The INDi2010 team spent a glorious week in the mysterious and beautiful Kananaskis country. The hosts were newlyweds Gordon and Rhonda Jewett at Rhonda's family cabin. Amid laughter, kisses while doing the dishes and every type of workout imaginable we successfully completed a good week of training. We capped it off with some valuable technique sessions with Ulf Kleppe, who was able to spend a few days with us working on our technical skills. Tara Whitten, our teammate always and good friend, joined us on Friday evening along with Skeets, our newest teamate, and his girlfriend Mary. Karla unfortunately had to cancel with short notice because of an illness. Mark was unable to join the fray because of his job planting trees. We had wonderful weather, good food and by not having television or internet we had a chance to enjoy each other's company a bit more than usual.

The Picnic Table

While the guys were on the expansive front deck building the picnic table, Rhonda was sitting in the living room sorting photos on her laptop. I was drifting in and out, with watermelon and intermittent chapters of Madame Bovary. There was the hazy fatigue of a hot afternoon, one leg dangling over the armrest of an easy chair, I let my thoughts drift to the future: The picnic table was built in the summer of 07, it was damn hot, a record 34 degrees Celsius in Canmore, but considerably cooler at the cabin. We did a time trial that morning before the heat of the day.

Drifting further now... its evening and the kids are still out by the shore, it looks like they're throwing rocks again. The parents are putting the final touches on dinner. There's the general clamour of pots and pans and dishes. They're eating outside because the mosquitoes aren't bad. The picnic table is set, there's a smaller picnic table pushed up beside it; a kids table. The music is muffled but lively, Latin café sounds and people laughing looking for their misplaced iced teas and waters. The smell is pine trees, kitchen wafts and barbecue. Water shoes are scattered on the deck and a pack of bikes is parked every which way on the lawn. Pairs of little legs are dangling from the tree house and the picnic table is receiving deliveries of hamburgers, salads and banana cakes. There's action everywhere.

After dinner, the older troop goes back to the water to throw more rocks. The younger ones lifted to the loft, their bedtime rituals long left in the city. One of the dads crawls up and tells stories about a creature that lives in the lake. A low protest is made from the living room, "now he'll never want to swim". But now the lake creatures' in the loft, grabs a leg and then starts the giggles; more and more giggles until the fresh air finally knocks them out. By then there's already a camp fire going and marshmallows are being roasted and burnt with their very inventive marshmallow roasting sticks, no doubt whittled with this very moment in mind.

Later, when the loft has settled down a little and the dishes are done. The picnic table is cleared for the day. The parents extinguish the coals; they don't want any disasters. They settle in for the night. At the crack of dawn the loft of little ones starts to stir. Clambering over one another one cries out. Pillows are pulled over heads in protest but all is well because the coffees already on. There's mention of a creature in the lake just when one of the moms enters the scene. The waffle irons heated up and bowls of berries are carried out to the picnic table. A small hand grabs a toast off the stack and makes a run for it. They breakfast casually from kitchen to outside deck to laneway to shore. Mugs of coffee are transported around. By late morning the general meeting point is back down on the shore. The troops have rallied and are engaged in various activities from swimming to fort building. When the sun gets hot one of the parents starts to push for sunscreen and hydration. There might be a creature in the water but it's long forgotten.

The picnic table is done. Gord and Dan are standing around with their shirts off drinking tall glasses of lemon water. There's talk about jumping in the lake to cool off. The girls are contemplating kayaking and pizza toppings. That was us one afternoon in July of '07.