It was a beautiful morning for walking. It’s supposed to be a hot day but this morning was cool with a light breeze. It takes me about forty minutes to walk to work so I have to leave early which means the streets are pretty deserted. Good walking.

I could see him from a distance as I neared the university. It’s a nice place to walk through because it’s all pedestrian and there are lots of big trees. It’s also a short cut. He was sitting on a bench, wearing dark glasses and watching the cars in the intersection a couple dozen feet away.

Ever get a vibe that there is something wrong with a person? I got one from this guy. Was he homeless? Maybe. He had on a light jacket, baseball cap and long pants. He had a backpack with him. Who wears long pants and jackets on summer mornings? Homeless people. But I could have been wrong. Maybe he was just a cold student. Students have backpacks. I had one on my back myself.

I like walking...

Numbers

So this summer’s medieval camp started with 23 participants, who start as pages. That’s the biggest group ever. We divided them into two groups. Each group was run by a knight and two squires. We called one group the Griffins and the other group the Serpents.

About half of the pages were repeaters and had been here at least once, some five or six times. The squires have been here for years. This was the eleventh year of the program. Sometimes it has run twice a year, sometimes only once, so there’s been quite a few. The kids who started out the first year are grownups now. Sometimes I bump into them. I don’t recognize them but they don’t forget me.

Two groups

Since we decided to keep the two groups separate most of the time we had specific space challenges. We had one good room and then one not so good room, with bad AC. Poor serpents. Splitting into two groups had lots of positives- they were always excited...

Today I am stiff and sore. My sons and I have been fighting in the back yard, partly in preparation for the medieval camp and partly just for the joy of it.

It’s fun to get hot and sweaty and then splash into our portable pool. Today we had an audience, little nosey neighbourhood girls camped out two doors down. They kept calling out to us “hey boys, we’re the supernatural sisters”. It was very funny. My sons didn’t realize these 8 and 9 year olds were trying to flirt with them. I’m old enough to be their grandpa. I heard them talking- why do some people talk so loudly?- they thought we were playing Star Wars- because those are the only knights and swords they know of.

I heard a quote i really liked the other day, from Pete Seeger. I can’t remember the exact words but essentially he said that he didn’t know if what he was doing mattered or made any kind of difference in the world. But it made a difference in his life because the real people, the...

I’ve been doing medieval themed kid camps for more than a decade. I’m getting older. The physicality of running around and foam sword fighting kids is only slightly more challenging. I’ve became a different kind of warrior. I don’t move so fast, but I hold my ground. Instead of a dancer, I’m a bulldozer. I was never a good dancer anyway. Instead of jumping out, I wait. Come to me, if you dare.

The preparation week is full of memories. Gathering the equipment- swords, shields, daggers, fabric for capes, all kinds of things really. The weapons are old friends. I don’t know what awaits, but I will face it. This far along I’ve seen almost everything, experienced pretty much all that can happen. Blood, injuries, kids with problems. They are the coming battle. I’m slowly preparing mentally, physically for the challenge. Brain on whetstone.

The sponsor wants the program to continue. It’s successful. They make money. Over the last couple years...

I own a canoe. I’ve had it for 25 years, but I’m sad to say that I haven’t used it 25 times.

The reasons are simple. It is stored elsewhere, because I have no place to store it. And I have to travel to places to use the canoe- rivers and lakes. It’s not like a bicycle that I can just jump on and ride. It involves planning, free time and a small carton of energy.

We have had some memorable canoe trips in the past. I usually go with my kids, my sweetie or friends. A lot of the canoeing places are natural areas and they are quite beautiful- forests and streams with lots of birds, vegetation, butterflies and wildlife. And yea, there was that time we saw the monster in the river.

This year my middle son was going away for the summer and so I wanted to canoe with him before he left. My eldest son asked to come along too so we were three.

They did not grumble when I set the leaving time at 7:00am. I wanted to be out before...