WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure

WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure
By Hilda Young
First I would like to thank the 9 am ladies walking group for an unusual morning. Secondly I would like to thank my chauffer to Deep River Lorelei Dean and thirdly I would like to thank my husband Bruce Hanna for his vote of confidence.
Why all the thank you before my story? Well this is a humour piece to lighten the mood after an adventurous trip to Deep River on Thursday May 6th However I do not know the entire story. I was the catalyst for the event!
Yes, I was lost in the woods or should I say abandoned momentarily, this morning.
The 9 am Ladies walking group is well known in the community, I joined it as a long distance member last fall with a friend from Petawawa. At times the journey from Petawawa seemed long but it has become a fun event with company...
Margaret Miller, the group leader started out at a leisurely pace stating we would be going into the woods as someone had been there recently and said the trails were good. Famous last words! I dutifully took off at a good pace with Pat Meadowcroft, my partner. We kept up as the group meandered through a few residential streets then crossed over near the Anglican Church to Banting Drive. At that point I was lost but continued walking. A group of us chatted about our location. We thought we were going east. We kept walking along the power line then though the woods. I was hot. So I told Pat to continue walking as I planned to stop and take off a couple of layers. A few people walked by making comments about the heat. I was left alone! I continued walking but soon lost sight of the group as there was a fork in the road. I saw them go down one road at a steady pace. I thought I would try to connect at the next turning so took the wider trail. The trail was wide and reasonably well marked so I kept following the D loop ski trail. The trail went south I think towards an open area which became the parking lot of the Hospital.
Initially I did not hear any noise so thought that the group had left me behind and walked back to the Bean House. I was fine. Once I arrived at the road I planned to walk back to town. However I did here echoes calling my name and tried to get closer and called hello. When I started back along Banting Drive I went back into the woods as I heard voices. Eventually Margaret Miller found me. Apparently I was lost and the group broke up into two to look for me!
I heard part of the story as I walked back with Pat Meadowcroft again! When we arrived back at the Bean House my husband Bruce Hanna laughed. He said I was fine .If there was a problem I would have been heard at the Bean House as I tend to have good set of lungs when I am scared!
So thanks ladies for an interesting diversion. Next time let’s make sure that we keep the buddy system!

Battle of the Atlantic Sunday and 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy

Tomorrow at chapel we will acknowledge the Canadian ships that were sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.I will be bringing a poster from a few years ago to chapel plus an insert from Canadian geographic that tells the history of the Canadian Navy. It is a neat moment as I know one of the cartographers on the map, Steve Fick. The Tulip Festival starts next week in Ottawa as well.It is celebrating VE Day on Friday May 7th with a street party on Elgin street! The Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa will also be celebrating the 65 anniversary of the end of the WW 11.
It will be a fun busy month.