Broken, weakened hand / fantastic kayak trip

**oooooww...**

Aaargh. I have broken something.

Or at least gotten myself an angrily inflamed muscle. Unfortunately for me, it's in my right wrist/lower arm, i.e. the very useful one. I've lost about 89% of the strength in my hand and lower arm, and anything as intense as opening a door, turning a key in the lock or carrying anything heavier than a paperback novel in said hand results in radiating pain (translated into badly concealed little whimpers of agony). If I had been a cartoon character, torrents of little yellow stars (of PAIN!) would have been flying out of my arm. So the left hand has to take care of everything, rendering life a slow and awkward process in general...

I left for Orust on tuesday morning with a gang of 13 people (!) for a 2-night kayaking-and-camping trip. The weather was fantastic and being in a boat that was practically level with the sea was very liberating (I adore being close to or immersed in ocean water - in a kayak, you can get both, especially if you're not careful ;). Also I had the fantastic fortune of teaming up in a very ambitious outdoor cooking team. One evening we even picked blue mussels and boiled them for dinner (mmmmm...). It was the first time in my life I'd ever been in a kayak, and off I went for two and a half days with kayaks being the main mode of transportation at least 80-something % of our waking hours.

Setting out, my right wrist began to hurt quickly, but in the total confusion regarding my beginners'-paddling technique and trying to keep up with the rest of the speedy kayak armada, I repeatedly ignored the warning signals until day two, when I finally started asking around if anyone had bandages... and today, I am virtually incapable of opening doors or tying shoelaces. *AJ som fan, as we say på svenska*

Luckily for me there was a very competent girl in our camping group named Malin who wound my arm in a support bandage, although Henrik was tickled no end that I had to go to the veterinary to get patched up... My friends (or rather, my HERO Henrik in the purple kayak named BonAcqua) had to tow me back the last stretch homeward today... :(

But kayaking was FUN! I will do it again gladly, once my arm is back **owwfffck** to normal.

(Ok, it was obviously painful too, but hey...)

I'll let pictures tell the rest of the story before my right hand (who has joined in the writing out of pure impatience, **oooOoow**) kills me...

Moi out at sea (my reach was too short to capture me and the kayak, so I settled for the look (hair & makeup by Salt, Wind & Accident)

The evening view from our campsite (gorgeous light when the sun sets close to 11pm...)

One of my cooking team's sumptuous outdoor dinners (Grilled pork chops with a balsamico potato salad; main ingredient: potatoes cooked in sea water. Howd'ya like them pommes de terre?)

As usual I had greater sucess below sea level than slightly above it.

My hero Henrik, towing me homeward...