Day #53

The big decision to start the day was whether or not to attend the funeral service in the community. On the one hand we wanted to pay our respects, but on the other, we didn’t want to intrude. Our final decision was to remain home and not attend the funeral. I had some misgivings about this decision at the time, but as the day went on, it became clear that we had made the correct call. It had been our understanding that the entire community would shut down for the day in order to pay its respects. However, what actually happened was far less than that. The majority of people seemed to go on with their lives as usual, and only a small, private group attended the funeral. I was glad that we made the decision that we did.

As a result of our day off camp, we had some time to ourselves. Courtney and Jenette decided that they were going to take a canoe out and head to an island for the day. I was invited, but declined so that I could stay home and get some Huron and ‘life’ related things accomplished. As it turns out, my decision to remain home was far more a rather fortunate one. About an hour after Courtney and Jenette headed out, the sky suddenly turned dark, the wind picked up, thunder started to roll and lightning began to flash. The rain pelted from the sky at an alarming rate, and within minutes we were into a full blown thunderstorm. The storm came out of nowhere, and definitely wasn’t predicted by any weather network! I was kind of worried about the girls, out there on the lake in the middle of the storm, but had faith that they would find appropriate shelter. Bruce, the maintenance guy from the school came over to the teacheridge to do a little work in the middle of the storm, so I told him about the girls’ location. He said that he would tell the band office to send someone out to make sure that they were okay after the storm passed by. Fortunately, my worry was unnecessary, as the girls came paddling in about 2 hours after the storm. They had weathered the storm, using the canoe as shelter, and then remained out on an island afterward so as not to waste their trip!

I spent the day working on HUCSC stuff, and trying to get my life in order for when I return to London!

I also had the privilege of being able to cook dinner tonight. I broke open my mother’s fantastic birthday present, an Urban Peasant cook book and channeled his culinary ability into an improvised ginger/orange/beef stir fry. I was rather pleased with the result, and I think the girls were at least okay with the dish haha!

After dinner I went for a run and am currently sitting in our living room watching the last episode of The Wire Season 1.