It is actually summer here so...

First the evidence that we do have gardens under all that winter snow.




The first summer trip is our sort of annual weekender to Paint Lake, near Thompson, Manitoba where I do a clinic every 2 months. It is a beautiful series of lakes and waterways on the Grass River in Canadian Shield country about 770 km (or an 8 hour drive) from home. This was a challenging enterprise this year as my car which usually tows the boat was rear ended by a young man who was attempting to drive, wake up and argue with his girlfriend simultaneously, all of this being brought to an abrupt halt by my being inconsiderate enough to stop a couple of hundred metres in front him just to avoid killing a pedestrian on a marked crossing. This led to rushed attempts to put a towing hitch on Jane's car through an accredited Honda service centre, which resulted in a string of difficulties that we are yet to resolve, but we hope to have car with some working lights soon..........


For more info on lovely Paint Lake, go to http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/parks/popular_parks/paint_lake/info.html#01

We got lots of fish (mostly released - there are very strict size limits protecting larger not smaller fish and bag limits) and enjoyed daily meals of Manitoba Pickerel (Walleye) pictured below.






Jane relaxing between catching fish - easy for her to do, I as was the one keeping up the supply of new jigs, pulling the large sharp toothed Northern Pike she was catching off the hook, etc, etc





The weather can change in minutes up there - this beauty of a storm piled up in about 10 minutes; not a place for the unprepared.



17 inch Walleye - legal to keep and good eating size.


















Some of the wild life - crested grebe and babies. We saw one bear on the way home but didn't have the camera handy.

In two days we are off the Banff, Jasper then off being grandparents for a week!