Astanga

The Island, Day 4 (written on the road)


My departure day has been a question mark since I arrived. My girlfriend will be staying on for the week, but I need to return to the city to teach my classes. I could have left early this morning with Cousin B, but I didn't want to. I wasn't feeling ready. I really wanted one more day of sun and fun. So I reserved a water taxi for early Tuesday morning. This will be squeezing it close (Dirty Harry needs to be back in his lot by noon on Tuesday) but I think I can pull it off.

I'm settling into something resembling a routine. Sleep in, make brunch, drink tea, go for a swim, yoga. Then swim and sun (with a break for lunch), repeat. Prepare supper, feed the fox and enjoy a relaxed evening with books and puzzle-construction.

Everyone is pretty relaxed and casual at the cottage. The biggest joke so far has been my huge duffle bag, full of clothes I've hardly touched. Seriously, I really needed only one outfit because I've been *living* in my bathing suit. I feel like a 7-year-old kid again, running wild.

The even bigger joke is my selection of yoga clothes. I never bothered to even unpack them! On a private island, I can, and do, practise yoga in my bikini. No one is around to see me. No one cares if my boob falls out of my top.

This morning dawned overcast and by late morning it was looking like rain would move in. I took a quick dip in the lake and headed out to the rock for my practice. I was grateful for the respite from sun. I didn't attempt anything close to full Primary today - there are too many skipped poses due to rock-comfort-safety issues in the full series. Half-Primary was perfectly suited and I modified my closing sequence. I meditated for a bit and when I finally opened my eyes, the clouds were melting away into a beautiful, sunny day.

After lunch, everyone napped except me. I headed to the water to enjoy a couple of hours of solitude. I laid in the shade, reading my book and went swimming about every 10 pages or so. The gang joined me in the late afternoon. We took a break to pick saskatoon berries, then the girlfriend and I went for a walk.

Walking around the island is less about walking and more about *climbing*. A half-hour walk will leave you sweaty and winded because you're scrambling up and down slopes and traversing uneven surfaces like a mountain goat. We walked the perimeter of the island and even snuck over to the Finn's property to explore their gazebo and swimming platform. The interior of the island is dotted with small marshes, home to hundreds of tree frogs (which occasionally make their way up to our cottage; we spent a half-hour trying to catch one indoors tonight...hop, hop, hop).

Our walk led us back to the swimming rocks where we swam well into the evening. It was a great ending to my visit.

(Frog photo for Arutro!)