Turn off the Screens – Perry Lake Trail
This was the 2nd to last day of Turn off the Screens Week in Manitouwadge. The Manitouwadge Conservation Club and Thunder Bay District Health Unit sponsored an afternoon on Perry Lake Trail. Lloyd & I had been taking photos for the Leisure Services Youth Soccer Program and arrived a little late. Emeraude had been picked up by her father and they were already there, as we arrived (Lloyd piggy back rided me the last 1/2 of the way in – then all the way out when it was all over as I was only an hour away from being due for a Dilaudid injection at MGH and, especially on the way out, was in a considerable amount of pain) Emeraude in the water, looking for creatures.
Virginia Thompson, a biologist for the MNR, was volunteering for the walk (it was lead by Conservation Club volunteers Marlene Turner & Tammie Hache) and sharerd a wealth of information with us (the participants) as well as some really neat packages from Ducks Unlimited Canada at the end of the afternoon and prizes for everyone.
What a wonderful afternoon, I was extra happy to have gone when I realized Emeraude was not being encouraged by her father to get closer to the insects or touch them with her hands… It is very important to me that she be comfortable with the world around her, especially nature which people develop their aversions to as children and then are limited by these for life – not my kids, not if I can help it. I do not want either of them limited by something when it can so easily be made familiar. By the end of the walk, she did not want to leave and was no longer using a stick to poke at the creatures but was holding them with her hands (as it should be and as many of the children were); she even remembered how much she used to enjoy leaches and that they did not need to be intimidating 🙂 🙂
Thanks to all the volunteers that made the wonderful activities of Turn off the Screens Week possible!! (I didn’t mention her hear but Jackie Jung was the driving force behind the entire week coordinating all the activities, providing prizes and volunteering AT the majority of the events as well!) now turn off this computer & go take a walk LOL!
