Oct. 3rd; This morning was sunny, but the weather forecast called for strong winds with rain today. So I spent the day gathering some more wood around the Island for the coming winter. I had cut-up the few remaining trees that had been down from the camp to lookout point trail and added these to the woodpile. When it was too dark to work any more, I made some supper and settled in for the night. I am getting pretty low on tobacco. I had forgotten to buy some tobacco when I was in town yesterday. Tonight, I had to light a fire in the wood stove to take away the chill. We never had the strong winds today but can expect some rain tonight. Last night the temperature had dropped to -3 celsius, but it was warm in the tent- cabin with a small fire in the wood stove.

Oct 4th; Today it is overcast with very strong south-easterly winds that is the effect of hurricane Lily that had devastated Louisiana in southern U.S.A. Here in the Tri-town area, we are expecting heavy rainfall by the afternoon and all through the night. Storm warning for Lake Temiskaming has been issued to boaters and people who live along the shoreline. Today, I will batten down the hatch, so to speak and hope for the best as this storm passes by. It is a good time to catch up on my reading while this storm is going on outside. The temperature is quite mild around here, in the 20 celsius range, so says the weather forecaster. I feel little of the effects of this strong wind where the tent-cabin is located among the tall trees that are all around me. Then the heavy rain came down to that extent that I was worried that it may flood the tent-cabin floor, but it had not. I just spent my day listening to the radio and read some mystery books I had on hand. Later that night, I ran compleatly out of tobacco. I hope that I can get into town tomorrow so that I can buy some.

Oct.5th: Today the town of Haileybury is commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the great fire of 1922. The townspeople of Haileybury will unveil a bronze statue at the marina, depicting a man helping a woman with a child who were forced to go out into the lake to escape the great fire that had devastated the whole town. I had hoped to be there for that unveiling so that it will give me the chance to meet them. But I could not get off the Island with that strong wind that is now blowing from the north-east. I hope that I can become a part of the community. I noticed that there are a lot of leaves on the ground. The colour of the leaves are now yellow, red and brown with just a hint of green. We are now in the full fall season of Indian summer. I had porridge for breakfast along with some coffee with no cigarettes for I had run out of tobacco. I spent the day gathering wood to add to the woodpile so that I will have easy access to the wood for the coming winter. I have found out that the snow can get pretty deep around these parts. Later, just to do something different, I worked on the trail that leads from the camp to that old beaver house. There are a couple of big trees that are down that need to be cut up. They are blocking the intended trail. By late evening I had a pretty good trail. I just have to trim some trees, here and there of their low branches so people do not get a twig in their eye. I wounder if I had sold any paintings yet? I have to start thinking about stocking up on food before freeze-up. A cigarette would sure be nice to have with my coffee.

Oct. 7th; Monday, Thanksgiving Day. What a change of weather we just had in the short space of time that had elapsed. From a balmy 24 celsius just a short time ago to temperatures now raging between 6 to 4 celsius, with very strong winds from the north. I was thinking that maby if I can just get to the mainland and walk the rest of the way into town to get some tobacco, but I know the lake is just too choppy for a safe passage. That strong north wind prevents me from making a run into town. Maby I can try smoking some dried leaves to substitute for tobacco? After gathering up some dry leaves, I crunched the leaves up into small pieces and tried it in my pipe. It's not the same. All this is doing is giving me a sore throat and it is not relieving my desire for some tobacco. So much for that idea. Right now I am thinking that it might have been a bad idea to camp here on the Island now that I am stranded from getting into town. But I still believe in the original idea to make a botanical park, with its trails for people to enjoy. Maby when I can once again smoke a cigarette, I will feel better and things will not look so bad. But right now, I feel like a fish that is out of water. I notice that I tend to over eat now, since I have no tobacco to smoke. In one day alone, I must have eaten up enough food what would have done me for a week under normal conditions. This forced quit-smoking bit is not going to save me any money at the rate I am eating up all of my food. It is amazing how this is having an effect on me. Now it is raining hard to top it all off. Good grief! This weather system is expected to last until Wednesday, according to the weather forecaster. I sat contemplating about all that had transpired since I had arrived here in Haileybury. Upon reflection on this Thanksgiving Day, I could only give thanks to GOD for helping me to get through this journey that had brought me to this little Island. For the wonderful people that I had the pleasure to meet and the friends that I have made here in Haileybury. For the good health that I am in which I would not have now after that time in the rapids when my leg was caught between some rocks. Looking back on all of this, I realized that things could have turned out to be far worse than those slight bumps that I had encounter along this journey. I have much to be thankful for. Thank You Heavenly Father for your helping hand.

Oct. 8th; This morning as I stepped out of the tent-cabin to see the condition of the lake, I noticed that it is pretty cold. Last night the temperature had dropped to -3 celsius. The lake is not as choppy now but there is still a wind coming from the north. I see there is ice in the canoe where the rain had collected and then froze during the night. I am wondering if I should try to make that run into Haileybury? I am thinking that even if I can only get across to the mainland, I can walk the rest of the way in. After breakfast, I had decided to make the attempt. I wore extra clothing and put socks on my hands for mitts and left camp. I had made the passage across to the main shore and followed the shoreline closely to help protect me from the cold wind as much as was possible. Slowly but surely, I gained a bit of headway with hard paddling. I kind of wish I had one of those small outboard motors for canoes right about now. By the time I had arrived at my usual landing in Haileybury, I was totally worn out. My hands were pretty cold too. As soon as I landed, I headed for Buster's to get some tobacco and cigarette papers. After I had managed to roll something that looked like a poor resemblance to a cigarette, I had my first smoke, after that long delay getting into Haileybury. Boy, did it feel soooo good. It made all that hard paddling worth it all. Now I was as content as a cat laying in front of a warm fireplace on a cold, frosty winter. I headed for Peter Pan Restaurant and got a cup of coffee and had another one of my home made cigarettes. I can no longer afford to buy tailor made cigarettes. I had phoned Dave to see how he and Betty was, but no one was at home. John had informed me that two of my art pieces was sold. The painting of Devil's Rock and the ink drawing of the Haileybury Court House. Oh, how wounderful it was to hear that. Somebody had bought my artwork. That really lifted up my spirit. John insisted not to take any commission on his part, so I recived the full price of $45.00 for them. Now I will be able to buy the food I had already eaten up during my forced non-smoking days while being stranded on the Island. John has also told me that he has all the material to start that sign he wanted done. So we brought everything out on the veranda and I started to sketch out the lettering. With that done, I started to paint the letters. By noon, John had told me to come inside for lunch. Boy did he heap my plate up so much that I could not eat it all in one sitting. So I asked John if he could pack the leftover for me to take back to camp. After I had finished the work, John wanted to pay me for painting the sign, but I did not want to take it because I did this just as a favour for John, being that he is such a real friend to me. In the end, I had to take something, for he would not take no for an answer. After a few days, I will give John a hand putting up that new sign. John and I talked for a while and then I went up to the supermarket. I took the local bus, where I have found the bus drivers of Tri-Town-Transit, to be very nice and helpful people. Tri-Town-Transit is run by Walsh Transportation Ltd. The bus brought me to Trottie's Valu Mart located at the Haileybury Mall on highway 11B. When I had bought my groceries, I decided to get a cab because I would have to carry my heavy load of groceries a fair distance to where the bus stopped and where I had docked the canoe. The people at Trottie's Valu Mart got a cab for me. When the Tri-Town Taxi came, I told the cab driver to take me and my groceries to the launch ramp where I had the canoe. After I had loaded the groceries into the canoe, along with a 50lb bag of potatoes, I paddled back to camp. This time it was an easy paddle with the help of the sail with the wind at my back. When I got back to the Island, I unloaded the canoe and brought the groceries into the tent- cabin. I quickly lit the kindling in the wood stove and got a good fire going to heat the place up. After I had stowed away the groceries, I heated the leftover food I had brought back from Peter Pan Restaurant and finished it off with some coffee and a cigarette, (better than the dry leaves I had tried to smoke). Then I settled back with a book as I had another cigarette. I hope that things will work out so that I can continue to live this new lifestyle that I had chosen for myself. Today was a very good day despite the cold weather.

Oct. 9th; Today it is windy, coming from the south-east. Right now, it do not matter for I have to spend a lot more time to gather wood. I now have to use the wood I have already collected to heat the tent-cabin. If I am going to survive through this winter, I will have to get more wood than I have on hand right now. The shoreline is littered with driftwood so I will gather these and stockpile it with the other wood that is stacked to dry. This evening, I composed a sketch on a canvas board for a painting depicting a street car from Toronto that was being used as a house for a family after they had lost their homes during the Great Fire of 1922 that had devastated the entire Town of Haileybury. By the time I had finished that, it was too dark to do any more work so I lit the candle and read a little until it was too hard on my eyes, straining to see the words on the page. I settled instead to just listen to the radio.

Oct.12th; This morning the lake was calm and the sun was warming the morning chill air. I decided to take a break from gathering wood and go into town. I miss the company of people. After breakfast, I paddled to Haileybury. The lake is now cold and I will have to be extremely careful and pick the right time, while I am travelling on the water. To be on the safe side, I am now paddling close to shore instead of taking the more direct route that I use during the summer months. The water is that cold now that it will not matter if you are a good swimmer. I have so much clothes on me now that I would think it would be very difficult to swim, even with a life jacket on. Of course I do not want to put this to the test, right now. I went up to see if I had received any mail at the Post Office, but there was no mail. I stopped in to see Herb at his hardware store and we talked for a little while. After I went over see John at his restaurant, but he was not in so I had a coffee in case he would return from New Liskeard. While drinking my coffee, I met a young man by the name of Chris, who works at the Metis Nation Community Council. I noticed that he had bought a video cam for a computer and we got to talking about computers, computer graphics and web sites. Chris and I talked about some of the computer graphics he had done and we went over to his work desk and viewed them. He is pretty good and knows a lot about computers. I checked out on his computer if my web site had been deleted. I was surprised that the non-member web site, People of the Holy Testament, was still on line. I had thought that it would have been deleated by now because it had no longer been active. While there, I also checked my e-mail. I down loaded my files onto a spare floppy disk that Chris had, so that I could read them later, when I have more time. This I can do on the public library computers. The library was not open yet, and would not be open until 2 P.M. After I had thanked and left Chris, I went to the farmers market at the Marina where people sell their local produce every Friday. I bought some home made jam, bread and some tomatoes to take back with me to camp. I took these down to the canoe. While I was by the canoe, I had noticed that the wind had picked up, coming from the south. I decided to head for camp before the wind got any stronger. It was a hard paddle back to camp with this head wind blowing against me. I changed my clothes and continued to gather driftwood along the shore now that the level of the lake had dropped quite a bit that I could walk around the western edge of the Island. After a late supper, when it was getting dark, I laid on my bed listening to CBC. A program was talking about what we can expect in the way of weather this winter. Their forecast say that this winter will be an El Nino year and that we can expect this winter will be a milder than normal winter. I hope that they are not right because that may mean the lake may not freeze up enough to safely walk on it. That would greatly hamper me from getting into town during the winter. I listen to some wonderful classical music until I was ready to turn in and call it a day.

Oct. 13th; This morning it is raining quite hard and the weather forcast calls for rain throughout the day. The tempature will rise to 7 celsius and drop to -8 by tonight. It calls for a good chance for snow this evening. I decided to stay in camp today and just relax. It is no use to gather more driftwood along the shore in this rainy weather.

Oct.14th; Today the wind is blowing strong from the north-east and snow is falling for most of the morning. By noon, the temperature had risen to 4 Celsius with a chill factor of -6 Celsius. I know that I am not able to get into town today to help John put up that new sign we made. It is really dirty weather out there. I just spent my time reading a book or listening to the radio. I feel nice and warm here in the tent-cabin despite the nasty weather outside.

Oct.15; This morning it is cold outside with the temperature at -8 Celsius. The wind is steady from the north-east. We must be getting that cold Arctic air that is coming from Hudson Bay. By 10 AM, the wind has picked up to almost a gale. The good news is that tomorrow, according to the weather forecast the temperature should rise to +7 Celsius. I hope that I can get into town tomorrow. I walked outside and despite the strong winds out there on the lake, I felt very little wind here, among the thick forest on this little island. Snow was on the tree branches but little of it was on the ground. As I walked around, I found a place that was littered with beer cans, rusty cans and bottles. I went back to the tent-cabin to get some plastic bags and collected the refuse that I had found and take it into town with me for proper disposal. Looking over to the main shore across the lake, the scene was beautiful with all the trees covered with snow. By 4 PM, the wind had suddenly died down and the temperature rose to +4 Celsius. It is too late for me to go into town now because by 6 PM, it will be dark.

Oct. 16; I woke up at 5 AM and lighted a fire in the wood stove to heat up the place. After breakfast of hotcakes and coffee, I went outside to have a look around. There is no wind, for a change. By 9 AM, I turned the canoe over and gathered my gear and headed for Haileybury by way along the shoreline. The wind started to blow again from the north-east but it remained light, as least until I had reached Haileybury. I went over to Peter Pan Restaurant and John and I had a cup of coffee. After, we put up that new sign and it looked good. We went back in and had another coffee to warm ourselves up. After, I went to Busters to get some bread and tobacco. Then I stopped in on Herb at his hardware just to say hello and we talked for a little while. Herb suggested that I go see a pastor Carter at the Seventh-day Adventist Church and get a decent winter coat, some gloves and winter boots. Herb had told me that they have these items for people who need them and they give it freely. I was reluctant to see any Christian churches because of how I felt about that religion. After leaving Herb, I went to see Chris at the Metis Nation Community Council office and we talked for a little while. I did not want to get Chris into any trouble so I did not stay for long. Then I went to see if I had received any mail. No mail yet. I went over to the local MP office to see how I may get back some I.D. The lady at the office was quite helpful. She went out of her way to see if I could obtain any kind of I.D. from the federal government that they may have on file, but here again we came upon the old catch 22 scenario that I needed 2 or 3 I.D. to obtain the I.D.'s that I had lost. We found out that it would cost $70.00 plus photo's taken to obtain another copy of my Canadian Citizenship. I did not have that kind of money on me right now so I had to forget about the whole thing foe now. When I left the MP office, I decided to see if this Seventh- day Adventist Church would give me some winter clothes. I phoned Pastor Carter and he seemed to be friendly enough and told me to come up and he would see what he could do. Pastor Carter and his wife is from Newfoundland and were sent out here to pastor this church in Haileybury. We spoke a little while and he was able to find a real good winter coat that the Police use. He was able to find some work gloves and a pair of boots and a good heavy, thick sweater. Pastor Carter had told me to come back for more clothes when the women of his parish would be there. They knew where all the clothing was stowed. I thank Pastor Carter for the clothes he had given me and I hope that I may, one day, repay him for his kindness. I returned to the canoe with the good winter coat on me. Now I was warm in it. The wind had shifted to the south and was blowing too hard for me to paddle against, so I went to the Peter Pan Restaurant and waited for the wind to die down. I had noticed that around 6 PM, the wind most always seem to die down at least for an hour during that time of day. By 6 PM, the wind had died down enough to attempt to paddled back to the Island. I loaded the canoe with the gear on hand and made my way back to the island. By now it was dark outside but I could see the shoreline because of the white snow on the trees. When I came abreast to the Island, Oh how beautiful it looked, all glittering white in the moon light. It looked like some enchanted place one would read in a fairy tale. I will never forget the beauty that I saw before me. One day, I have to get this scene on canvas. I had arrived just in time before the wind started to pick up. The wind kept building up until it was a blizzard. How nice it is to be back here in camp, feeling warm and cosy while the storm was raging outside.

Journal to be continued....