The Canadian Dream

The heat in Toronto was unbearable!  Last week, the temperature hovered between 30 - 36 degrees and with the humidity index, it felt like in the 40’s. I dared not venture outdoors for a few days. Every time I opened the patio door to my garden, immediately a torrent of hot air hit me in the face  and I quickly retreated back into our air-conditioned house.

The Fern - Our little cabin up north!

Ah, this is why Canadians love our little cabins and cottages – a place where we could escape the summer heat for the entire duration if we could do it, or take off early on Friday afternoons and race to the lake for the weekends during the summer months.

 A place by the lake side - A Canadian Dream; this is our tiny piece of water front

Living the Canadian dream for many Canadians is being by the lake with friends and family during the summer months.



Our country haven away from the city!

The Fern – is our little place by the water up north,  between the town of Bracebridge and Huntsville, ,in the township of  Muskoka. It is just a teeny tiny shed, absolutely no comparison to Goldie Hawn’s summer mansion nor those palatial homes owned by  hockey players in this area. Heck, ours is a primitive cabin, no plumbing, electricity nor water. 

Relaxing by the lake

But it is our own place up north, by the lake, built lovingly by my husband, our best friends and me a number of years ago.

We love escaping from the city, going up there in the summer and especially in the fall when the trees on the hill turn burning red. We just love it!


 

Lots of happy time with loved ones and friends at the lake

Unfortunately, the lives of city

people are too busy. We don’t have time going to The Fern often, may be three to four times a year if we are lucky. Since my husband is still working, we could only go north during the summer weekends which are not too many anyway.



This year, we had not gone up once until last weekend. We drove up last Sunday after an early church service. It felt great leaving the noise, the pollution and traffic congestion behind and heading out to the country. We could feel our mood started to lighten up and our spirits soaring as the clouds shielded the sun and the breeze caressed our faces. The smell of freshly cut hay and the freshness of country air greeted us and we could feel the tranquility and beauty of the countryside.

What a calm and soothing feeling! This is why we never get tired of being up at our little cabin and we have been going there for years.

One of our neighbours was riding on his special hay cutting machine, going up and down cutting hay for his horses.  He looked relaxed and enjoying what he was doing.  As we were getting closer to our place, we became anxious. 

We could hardly wait to see our cabin for the first time this year. Did any big trees fall down since we were up last fall? Did the spring flood water from the lake damage our cabin? Was our cabin still standing and in good condition?  Did anything get broken?   Was the place vandalized since it was uninhabited for almost ten months?  Did any wild animals get in and claim our cabin? Knowing our Canadian winter could be harsh and we had not been there for a little while, I could not help wondering about the condition of The Fern.

Though the grass was long and the place looked wild, we breathed a sigh of relief when we drove into the lane of our lakeside cabin. Yes, the cabin was still there standing tall and intact, undamaged!  Although half of the roof of the outhouse had been ripped off, there was no beehive or bees this time.

Doing the little repairs

Our best friends, Don and Doug also came up to help us open the place for the season.  They were the one who gave us the most help when we were building this place. They like The Fern and enjoy staying there as much as we do. 

We got busy right away, cutting the grass, sweeping, getting rid of the cobwebs and cleaning the cabin. We even managed to make it to town and did some shopping for some wood and decorations, and spruced up the place a little, adding and painting the trims and making our little cabin look cute and cosy!

Enjoying the sunset in the Muskoka area

We sat by the lake, drinks in hands, lounging and enjoying the company of good friends, relaxing at our little cabin in the beautiful cottage country.  What is there better to do than this on a hot summer day?

R.T.
 Three Mile Lake
July 9, 2012