We did a lot of our out-of-door recreational adventuring with our youngest son, now a biologist, living in British Columbia. With him we had many canoe-camping trips to Algonquin Park, did white-water canoeing in Tennessee, and hiked the Great Smokies, the White Mountain range extensively, and went alpine camping at Long Mountain in B.C. We also did the Bowron Lake circuit with him, then explored old growth forests around Chilliwack.

On our own, we hiked mountain ranges and forests around the main island of Honshu in Japan. As well as the forests and mountains of the Adirondacks. Closer to where we live, Gatineau Park, an invaluable recreational treasure and natural preserve in Canada's National Capital Region, became a second home to us for hiking and canoeing, snowshoeing and seasonal berry-picking for jam-making.

Our days of such physical adventure are pretty well over. We've no longer the stamina that would permit us to hike for hours to attain a mountain peak and look out over the landscape onto legions of other peaks surrounding the one we stood upon, viewing everything around us with reverence and awe.

Our son continues his adventuring and sends us photographs to share with us what he has seen. He has hiked in Italy, Spain, Hawaii, Sweden, Greece, New Zealand and Australia. All of which have been wonderful experiences for him, and which he has shared with us in the form of priceless photographs as mementos. Including those sent yesterday from a week-end camping trip at Tofino.