THANKSGIVING 2: TURKEY IN THE BUSH

OK I'm going to let you on a secret, held so dear that after I reveal it, I may have to go into Witness Protection. I'm going to tell you how they do Thanksgiving up on the Georgian Bay. Every year, the hearty plaid-coated males camo paint their faces and wrap their Canadian Ale neck ties around their heads, Rambo-style. They arm themselves with combat knives and cans of ale and go out in search of the rare Northern Ontario wild turkey ... but since there are no wild turkeys in Ontario, they slink on their bellies down the aisles of the nearest Sobey's Supermarket. Once the elusive prey is caught, they bring it to their hearty women who forthwith build massive bonfires and toss the birds into the flames as they scour the countryside in search of stuffing and potatoes and Bailey's Irish Cream ...

OK, none of that is true. But a Georgian Bay Thanksgiving is still attractive.

Normally we don't do much for Thanksgiving, we stay at home, I cook a turkey, we invite anyone else who isn't going home .. but this year we went up to Springhaven Lode, owned by Collette's family.

Collette's sister in law Karen was serving her usual delicious dinner at the lodge, but her brother Dennis was organizing a boat ride out on to the bay. He does this every year. Takes out his big work boat and we go to an island where he is building one of his cottages for his clients. There we have a lunch and play games but the weather this year was pretty bad, our niece Billie Marie had her newborn, David in tow and Dennis' daughter Jen was expecting .. as a matter of fact she had her son the following Tuesday.

But Dennis is a resourceful guy not so easily defeated. On the road that leads from Dennis' house to the lodge, there is a little clearing marked by some of the high, heavy rounded rocks typical of the Canadian Shield.

If you follow the rocks back, it opens into a small clearing, where Dennis set up a lean to, picnic tables and had a fire going, where we would have our lunch.

If you walked past the fire, the clearing opened up onto this enormous wetland, or swamp depending on point of view, that went on for miles. There were several beaver dams, the ominpresent rocks, tons of pine and birch trees.

Down at the lodge, less than a mile away it was cold, grey and blustery but here it was mild and mostly sunny. As you'll see in the video, it was a perfect day to bask on the rock over looking the swamp ..er .. wetland.

And a perfect day for grandads to connect with granddaughters ...

... and for grand nephews to enjoy some quiet time with a snack in an Adirondack chair ..

After a lovely day out in the bush, we went back to the lodge for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. One of the guests of honour, you could say, was our niece's Billie-Marie's newborn, Mr David Hunter.

But as beautiful as Mr David is, as far as his sister Addison is concerned, nothing beats the attractive power of cake ...

Particularly when the cake looked like this. Addison decided that all the little people on the cake were the tastiest parts

So it was a fun Thanksgiving in the bush ... even if we didn't have to catch the bird with our hands ... Here's the video of our lovely picnic in the bush.

A Canadian Thanksgiving from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.