling currents. I busted plenty of sweat in Cobscook Bay in Maine last June. I wasn't yet fully familiar with the boat, mostly my own fault. By the end of the paddling season, when the doctor kicked me out of my boats and off my bike, I had come to a sure place with it. My comfort zone had expanded. But much like with my female Aussie pup, I can never fully let my guard down. Or I will find out why "they" say : a sea kayak is a long, thin, elegant paddle-driven boat with a cockpit on the underside.

My Necky Elias, well, just one paddle old is a charming poly boat with a ton of rocker. It will turn with just the paddler's turn of the hips. Its plastic layup is thinner than the Tsunami, but this means it's lighter. Again a boat that I can get to the water without help. There's a lot to like about it. Its down side is simply that on a long paddle, point to point, the rudder is a necessity to reduce fatigue piled on by the need to correct its course. I'm good with that. Not a big issue. I was already used to the Eliza having the exact same characteristics and I got an entire year of paddling, a whole twelve months, before I sold it.

I am not a prayer, I don't have any belief that the universe operates that way. But I am thankful to whatever mechanisms operate this complex bio-physical machine we inhabit. I've been handed some very tough lessons and had my down-and-outs. But I am also lucky, very very lucky. For my lessons, my growth, and my happiness and joy, for this I am grateful. Good night mates, see you on the water soon!

Our club getting ready to clean up a little local lake called Lake Accotink in April 2012. Catching the trash here means less trash flowing into the Potomac. That's me on the far right in the white hat.

A Full Moon paddle on the Potomac near Old Town Alexandria. What a gorgeous night!

Maybe I will paddle this weekend?

Eerily, it turns out there are people looking at my blog? Nah, robots. Robots ate my baby? No wait, dingos, dingos ate my baby? It's too late at night to edit my blog, apparently.

Returning to the question of robots: How did that happen? And why? When I saw my stats going up I thought maybe real live humans were looking at the thing. But it is not to be. Which is probably ok as I really am fine thinking about this thing hanging in cyber space unread. But since I am already asking questions: Maybe I can put the racks back on my Subaru? Maybe my hip will let me sit in my boat for a few hours? This is my online inner monologue.

I buckled down and had the hip surgitated two weeks ago. Operated on, that is. The surgeon told me afterwards that the joint was packed with inflammatory tissue. He cut sanded vacuumed the whole mess out. No idea if it fixed my problem.

The weekend before the surgery I bolted out the door with some die-hard club members to go for a late-season paddle on the Patuxent at Jug Bay. I hadn't taken my new boat out yet and was really climbing the walls after six weeks off the water. I was glad to get out. The Elias turns with maybe two sweeps of the paddle and a push on the rudder. Fancy. But I have trouble saying the word "Elias" and just call it the Eli, easier that way.

Did I mention we ran into some paddle boarders? This I do not get. Balancing = good, balancing for hours when the water is cold = not so good. At least in  my mind. Plus I am skeptical of anything that's being labeled a "craze."

I dressed for the water temp, like a good paddler who's listened to her gnarly boat elders. In the photo above you'll note the fellow beside my husband is sleeveless. He's a good chap, very congenial. But always sleeveless. He came up in conversation at Happy Hour the other day as well. Someone said they think he is "genetically sleeveless" as no one can ever remember seeing this fellow in sleeves of any kind while on the water.

Any way, back to the Eli: That's me in it above. The boat is a really nice paddle, like its sister the Eliza. It paddles and handles exactly the same way so I am liking it a lot. Amazing what raising he front deck two inches and going from 1.2 to 1.4 in volume will do. Both my sea kayaks are 1.4's now so I can use the same skirts with them.

However, my hip hurt so bad while paddling that I literally wanted to claw my way out of the boat. And I couldn't stand up on my own when we stopped a couple of times. My husband literally had to lift me up. How humiliating. It drove home the point that I should go ahead with the hip surgery.

So now I am fixed. Maybe this Saturday I can paddle. I will let you know.

Holiday weekend paddles

My paddling life might be killing my hip but that won't keep me off the water!

8/31/12 Did a full moon paddle from Bull Run Marina. The Marina is a park service site but one has to buy a key to it every year. Luckily for us our friend Scott has one so a group of us dropped in about an hour before moonrise and paddle down river on the Occoquan Reservoir. The moon came up, stunning. Then we paddled back in the pitch darkness, an adventure all on its own. No photo I took did it justice:

Our little group

Kat with the glow lights

Scott in the dark

Saturday took a day off paddling, my flipping hip and lower back are killing me! Ack! Better not keep me out of my boat.

Sunday 9-2-12, put in at Fountainhead Regional on the Occoquan again with the woman buying my Eliza. Took her out for three hours to make sure the boat would fit her needs. Money traded hands and I, somewhat sadly, watched my boat drive away on her truck after the paddle.

The boat is a good fit for her

By design we ran into one of the clubs we paddle with:

My three favorite paddlers from the left Scott, Kat, and the Lorax

We first went down river and then up, passing Fountainhead. Then we ran into a sight we don't often see amongst kayakers:

The dog's person says the dog loves riding on her boat. :-)

For whatever reason our paddle was turned around here as we wasted a bit of time chatting with the two ladies with the dog. We were in a hurry to catch the rest of the club over at Ledo's Pizza so we beat paddles back to Fountainhead.

Lunch was great and I got to see paddlers off the the water I had never gotten the chance to really talk to. What a great day!

Labor Day found me laid up with a bag of ice. I told my husband "I think my paddling season is over until the docs do something about this hip." But I don't think that has stuck, after a weekend off paddling I am now planning a trip this weekend after all. Wish me luck!