Day 3 started with the boys bathing in the river. Then we had breakfast. I had a Pop Tart,
yum. Next we got underway back to
Gananoque to drop off Granny and Grandpa.
It took more than an hour, and the kids took turns driving the boat (but
not me). It was really fun to have
Granny and Grandpa on the boat with us and it was sad to see them leave. I had fun playing cards with Granny, and I was
happy that Grandpa was on the boat when the engine got stuck on the rocks!
We stayed at the Marina for a while so that we could go
running and shopping. We also had to
fill up with gas. The other kids went
running, and Mom, Dad, and I went to the supermarket. Canadian supermarkets are pretty much like
American supermarkets, except they have cool shopping carts and they don’t sell
beer. When we got back from shopping, Mom and Dad went for a run, and the kids
made lunch. [I was happy that when we
arrived back at the marina, the large dock was empty and so I was able to bring
the boat in easily. Later, we had to
return to the marina because we forgot the camera in the car. By then I was an expert and we were even able
to turn the boat around in the narrow channel.]
 |
| Our Bagpiper, with his American flag on the pipes. |
Then we headed back out into the river and found a nice
anchor spot near Downey Island. We were
surrounded by beautiful little islands that blocked the wind. [We were in a cluster of Islands called the Navy Islands.] While we were having cocktails on the front
deck, we suddenly heard the sound of bag pipes.
A man was marching back and forth on a dock on the other side of the bay
and playing American songs. [He began by
playing the usual Irish bagpipe songs, then he launched into a George M. Cohan
medley (Yankee Doodle Dandy, You’re a Grand Old Flag), and finished with
Amazing Grace. He played for about fifteen
minutes while he marched up and down his dock.
The sound echoed across the bay and was quite remarkable. It was also a lovely accompaniment to our cocktails] When the bagpiper finished, we clapped and
honked the boat’s horn.
Then Mom prepared dinner and we ate it on the roof. [The houseboat has an oven and Karen managed
to make baked ziti.] After dinner, we watched a pretty sunset. Then the boys invented a game that included
all three of them jumping off the roof at the same time and trying to catch the
football. They did it so many times that
it dragged the anchor and we got a lot closer to an expensive sailboat that was
anchored behind us. Then we went to bed
and had a good sleep. 
[The kids might
have had a good sleep, but Karen and I were up every hour to check that we
weren’t getting any closer to the sailboat.
Fortunately, it was a beautiful night, the wind was light, and we didn’t move.]
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