Ahhhhh! What sweet peacefulness to be out in a canoe on Lake Lucern in Maple Valley, Washington earlier this month. 
This was a re-creation, for me, of a similar experience I had in 1962 at Beaver Lake when visiting at the Washington state home of my Uncle Joel and Aunt Jean and my cousins Beth Ann and David. About 10 or so years later I was at an AAUW meeting in Garland, Texas where the speaker was demonstrating biofeedback and I was the Guinea pig who got connected to his machine. He told me to close my eyes and go back in time to a very peaceful day in my life and to experience the feelings I had at that time. His instructions immediately brought to mind my getting up very early and paddling out onto the lake in a canoe. It was a foggy morning and everything was very calm. I paddled all around the small lake before returning and I had been up so early that no one had even missed me. Poor biofeedback guy! I was so calm that he could hardly get his machine to regester a pulse or whatever he was looking for. So he tried to get me to visualize something stressfull but my demeanor remained calm despite my attempts to help his demonstration. Anyway, ever since that time, when I want to invoke calmness in my being, I have gone back to imagining myself paddling around on that calm foggy lake on a very peaceful summer morning. Imagine my delight when I got to visit my cousin David's home (now all grown up with a wife Patsy and 9 children). They have created a lovely home at a beautiful small lake in the same geographic region in Washington state. AND, right down there on the shore was a canoe AND this time I had a camera so YAHOO! now I have a photo which replicates closely my vision and my experience from 1962. This time it was evening and not foggy but I loved the way the puffy clouds were reflected in the placid water of the lake. I saw a feather floating on the still water so decided to row over to it and scoop it up as a souvenir. I got next to it and tried to come up under it with the paddle but it just floated further away. The funny thing was, I could never get that close to it again even in the calm water. So I just made lazy circle eights for a while before paddling back to shore. What a nice memory of a perfect evening! We had a dinner of the best salmon I have ever had anywhere, broccoli and shrimp salad (both yummy). And for dessert Cousin Dave had made a delicious rhubarb and strawberry pie.
This was a re-creation, for me, of a similar experience I had in 1962 at Beaver Lake when visiting at the Washington state home of my Uncle Joel and Aunt Jean and my cousins Beth Ann and David. About 10 or so years later I was at an AAUW meeting in Garland, Texas where the speaker was demonstrating biofeedback and I was the Guinea pig who got connected to his machine. He told me to close my eyes and go back in time to a very peaceful day in my life and to experience the feelings I had at that time. His instructions immediately brought to mind my getting up very early and paddling out onto the lake in a canoe. It was a foggy morning and everything was very calm. I paddled all around the small lake before returning and I had been up so early that no one had even missed me. Poor biofeedback guy! I was so calm that he could hardly get his machine to regester a pulse or whatever he was looking for. So he tried to get me to visualize something stressfull but my demeanor remained calm despite my attempts to help his demonstration. Anyway, ever since that time, when I want to invoke calmness in my being, I have gone back to imagining myself paddling around on that calm foggy lake on a very peaceful summer morning. Imagine my delight when I got to visit my cousin David's home (now all grown up with a wife Patsy and 9 children). They have created a lovely home at a beautiful small lake in the same geographic region in Washington state. AND, right down there on the shore was a canoe AND this time I had a camera so YAHOO! now I have a photo which replicates closely my vision and my experience from 1962. This time it was evening and not foggy but I loved the way the puffy clouds were reflected in the placid water of the lake. I saw a feather floating on the still water so decided to row over to it and scoop it up as a souvenir. I got next to it and tried to come up under it with the paddle but it just floated further away. The funny thing was, I could never get that close to it again even in the calm water. So I just made lazy circle eights for a while before paddling back to shore. What a nice memory of a perfect evening! We had a dinner of the best salmon I have ever had anywhere, broccoli and shrimp salad (both yummy). And for dessert Cousin Dave had made a delicious rhubarb and strawberry pie. What a perfect day!
Thanks Patsy and Dave!
