Retreat!

To many, the word "retreat" may evoke thoughts of weakness, of turning your back on the enemy and running for safety. Well, run I did! After the wedding in Vermont, I hightailed it over to Maine after spending the night in Derry, NH to break the drive up. On Monday the 21st I drove with Sarah (www.sarahmastersbrown.blogspot.com) to Portland where we hooked up with my dad and rode to camp in his car.

Once at camp, I immediately began to clear my mind. Being 30 feet from the shores of one of Maine's quintessential cold, deep water lakes was the perfect way to recharge my batteries. This is my 23rd summer at the lake and, like a fine wine, it only gets better with age. Sarah stayed until Wednesday when she went back to Portland with my dad, who had to go to a conference for work. I can honestly say that having Sarah with me at camp only enriched my experience. After she left on Wednesday I soon felt an empty space develop in my heart. Camp is great and is something I love very much but it begins to lose its appeal if my partner in crime is not there to experience it with me.

After Sarah left, I spent some quality time with my mum. I spent half a day with her clearing the yard of brush, mowing the lawn, and planting a new garden. Most of my days were spent in the kayak drifting with the rhythm of the lake, lobbing home-tied flies under the docks of our neighbors, trying to spark the interest of a small mouth bass. I fished at least 3 hours every day and the fishing was spectacular! The bass have already spawned this spring but it was still early enough in the summer so they haven't left their nests yet. I caught a small mouth under nearly every dock. On Thursday I was able to hook into and land a small mouth in the 14 inch range and close to 2 pounds! It was a great looking fish and took me nearly 3 minutes to bring into the boat.

This is how I passed my days. I awoke early with my mum and dined on a hearty "camp" breakfast. I fished into the early evening, as the sun began to cast a vast twilight on the lake. It was beautiful, really, to sit on the shores with a heady micro-brew after a day of fishing and relinquish all stress and negative thoughts, letting them pass in the wind.