Julie\'s Nordic Island

A day to remember....

Sometimes a day comes along and, without planning for something memorable to happen, you remember it for the rest of your life. It doesn’t have to be a day of extraordinary happenings but the details are engraved in your heart forever. Today on my Swedish Island Holiday was one such day.

I spent a few morning hours finishing up another chapter of my upcoming book and noticed that the sun and the warmth had returned. Summer was back although the water had cooled and now had that invigorating chill back in it again. My husband and daughter declared that they were going to town to pick up more building materials for the crazy project on the hill outside the kitchen. It’s an attempt to create an English garden in the brush and the best thing about it is that the project will never end.

I decided that the rest of the day was not a day for ‘tasks’ like fixing the broken tap or unclogging the upstairs sink.  Today I would simply leave all of those little ‘to-do’s’ on that list and head off in the canoe with my son and without a plan. I had thrown a couple of very basic sandwiches, strong coffee, juice and fruit into a backpack. We placed it in the middle of the boat with Lucy the dog who watched oh-so-carefully over it. Lucy is a sea-faring dog and if there is one thing that is absolutely forbidden, it is to leave her on land when a canoeing trip is underway. Besides, we were taking care of a friend’s cat during these days and every cat needs a decent holiday from those uncivilized, salivating canines.

About ten minutes into our trip a flock of cormorants flew right past us low over the water. Sitting in this canoe was about as close as we would ever get to seeing what they saw just a hair’s breadth away from the water. It was an incredible feeling to have them flap past us so close. Lucy is a bird dog too but experience has taught her to sightsee rather than race when the birds fly past. We turned the corner of a neighboring island and remembered where we had played cards on a warm rock last year. That was one of those forever memories too.

This year we’d go further and paddle out to the area where our bay opened up into the larger lake system. We were in search of our spot in the sun that offered that truly grand view. Eventually we found it: a small alcove where we could drag in the canoe near a huge, warm rock, swim in the clear, cool water and enjoy this spot all to ourselves. Occasionally a sail boat emerged from the horizon and headed in our direction, but then it veered off as though to acknowledge that this moment in this vast expanse was all ours. Our hastily assembled picnic was a feast, not least for the ducks who, unlike the sailors, didn’t see why they shouldn’t join us.

As we paddled home the wind came to a complete standstill. The water was like a mirror and we decided to drift for a while without paddling. The trees hung low over the water and the coastal fauna, which to me is an arrangement better than any florist can assemble (sorry florists), were like an art gallery that one could view for life. I dragged my fingers in the cool water as the canoe glided through it. I wanted to ask my son whether he knew how special this was, but I refrained. He is so young and has grown up in this place. My question wasn’t fair.  He hadn’t seen the rest of the world as I had and would have to go out and see it for himself to know what this moment in this place meant, or so I thought. Once again, he surprised me. “I’ve got everything I’ll ever want,” he said as though reading my mind. I thought about his reflection and wondered how many people could reach this conclusion by the age of 11, even if they did have most things.

As the sun began to set for the first time after a summer of bright nights, the bell on the cat’s collar that warned the birds jingled. Our little guest seemed to be feeling right at home. How could it do anything but in this place on this day where there was everything?

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For more island adventures visit www.lettersfromtheisland.com. Learn more about my upcoming island memoir at www.julielindahl.com.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.