Carpe Diem

Today was one of those grand Carpe Diem sorts of days, waking at six to prep a friend of mine for a trip, catching zzz's with my sister over at a different friend's house (rather than doing a stretching workout) and then masterfully maneuvering a large old canoe atop my Jeep with my sister, prepping for our impromptu canoe adventure. Of course with pale Irish skin it was a must to pick up some sunscreen, striping down to our new flashy swim suits in the CVS parking lot to coat ourselves so it could "soak in" before venturing out for too long in the sun.
What a lovely little pond Maggie and I discovered today.
"Do you know where it is?" she asks, cocking her head around the triangular shape of the top of the canoe in the center of our windshield.
"Oh sure, you just sort of drive along this road and it will pop up. We can't miss it. It's just near the airport," I say, the directionally challenged one in the family and sure enough, we pass the airport and along the landing strip pops up a nice little parking area with Wilson Pond.
Somehow, Mags and I forgot the step stools that were so helpful propping the canoe up on top of the car, but we managed well enough that the canoe sprung no leaks, and successfully served as our raft through beautiful water-lilies, tall grasses and for a stop on a mini island smack in the center of the pond. Without the threat of high stakes mosquitos we even adventured in some narrow pathways Maggie deemed worth venturing into--one of which was a dead end with pissed off birds, and the other that proved to be a lovely little creek bed that dead ended in a near by town. After that, we joined many on Main Street celebrating a day without rain, and enjoyed our books and lemonade outside at sunny tables downtown. Carpe Diem I say, as I sit down at 9:30 to clean up a sketch of an illustration I'm due to show tomorrow.