HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The sun is shining in paradise
BUMMER OF THE DAY: It had to end
WORD OF THE DAY: Danford Lake
Happy May 2-4 week-end. The sun wasn’t quite out yet, but it was making a really good attempt and you could see blue sky coming through. It was going to be an amazing day.
So what is the May 2-4 weekend? Officially known as Victoria Day it is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday before May 25, in honor of Queen Victoria's birthday. It is sometimes informally considered as marking the beginning of the summer season in Canada. The holiday has been observed since before Canada was formed, originally falling on the sovereign's actual birthday, and continues to be celebrated in various fashions across the country on the fixed date. In Quebec, the same day was, since the Quiet Revolution, unofficially known as Fête de Dollard until 2003, when provincial legislation officially named the same date as Victoria Day the National Patriots' Day. It is a statutory holiday federally, as well as in six of Canada's ten provinces and all three of its territories. The holiday is colloquially known as May Two-Four in parts of Canada and double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a "two-four"), a drink popular during the long weekend. Either way, I am happy to be here and to celebrate a public holiday/long weekend for some dead patriarch. I can think of nowhere else I would want to be in my Odyssey.
So my internal clock seems to be tuned into 8.30am. It’s a nice time and I am finally glad that it has been reset from the 6.15am overland truck time. It’s taken 4 weeks, but I now have a new body clock and I am happy about that. Everyone else was already up, but breakfast was just getting prepared when I made my way downstairs. It is always hard to know in other people’s homes to get dressed before or after breakfast. I would prefer to get caught in my normal clothes rather than my PJ’s and when I got to the kitchen and the porch everyone was still in their jim jams! This is the ‘cottage’ way and I’m liking it!
The McCormick’s have built their home in a very smart design. The screen enclosed porch catches the sun in the morning and then the afternoon sun falls onto the dock and outdoor area on the lake all afternoon. So it was nice to sit on the porch this morning after breakfast and our biggest concern of the day was what time to head down the to the dock for some sun……tough I know right. The sun wasn’t quite shining down there yet, so we needed to make a quick run to the general store for some stocks, so by the time we got back to the cottage, the sun was in the right place and it was time to get some sun.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and with cushions and a deck chair pulled onto the dock, the sun was in all her glory and man it felt good. This was better weather than what I had in Barbados! Who would have thought? The sun’s rays were quite strong actually and I am glad that I remembered to put some sunscreen on my nose. We were down there for 45 minutes before we got the call for lunch back up at the cottage and then armed with a beer and my book; we headed back to the lake for the rest of the afternoon. George and Wendy broke out their new kayaks for the summer and gave them a run ‘the maiden voyage’ and when they got back Amy also went for a cruise in one. I am not a small boat person so there is no way I was going out in one, but they looked cool. The water was still really cold, I think around 14C but Amy was brave enough to go in for a dip. It took her a while to get in and a few false starts for the final plunge, but she did it and kudos to her as I dipped in my feet and they nearly turned to ice, well not quite but it was freezing. The lake freezes during winter, so that gives you an idea on just how cold the water was, it’s melted ice from winter. Yeah, cold. But it is so clear and not polluted in the slightest, it really is beautiful. We watched all day as the boats got loaded into the water for the summer’s water activities. They are stored around 30 minutes away and when summer ricks around they are collected like children from school and them launched into the lake and their new homes for the next few months. Some had some engine problems after being packed for winter and others had no problems at all. It was a busy day with as many as 15 boats launched while we looked on. I also saw my first chipmunk ever and they are so CUTE!!!! They are nervous little creatures, but this one stood long enough for me to get some really good photos and even came over to me to check me out. I had to check with Shauna that they weren’t man eating animals as he edged closer to me. I have called him Alvin (original I know).
At 5.30pm George came down and offered to take us out in his boat (tinny) for a tour of the lake. The sun is still high in the sky at 5.30pm and it was perfect conditions to go for a spin. Danford Lake is located in the Outaouais tourist region, about 287 km from Montréal and 532 km from Québec. With its vast territory sprawling over 33,000 km2, its 20,000 lakes and dozens of rivers, the Outaouais region has many natural gems Danford Lake being one of them. Geographically, the Outaouais is part of the Canadian Shield, whose origins date back 570 million years. The region’s geomorphology is basically drawn around a plain and a plateau. The altitude of these lowlands varies between 40 and 130 meters above sea level. The plateau itself owes its configuration to environmental effects of erosion that shaped the hill’s topography, with altitude rarely hovering above 400 meters. It was a great opportunity to see the other cottages on the lake and George and Shauna would talk about if the owners were there yet, any work they had done over the winter, were their boats in yet and if the people were renters or other family members. It really is like a big reunion each year for all the cottages and as we passed other cottages and their docks everyone would wave and have smiles on their faces. Yeah well I would to staying in paradise and with the weather as it was everyone had a great reason for the smiles. Apparently the May 2-4 weekend weather wise can be a bit hit and miss each year and is not typically this sunny, which I am going to take full credit for bringing it with me and I have been instructed to leave it when we depart tomorrow.
Each cottage has a dock which is pulled from the lake at the end of each summer, as the lake freezes and then when it defrosts again at the start of the new summer season they can float away. So a lot of the docks hadn’t been put back in yet for the summer and most of the people that we spoke to were looking at doing it next week-end. It takes a bit of manpower to get them in and set up and as the weeks pass by the warmer it gets and the more people make it to the lake. Each dock also has boathouses. Most of the actual homes are on a hill, so they store a lot of the ‘lake’ stuff in the boathouses. Attached to these are the Canadian flags. They are proudly displayed and flapping in the warm breeze and sun was very patriotic for sure.
Cottage life is an important part of the Canadian culture. There are 2 types of cottages “winterized” and "unwinterized". The ritual known as "opening the cottage" and late in the spring, usually the May 24th weekend, Canadian cottage owners make the trek out of the city to see what winter has brought. Lucky is the cottager who finds that his cabin has not sheltered a visitor or two over the winter months, be they four-legged or two-legged. The good news is that unless there is a significant problem, opening the cottage is a whole lot less work than closing it. There are several tasks that are part of the opening procedure, from the initial inspection for damage, to turning the water and power back on, through dusting, cleaning, and unwrapping furnishings, and calling the appropriate repair people in. So there is some work involved for their piece of heaven, but once the initial opening has been done, then that is pretty much the hard work done for the summer months.
So we were back to the cottage at 6.30pm. The bugs do start to come out around this time, so even though it is still light, it was time to retire to the cottage and the enclosed porch for a drink, bug free as dinner was getting prepared. BBQ steak, ceasar salad, corn on the cob and asparagus. The hospitality of the McCormick’s was amazing, especially when George is offering to make our drinks for us as well. I bought a bottle of red wine and coke to make Kalimoto and Shauna was the only one game enough to try it and liked it so much we had a second glass each. What a way to top off a magnificent day. After dinner I sat down with a book that the McCormick’s have on their coffee table and it is called “1000 Places to See” and they get their guests to write their name and date in the book if they have visited that particular place. Needless to say I was kept busy for the next few hours as I signed and dated my way through the book. Yes it is a little bit if a bragging right, but I like to think I have earnt that stripe and I also put in my blog address in the front to complete the brag. Why not.
We were all buggered from the day of relaxation and we all started dropping like flies after 9.30pm. I held out till 10pm and then went to bed to read for a short while before Amy and I turned off the light. Amy’s time in Montreal maybe cut short as her boyfriend’s father is terminally ill and has been readmitted to hospital. Amy did prepare me a few months ago that this was the case, so it looks like I may be heading to Montreal on my own, which I am fine about but bummed at the same time as I was looking forward to spending more time with her. But tonight I go to sleep with Faron and his family on my mind and the reaffirmation that life really is too short and I am living life while I can and not regretting a second. I have been putting a lot of reaffirmation Facebook covers on my profile lately, but this is why as a reminder.
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