#0375 "Sumac Shadows"

My son and I were walking along the abandoned rail line north of Chaffey's Locks during the summer of 1995.

This group of sumac shadows on the granite rocks caught my eye and I stored the memory for a painting.

We were camping at Clear Lake and the Green Valley Campground and were on a combination canoe and hiking expedition. The Chadwick Family had been enjoying the Green Valley Camp since 1959 which was when Pep and Gladys Burt started the camp. We played baseball and grew up with the Burt kids. The trailers were small but we spent all day outside anyway. Summers were fun!

I spent countless hours paddling the Rideau system between the Newboro and Chaffey's Locks mainly by myself. I would be gone all day exploring in the green, 15 foot fiberglass Cadorette canoe (Canots Cadorette Canoes Inc St Jean Des Piles Boat Company). I saw a lot of interesting nature and got a lot of exercise. The canoe was close to 70 pounds and took some real effort to propel it through the water or to carry it across short-cut to Newboro Lake over the isthmus that now holds Folly Road.

Eventually I grew up, married and kids came along. Our children grew up with the next generation of Burts. It was a way of life and we continued exploring the beauty of that portion of the Rideau.

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