THINGS I LEARNED AT THANKSGIVING

This past weekend we celebrated our annual Thanksgiving up at the lodge at Nares Inlet with Collette's extended family. Always a fun event, packing up the clan on the boats and going out in the bay for some food and for some family friendly games.

This year though, our couple days up at Springhaven taught me a few lessons. So, here are THINGS I LEARNED THIS YEAR AT THANKSGIVING

1) MY DOG HATES ROCKS

Terra hates rocks. She does. She always has. I don't know why. But she hates em.

Collette took Terra for a walk in the bush. They found, as one does back there, a rough little inukshuk made from loosely laid stones. Well. A pile of rocks. Artfully done. In Terra's eyes, that means war

See, I was not exaggerating. My dog hates rocks

2) SPONTANEOUS TRICK OR TREATING

You think you know when Hallowe'en is. You know that it does happen on Thanksgiving. Think again! And be on high alert! Always have candy at hand because you never know when a Princess will show up at your door, demanding candy. And when a princess asks .. well , you know .. fork it over

3) KEEP YOUR FAMILY IN A CAGE

Well, who can argue with that. Normally Dennis and Dave et al take us to the Painted Rocks for Thanksgiving but the bay was feeling a tad .. frisky. So for safety sake we went out to the Archipeligo paddle tennis court for the snacks and games. And hey, who can argue with these images

For more lessons, refer to the video.
Thanksgiving Nares Inlet 2014 from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

THANKS TO GIVE, GIVEN TO THANKS

What were you thankful for this past weekend, this past Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada

Were you thankful for the holiday itself? It's a day off and there is turkey. Seriously, do we need to search for something better than that?

Do you use this holiday, here in Canada an extension of the harvest tradition, as an opportunity to reflect, perhaps on this past year or even years previous, thinking of the benefits from that time or perhaps you even pause to thank to be alive, to breathe, to just be here ... Well if you're thankful for being here and eating turkey then you and I are on the same page

Actually this year, this Thanksgiving, I did not eat turkey. Don't worry, I intend to make up for that shortly. So I actually did do a bit of interspection but being me, it really extended to just that day, that moment, that occasion

Yeh, I'm thankful for Thanksgiving.


I was thankful for being in Pointe Au Baril Ontario at Nares Inlet, thankful for the water and the sky and the ancient powerful rocks and the trees twisted and shaped by the wind

I was thankful for a crazy border collie who looks upon the north as her own personal playground and why not, it's the world's largest dog park, not to mention the world's largest water bowl

I was also thankful for family and friends and a sunny day on a rock island in the middle of the day where no one had anything better to do than eat, play together and enjoy a warm autumn day

What are you thankful for

MISS TERRA GOES COTTAGING

Life is hard, we all need a break.

An escape from the stress and routine of our daily lives. Here in Canada there is a long standing tradition of taking advantage of the wilderness that often lays close to our door, offering us some sense of tranquility and even peace, shedding our drudgery for sunlight and water and the wind in the evergreens.

Yeh, life is hard, especially for Miss Terra, so much stress that is derived from so many decisions that need to be made, like: Which bed should I take a nap on, or which stuffie needs to be tossed around the house and which ball (the orange and blue one or the blue and orange one) should I drop in somebody's life .. Damn, the pressure. A girl needs to escape it and get up to Springhaven Lodge on the Georgian Bay and let the wind flow through her fur and the water splash across her whiskers

Miss Terra is, of course, from a very high and rarified society. Much like the blue bloods (or more accurately wannabe blue bloods) who lounge in the million dollar mansions that command the islands which dot the Bay, this border collie concerns herself with the most erudite of social activities

Such as, Olympic javelin:

Or a rousing game of tennis:

A highly charged soccer match:

The new hybrid sport of soccer and water polo called Water Polo or in the vernacular: I'm gonna drown this soccer ball

And one must always make time for a rousing game of: Find the amphibian

One, of course, can not over concern oneself with all this physical activity, that would simply be boorish. One must take some time to be still and enjoy all of nature's bounty ...

... or one could simply obsess over one's frisbee, border collie style

And if you have concluded that the sole purpose of this post was to post more pics and videos of Terra playing up north .. well .. the proper blue blood response to that would have to be ... duh

NARES INLET REFLECTIONS

Clouds scud across a partially opaque sky

Wind sways reeds that look like quills, trying to write upon that sky

Water is gently ruffled by the wind that pushes the clouds and the reeds, reflecting the sky that moves the water

Nares Inlet, Georgian Bay, Ontario

Sun breaks through the clouds, the light caught in tiny glittering barbs on the crenelated surface of the moving water. Beneath the clear surface of the water the sand is rippled, as if a material reflection of the water's movement

Water and wind marks the land as well as the water. The bay ebbs and flows, leaving its mark on the sand, an organic tattoo that is not permanent, that will change and fade with the next rain or hard high gust of wind

We can use the water, enjoy it, benefit from it, take food from it, make a living from it but we can never really control it. Dams and levees burst, docks get swamped, boats sink. Even when we try to outwit the weather, eventually, it will take possession

There is so much here, even when it's quiet, especially when it seems empty and you hear the wind and the birds and the sussurus of the water. So much to see. So much upon which to reflect

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.