I had the privilege when I was growing up to spend summers with my grandparents at their cottage on the south shore of Lake Nippissing in Northern Ontario. When I was younger (and when my grandparents were younger!) it would be several weeks at a time. As I grew (and presumably gained more of a "life") the time I spent there decreased. It has been many months since I was last there and may not ever again as my grandparents have decided to sell the cottage (anyone interested please contact me!) and move closer to their children in Southern Ontario.
My mind is infused with the memories, the smells, the sight and sounds of the Northern Ontario Lakescape. I can say with certainty that those times spent at "the cottage" (funny enough, it hasn't officially been the cottage for several years since my grandparents sold their house in town and moved out there full time) have shaped who I am. Throughout the happy times and the sad it has been my safe place, the retreat that I flee to.
I never stopped to think specifically about all of the things that I loved about the cottage until just recently. Foremost it would be the people...my grandparents. They have made it the wonderful place that it is...they built it first of all. They have seen children and grandchildren and great grandchildren there. They have added on, redecorated and re-redecorated. It is their home and they cannot be separated from it. But there are also many other things that I love about the place and I think they were brought to mind becuase they also remind me of my new house in Goulais River.
There are simple things that I love about the cottage and now my new home...the birch and poplar trees, the sandy soil, the birds, the lake of course, the granite rock of the Cambrian Shield. But it occured to me (and my husband) the other morning that it was precisely that, the mornings, that are so wonderful about being out here. We love getting up, having a coffee, listening to the birds go about their day. Things are quiet and peaceful. There are no 5 am wakeups when the neighbour starts his loud diesal truck and drives off to work. There is no construction equipment starting their day 15 minutes before they are legally supposed to. There are not even the hum of school buses shuttling kids off to school. It's just peace...and the chattering of chickadees, the rat-a-tat-tat of woodpeckers, and the occaisional shouting of our red squirrel whom we've named Uther Pendragon.
It's just like mornings at the cottage, and I didn't realize how much my mind and soul truly craved that.
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Oh ya sister. And wait until we can head to the water's edge for the morning mist and sound of water lapping on the shore. Aaaaaahhhh.....
ReplyDeleteyes, yes and yes. i am going to miss the dock and the rock in the wee little bay. you hop off the dock onto the tiny rock and then ober to the slanted one. from there you step on the one that teeters, the half submerged one and then the one that split. i remember that was our pirate ship for a while. (me and jordan)
ReplyDeleteI can see it in my head Jon. Just watch out when the water's high that you don't slip on the flat one!
ReplyDeleteJen, your descriptions of the peace and wild life living around you brings tears to my eyes. I wish I could have such a surrounding too - and what little time I spent at "the cottage" has also made a huge impression on me. Thanks for sharing! You write well.
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