Tree Planter

InkTober 2021. Day 11.

Every so often, I will draw something a little abstract. This one, in particular, reminds me of the old “fold-ins” in Mad Magazines. This is what it would look like folded. Who knows what would be on the open page.

Anyways, when I was 17, I was a Junior Forest Ranger up in Kapuskasing, Bonner Lake, to be specific. There were 32 of us, not including the staff.

It was a great time, and one of our duties was planting trees. I remember one day specifically. I was in trouble for something, so one of the staff gave me a leaky tree bag as punishment. And I spent the day with dirty water in my boot. However, I remember it being hot, 107 degrees, so the leaky bag wasn’t that bad.

Almost 40 years later, I can still tell you it was the best summer I ever had. But, unfortunately, as life moved on and I moved around, I lost touch with my dear friends that I had made that summer.

There is a Facebook group called Ontario Junior Rangers…Now and Forever. So glad there is! And because of that, I found one of my dearest friends, Linda.

I told that story to another friend, who oddly knew someone who lived in Moonbeam (near Kapuskasing), and this led me to find another of my dearest friends that I made that summer, Lynn.

There is nothing better than reconnecting with them. So grateful to have Linda and Lynn back in my life. I hope we can find the other girls.