Abbynormal Spa Time--- When our children were young and I still home schooled  them, my friend Kate and I found the need to get out and  get rejuvenated every couple of weeks. We would plan our different escapes over the phone. Most women think of going to spas or movies to be rejuvenated, not us, we were going kayaking! The night before our outing, I would load the kayaks. Then I would rise at 3am the next  day. I would make a checklist for my older children, load the rest of my gear, and be at Kate’s by 4am. To create the atmosphere of tranquility on the drive out I would put  in one of my nature or bird sound CDs. Sometimes we would talk, yet sometimes we would just be content to be  quiet and listen to the relaxing sounds. Upon arriving at the lake, about dawn, we would unload the kayaks then we would spend a couple of hours paddling around the quite coves. There is something very relaxing and peaceful  about being on the lake at sunrise; the dawn of a new day, when the birds are singing and fish are jumping. We always brought our binoculars along to try to identify the  different birds. We sat in our kayaks and watched the male birds do their version of “Swan Lake” to impress the females. We saw herons standing around on one leg like statues. There were cormorants, grebes and different types of ducks. One particular type of water bird was very noisy  and always kept their distance making them hard to  identify, and as our time had run out, we loaded up the  kayaks to head home to our families. I started the engine then got ready to put it in gear when all of a sudden we heard the water birds very loudly, very near the van. We both started looking all around and out our  windows, it was a very eerie feeling looking for something that loud and close and not being able to find it. It was as if they were there in the van with us! Then almost at the same time, we both remembered the bird CD that was still in the CD player. It was playing!  What were the odds of the same bird sound playing in my van that we were trying to identify on the lake! We got a much-needed laugh out of the situation, and came home refreshed and ready to start a new day. Summer of 1999 (Picture of my friend Kate on one of our trips)