EdItoR's NoTe
* Professional instructions
* Classes for all skill levels -
beginner to expert
* Special program for the younger
skiers (ages 6-9)
* Small classes
* Adult classes too!
* Charter buses Saturday & Sunday
CAMP WAHANOWIN
ON LAKE COUCHICHING, ONT.
Personal Interviews
with Director
Bruce Nashman
In Detroit Area
IT'S OUR 45TH
FUN - FILLED SEASON!
New for '99
• New 9-Hole Golf Course on site!
• 2-Week Starter Sessions
• SCUBA Certification
SAT., DEC. 5
SUN., DEC. 6
• Petting Farm and Zoo
PLUS
Our usual great food, outstanding theatre
Call us fora
brochure & video
1-800-701-3132
Or in Michigan call
Deby Gannes
(248) 851-0040
program, superb land and water sports
programs, enthusiastic staff, Friday night
services and warm, spirited atmosphere!
See our Golf Course under construction on our
Website at www.wahanowin.com
FOR THE SUMMER
OF A LIFETIME
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES
USA
•
Europe
Call Now for a Free Brochure
•
'I -800-767-0227
Israel
ACCRE04.0
CAMP
ftCfil
American
Camping
Association
Ages
17-19
12/4
1998 I
64
Detroit Jewish News
Canada
•
ACTIVE TEEN TOURS
www.westcoastconnection.com
The Lake
T
he other day my family and I
went to a nearby lake to feed
the birds.
We do this each fall, and some-
times in the winter and spring, too.
We bundle up in our coats because
no matter when you go it's cold,
and bring along bags of leftover
challah. I whip up several batches
of popcorn, too, to give the birds
some fiber.
All my children are happy
there. Yitzhak, 5, chases the
birds. He can't catch them,
of course; he can't even get
near them. But he loves run-
ning after the geese and
calling, "Come here! Come
here! I want to pet you!"
Talya, 21 months, follows. Or
sometimes she just stops and looks
and says, "Hi!" to all the birds.
But it is my eldest daughter, 6-
aknost-7 Adina, who is most happy
here. Like her father, she loves
being outside. Even in the coldest
cold she would gladly stay for
hours.
Because she is the oldest, of
course, she must be in charge. "I
will hold the bag of popcorn," she
instructs Yitz and Talya. Then,
"Here, now take a handful and
throw it over there."
Perhaps it is the mysterious vision
of birds everywhere, many just inch-
es from our feet, that calms the usu-
ally outspoken Yitz. "Okay," he'll
respond as he dutifully, like a sol-
dier, takes his handful of popcorn
and tosses it onto the cold grass.
Adina likes to sit along the bank
as the ducks waddle to her. When
she is done feeding them, she wan-
ders along and looks for pine
cones and bright leaves and other
little bits of nothing which children
know are treasures. She always
stuffs them into her coat pocket
where I find them days later, usually
worn out and broken into pieces. I
always throw them out, of course,
though it's difficult, almost painful.
One spring Adina made a nest for
the birds. She gathered clumps of
fresh grass and fallen branches bear- (
ing golden leaves. She neatly
arranged them into a circle — in
fact, it looked very much like a nest
— then set some piled-up rocks to the
side as a table, "for the birds to sit
down to eat."
On this latest visit, Adina
brought me all the varieties
of pine cone she could find.
Later, we would arrange
them into a little basket in
our living room.
That afternoon, as we
were at the lake, the sun was setting.
It was cool enough that we needed
coats, but not so cold as to be
unpleasant. My husband was taking
a picture of Adina feeding the birds,
Yitz was calling to the ducks, and
Talya was sitting beside me on the
bench. Hooked out into the sky, a
robin's-egg blue tinted with orange,
and onto the lake with its swimming
bouquet of ducks and gulls. And I
thought, "How lucky I am."
A million thoughts pass through
my mind each day: Will we always
have enough money? Will our chil-
dren always be healthy? Will I get
my work done? How am I going to
manage a trip today to the grocery
store with two small children?
Rarely, though, do I remember hoW
fortunate I am.
But at that moment I knew it so
completely, with all my heart —
and it was bright, shining like the
silver lake, complete and eternal
and as vast as the sky. E
Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor
You can reach Elizabeth Applebaum at
(248) 354-6060, ext. 308, or via
e mail at philapple@earthlink.net .
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