horse

Lost Horse Press

Lost Horse Press & Full Spectrum Tours
proudly present
The Full Moon Paddle Series
June 13 - August 14, 2003

Paddle Lake Pend Oreille - by the light of the full moon - to Fisherman's Island, where you will hear poems, stories, and the history of the Lake told by acclaimed Northwest poets, writers, & historians:

Karen Seashore	Kayaking Stories	June 13
Rob Tilla	The Explorer David Thompson	June 14
Rory Metcalf	A Novel Idea!	July 12
Rob Tilla	The Explorer David Thompson	July 13
Dennis Held	Poetry of the NW	Aug. 12
Scott Poole	Hilarious NW Poetry	Aug. 13
Rob Tilla	The Explorer David Thompson	Aug.14

Cost for each event is $100 per person plus 6% Idaho sales tax, and includes all equipment, pre-trip kayaking orientation, guides, and literary program. A minimum of eight people per trip is required. For more information or to book a tour, please call Full Spectrum Tours at 208-263-5975 or register online at www.kayaking.net.

The Full Moon Paddle Series flier is available in .pdf format. (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download here.)

The previous Full Moon Paddle Series received notice in the Spokane Spokesman-Review (see below) and in the newsletter of the Idaho Center for the Book. (Newsletter is in .pdf format.)

A dream in the moonlight:

Poetry and pastry greet kayakers paddling softly into the night

Sunday, April 27, 2003

By Cynthia Taggart
The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)

COEUR D'ALENE, IDAHO – The Greenapples went home to New Jersey with memories of moonlight sparkling on Lake Pend Oreille, apple torte enchanting their taste buds and Renee D'Aoust's sweet poetry softening their hearts.

Jessika Satori went home to Moscow, Idaho, renewed from Lake Pend Oreille's warm waters lapping like massaging hands against the sides of her kayak. The full moon in the flawless late summer sky elevated her evening experience to ecstasy.

Josie Merithew returned to Sandpoint, Idaho, wearing a satisfied smile. The marriage of her Full Moon Paddle and Christine Holbert's publishing business was a success.

Josie and Christine merged their two passions a year earlier. Josie runs Full Spectrum Tours and leads kayak trips on Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake. Christine runs Lost Horse Press publishing and offers writers retreats. She books guest authors for the paddle trip.

The paddle offered four hours of supervised kayaking on one of Idaho's most beautiful lakes, scrumptious desserts on a tiny island, and Northwest authors reading stories, poetry and essays around a crackling campfire.

The August moon rose orange over a placid lake. The 12 paddlers from as far as Connecticut watched the sky with relief as clouds dissipated in the dusk.

Their kayaks awaited at Hawkin's Point on Lake Pend Oreille's north end. Josie outfitted everyone with safety vests with whistles, paddles, bags to keep their belongings dry and armbands with strobe lights for paddling in the dark.

Half the group had no experience with kayaks. Josie demonstrated power and sweep strokes to move forward and turn. Her onlookers grinned nervously as she showed them how to recover after capsizing. Her calm was reassuring. Fisherman's Island was the evening's destination.

Splashes and paddle thuds filled the air until paddlers discovered a rhythm. Occasionally, boats gently collided.

A hundred yards away, headlights flashed, then disappeared along the winding lakeshore road.

Josie and two helpers herded the paddlers with cool competence to a button- shaped island no larger than a baseball diamond. She erected a camping table and loaded it with plastic containers.

"Ooh, what's that?" asked Dave Gilled, a paddler from Connecticut, pointing to an apple torte Josie sliced to add to plates of cheesecake, chocolate peanut clusters, crackers, cheeses, carrots and broccoli. The smell of hot coffee rose from an opened thermos. Only the full moon and the crew's headlamps lighted the island.

Fire danger precluded a campfire, but paddlers settled themselves on logs around a fire pit anyway. Some pulled out sweat shirts. Some chatted softly. Some leaned back, studied the brilliant stars and listened to an invisible wind whisper through the pines around them.

Renee D'Aoust opened her binder as the last plates and cups hit the trash. She was the reason Rhoda Sanford came from LaClede, Idaho. Rhoda writes and shares her work with other Sandpoint writers.

"I like Renee's writing," she said as Renee found a reading spot in front of two tall trees.

The moon shone like a soft spotlight behind her.

"I chose this poem by Frederico Garcia Lorca because I was worried the moon might not show," she said, then read, "Lady moon hasn't come out."

Renee, 34, a dancer from New York City, discovered writing a few years ago. She's already won a few awards for her poems, essays and fiction from literary magazines. The group was silent as she read about the cedar paddles her father carved for her, the rock with which her dog played, walking along the Pacific.

The lake lapping lightly at the shore was the only sound between poems.

Renee read Indian verse, "Wintu Dream Dance Songs."

She raised her arms to the sky and folded her body toward the ground to express the Wintu thoughts. The moon behind turned her into a graceful silhouette.

"I always feel like dancing when I see a full moon," she said, teaching movements to her listeners. They followed dreamily.

"That was beautiful. Thank you so much," Renee said, clapping at the end.

The moon was high in the sky for the three-mile return paddle, and someone howled a few times. The strobes on paddlers' arms blinked faithfully.

"Will there be another one?" someone called to Josie as the kayaks edged into Hawkin's Point.

"Possibly," Josie said, as paddlers hopped through the shallow water to shore and handed over their paddles.

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