August 10, 2008 (Sunday): Petersborough, Ontario

We took our bicycles to church this morning at 9:30 AM to worship with Campbellford Baptist Church. Their church was founded in 1884 and a church member told us that they originally met in a small stone and brick building on the Trent River (we saw it later from the water). In 1998 they bought an old lumber/hardware store in town and the parishners converted it into their new church building. Their sanctuary had a large mahogany grand piano which provided our music. Pastor Lionel led the music, read the scripture and brought the message about how we are saved by God’s grace. The service included a children sermon for about 15 beautiful little ones and we sang Jesus Loves Me with them. Their summer bulletin was the same every week, but it had a wonderful surprise just for me that brought tears to my eyes. In the bottom margin of the back page, it said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16”...

We stopped by the Old Mill Park on our way back to see the huge statue to the Canadian two dollar coin; the design including the polar bear relief was created by a local artist. It was around 11:30 AM that we set off toward Little Lake at Peterborough.

Today was a long day on the water. We had six locks to pass through this afternoon continuing to follow the Trent. There were 3 locks at Healy Falls where they had several osprey nests next to the surging rapids. There were lots of birds fishing there including good ole gray and white, sea gulls. The lock master gave us a card that showed that this is a popular area for the bald eagle, our US symbol. So we are keeping an eye out for them. There were also Jet skis which seem to congregate when we are pulling a deep wake. At one time we had at least 4 skis all crisscrossing behind us and being successful at “getting air”.

We are also on a chair watch. When we were at the Confederation Hotel in Kingston, they had heavy molded “wood grained” plastic lumber chairs by their pool. They were models of a simple wooden fanback sundeck chair, but looked indestructible. Since then, we are seeing these chairs everywhere in all imaginable colors. We have found out that they are made by a local company (www.taylorsplastic.com) and I want to figure out how to get a couple of them.

Later in the afternoon, we crossed Rice Lake facing into the sun, wide open space dotted with silhouetted small fishing boats. On the distant shores you could see golden fields and farms along the way. Leaving Rice Lake, we headed into the narrow Otonabee River and passed a long tract of totally undisturbed forest and marsh land. The chart plotter identified it as the Hiawatha Indian Reserve.

We ended the afternoon at Scott Mills Lock, number 19 of the 43 locks in the waterway. We are docked at Lock 20 and are next to a bicycle path through a pretty green lawn that borders the wildflower beds by the water. We are across from Beavermead Park where we can hear faint hymn music in the distance. I really wish it was a little louder. And we saw the swimming on the Olympics tonight... very proud of the American swimmers.