Hey! Karen and I are greatly enjoying your comments.  Thanks!  Word Press has an approval system before they go public so their visibility depends upon my being online and able to approve so there may be a delay.
We had limited data today all along Lake Superior. Tonight’s and yesterday’s posts have been accomplished through my phone.  And I can’t seem to upload the photos via mobile so I hope to find wifi soon to connect on laptop.
We are in Quetico PP tonight. Braved a swim. Today’s adventures took us all along Superior. All morning we had the Sleeping Giant in our sights as we rose and dipped like crows through these mountains. The spring-lime poplar leaves glitter against the deep green pines of the canyons and we marvel at the red rock face cut to the highway.
Our timing is a little off due to bridge repairs and a slow down for the Toronto panam torch relay. We also forgot to allow time for all the enormous Quebec Winnibegos.

I work at 1 Yonge st and at the foot of Lake Ontario are names of towns along Yong St/ hwy 11 all the way to Rainy River. Picking up 11 after Thunder Bay,  we noticed the mile markers and turned into the campground at 1600km. That’s how far we already are from home, from work, and yet these towns and mileposts are links. Especially for me– seeing signs and  places I’ve had virtual connection to through work at OCWA. Karen has been reminicing on her youth summer job outside TBay. It will be a different world when we get into Manitoba tomorrow. A very long drive to leave the familiarity of our beloved Ontario.
Saw moose, turtles, lots of wildlife and a bear that stood as tall as a sign post before running across the highway.

Made Killarney by midday.  Passing familiar signs and rivers. When does north become North? When you see the blue heron overhead,  legs arrowed in flight? Or when you pass a scarred section of Canadian shield with its gravel eddys. Or when you count four beaver huts villaging the roadside marsh.

It takes a long time to leave the house and then the city stretches and stretches to hold you in situ even father every time you venture out. Such a long untethering. Will we fray or bind together?

Posting in Blind River. Aiming for Lake Superior Provincial Park tonight. Thinking of Nigel. Just last night we were celebrating his 19th in the CN tower.

I’ve sent out this blog link to folks and framily to follow. With that offer of connection, K & I will now be testing Canada North’s connectivity and relying on the kindness of cafe staff to get us wifi’d back in–or out. I can try to use my mobile (sparingly) as a hot spot and upped my Koodo data for two months. Apparently Inuvik has good mobile service. That is our most northern destination. See where it is:

Through this blog, I’ll be sending links to my Facebook page. I’ve resisted FB all these years but with our leave of absence, I want to stay in touch. Follow Karen and I on our trip north. Countdown to launch: 6 days!

Hey there! Welcome to my blog. Karen and I will be recounting our adventures as we travel across northern Canada and discover new ways of creating space, spending time, playing, and sleeping-in throughout our leave of absence.

Five years ago, my partner Karen and I committed to taking a self-funded leave. Working and living in Toronto makes for a frenetic life — always busy always booked, always rushing. Work, raising our son, community engagement and social times are all enjoyable aspects of life but we needed to just explore a different route and lay down different tracks. As our leave time approached we asked ourselves: What do we want to do with this precious six months? What are we leaving and what are we going towards? We decided that: The purpose of our journey is to nourish our creative selves as we explore new territories.