On Canada Day, my pal Bill Rest & I were paddling back to the cove after another successful dive at our favourite spot in Fathom Five Park on Georgian Bay. It’s a short, twenty-minute canoe trip to the tiny archipelago of white boulders that mark the divesite, but with another year of falling water levels, they’ve connected to form a sizeable island, home to more gulls and, unfortunately, mosquitoes. The water was toasty warm, clear and clean, and we had a bracing breeze at our backs to speed our return voyage.
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Shortly after we pulled our canoe up on shore, and unloaded our gear, we saw a small convoy of geese enter our small sheltered cove and we watched in amusement as a couple went on watch while the others flipped over to forage for reeds underwater, butts in the air with webbed feet thrashing.
Eventually the geese came to shore and with Bill and I sitting motionless on the rocks, we were soon surrounded by them as they nimbly poked around looking for more shoots. I pointed my camera at one as it got real close and it opened its beak to hiss at me - but it was just too hot, I guess, and no sound emerged. I got the point and backed away graciously as it investigated the spot I’d been occupying for his next course. I nearly stepped on a tiny frog, sunning itself on a rock - he wasn’t nearly as camera shy and patiently waited as I set up the shot.
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It was then that Bill saw the water snake swimming across the cove, barely perceptible save for a small head raised above the surface like a mini-Loch Ness Monster. We’d seen a Mississauga rattler the day before at Cyprus Lake Provincial Park. Actually, we spied the tail-end of one as it sped under a rock but we got a good look at the rattle. Now here was another serpent right on our doorstep and we considered the wisdom of telling Bill’s wife Donna about it - but short of sighting giant sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their heads, there’s not much that could have dissuaded her from taking her morning dip in the cove.
Satisfied that they’d checked out all prospects for dinner, the geese trooped back into the water and plied the waves around the corner and finally paddled out of sight. And not for the first time did Bill and I remark about the enchantment of random encounters with nature such as these, the peace and silence of this place at the tip of the Bruce, and about life later - when city homes would be put up for sale, and he and Donna and my wife and I would hunt for permanent rural route addresses.
I’m not sure my wife, a real city girl, will ever leave Toronto behind. But I can dream, can’t I?
Glenn Garnett/Editor, CottageLink Magazine
The theme for this issue is making the great escape to the country. But first, a gentle dose of reality - it’s one thing to savour a long weekend or fortnight at the cottage, quite another to make it your year-round residence. For retirees, the isolation of some locales may not be so splendid and for those seeking even part-time employment to pay for a move at an earlier age, prospects can be bleak. Best to talk to a rural dwelling consultant like Karen Richardson of Bancroft - and that’s what we did. See story 1.
When Glenn Perrett and his wife Lynn decided to build a cottage of their own, the thought of building a luxury monster home to dominate the landscape didn’t enter their minds. Living in harmony with nature is their guiding principle, and Glenn shares some of their plans with us in story 2.
When I met Debbie MacLean in college, she was your typical country girl, apt to lift her head in awe at the soaring towers of Toronto and explore much of what the big city had to offer. That fascination didn’t stick - or, at least, she finds lifting her head to count the amazing number of stars you can see in the skies over Northwestern Ontario far more gripping. She and her family live by the lake, making her an ideal person to enthuse about the benefits - and occasional shortfalls - of country living. See story 3.
Finally, a topic we’ve been itching to tell you about - poison ivy. Like its sinister cousins poison oak and poison sumac, it’s a nasty surprise for the uninformed explorer. But there are plenty of misconceptions about poison ivy - for instance, did you know there’s a good chance you’ll get a free pass with your first encounter? We scratch out the truth in story 4.
Unless you live in Nanuvut, it’s not beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But when our winter edition arrives November 1, it will certainly be time to think about it. We’ll be reviewing some terrific gift books for the cottager on your holiday giving list as well as looking at decorating your cottage for the Yuletide season. If you’re a cottage owner, winter is also a good time to take stock of another year of rentals and what you can do to improve business - and that looks like a job for Craig White of CottageLink! All this and more in the next CottageLink Magazine.
If you have any comments or suggestions on articles you’d like to see in CottageLink Magazine, just drop me a line at cggarnett@telus.net. Remember - this is your magazine!
Cover photo: Autumn at Meech Lake, Gatineau Park, Quebec. © J.A. Kraulis/Wonderfile
