IT’S LATE FEBRUARY, Groundhogs Day and Valentine’s are in the rearview mirror, the sun is getting high and the days are getting longer. So naturally, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of…canoes! Wilderness expeditions of the past and new adventures planned for the coming summer. The Mississippi along the front yard is still ice-covered, but it won’t be long and…and…well, the rivers will be calling.

CONTINUING TO GO THROUGH BOXES OF OLD PHOTOS, clippings, and canoe trip maps as we clean out the basement, found this one—getting packed up for the first Churchill River trip. From the days when I was teaching Bruce Lee martial arts and preparing for the Olympic push-up championships. Kathy said, “Who’s that?!” Deflating.