Last week I finished restoration on my old friend the Bluebird, my blue Old Town Columbia canoe. This week was the turn of my even older friend, the Pistachio Princess, pal and partner through so many of my guiding years. She’s a Mad River, mist-green, wood -trimmed Explorer, sturdy and strong and an all around beauty – featured in my books Paddle Whispers and Fawn Island. She has carried me and others across many rough waters, including our boys when they were small . So good to have her back.