20-21 June - Kenora

When we arrived in Kenora we had made arrangements to meet up with my cousin, Heather (Freddie) Loewen. She is 15 years younger than I am so I only remember her has a beautiful small child. Meeting her now was a surprising gift. She has 4 sons, the youngest of whom is 14 years old in his body but 14 months old in his mind. Heather shared with us her journey of discovery as she's figured out what has happened with this child. We were highly impressed with her brilliance, tenacity and the fight of a mother for her son. 

Heather had made arrangements with her parents, Uncle Abe (90) and Aunt Marie, for us to have supper with them. Though I had seen Uncle Abe when he came to visit us a couple of years ago (with cousin Karen) it has been long since seeing Aung Marie. They still live in the same house where I had helped dig out their basement at the age of 14. They told us stories of how they had developed their bakery business over the years, selling fresh baked goods at the local market. They are both dealing with health concerns so we were happy to see them now.

We spent an extra day in Kenora after seeing my relatives. Kenora is a beautiful place with an interesting history. We boondocked along the water and in the morning I took advantage of the golden light to watch for birds.

One thing about bird-in-flight photography is that birds are fast. I usually miss the event like take-off, landing and flying by. But I am able to freeze the moment here and there, and that is very gratifying. On this particular morning I was walking along the dock when I came across a duck which saw me but I did not see. They were threatened so burst from their resting place, flew across the dock in front of me and into the water. I was only just able to get off one shutter release on my camera pointed in the general direction of the duck and this is what was created: 

We decided the evening before, as we sat on the Kenora boardwalk, overlooking the bay, watching the water fountain while the sun set, to book a "cruise" on the M. S. Kenora. 

The cruise started from Kenora’s waterfront past Coney Island’s beautiful public beach, then south on a spectacular circle route of the northern section of famed Lake of the Woods (14,500 islands, 65,000 miles of shoreline). We booked this cruise to include a buffet dinner which came complete with roast beef and mashed potatoes -- a luxury I haven't enjoyed for some time.

As we moved gently along, a narrator came over the speaker and gave background to what we were seeing. It was relaxing and informative. There were some very impressive cottages/homes, some of which we were told were owned by famous people and usually passed down through the family over time.