This past weekend (a Civic long weekend for you Ontarioites, but not for us workers in Quebec) brought us back to Katie’s cottage for another weekend of good times, GREAT weather and…good times!I enjoy going to Katie’s cottage for numerous reasons, but most of all, the fact that there are certain things that happen every year which you look forward to. For example:
- Canoe trips
- Seeing Pete passed out every year when we arrive on Friday
- Shotgunning of Schlitz
- Random Goodness (for instance, this year consisted of us all growing ‘staches)
The moustache competition went well although a few people ‘forgot’. No worries though, by the end of the weekend they had some sweet ‘staches going on. I won the prize for ‘Most Dedicated’ which I was very proud of.
We played a heck of a lot of bocce ball (urban style where you there are virtually no rules as to where you can throw the p’tonq) and there was some great food out there. I enjoy the system Katie has set up where everyone is in charge of a meal so you don’t have to bring up food for yourself all weekend – just take care of the one meal you’re in charge of and feed everyone. We’re not talking about bologna sandwiches here, we’re talking about ribs and salads of all sorts and breakfasts from the Gods. Mmm boy!
The MacGyver canoe trip was great! The boys truly enjoyed their t-shirts and we packed up the canoe and headed out with Pete in a kayak and Keith and Paul in another canoe. The water was higher this year so it made it an easier trip, although the choppy waters on the lake swamped us a few times which was unfortunate. We managed to lose two MacGyver shirts, my sunglasses, Philipp’s hat and random oddities in the canoe (along with our empty jar of pickles, oh Philipp, you are a man after my own heart!) in the process, but we managed to come out unscathed and the lake was surprisingly shallow as we managed to walk the canoe back through it. Stupidly enough, I didn’t bother taking a life jacket which won’t happen again! I can say I was luckily not in a dangerous situation where I needed it, but there’s no reason to take chances. Safety first people! And no, Miguel and Philipp don’t count as lifeguards (even though they have the physique of them. They are like…David Hasselhoff.)
Our objective was met though in the high waters of the Crow River off of Chandos Lake. We managed to make it past the beaver dam which stopped us last year and we went even farther than thought! We ended up in a utopia of wilderness, where the water ended up being shallow enough to run around in and marvel at the beauty which was this land of ours. I believe Keith was super impressed with the whole canoe trip and going into the backwoods. I’m sure he would have come out last year if he didn’t accidentally impale himself with a koob stick and had to go to the hospital for a broken tailbone. Ouch.
Thanks to Katie and Miguel for being some excellent host/hostesses and I’d like to say that the travellers in our car were happy for being invited (as well as Vero whose visit was a first time! Although she is burnt to a crisp!)
I almost forgot the other adventure we had when leaving the cottage. We had missed the garbage pickup time so each of us had to bring a bag of garbage. Thinking we were ingenious, we headed to the beach to drop it off in their garbage bins seeing that the car was packed and we didn’t want Carrie to have a bag of garbage on her lap for a good 20 KM into the nearest town. Unfortunately, we failed to read the signs which said ‘No household litter’ in the garbage bins which brought forth some dude in a pickup truck filled with garbage saying that we weren’t allowed to drop it in there. We had thought that the dumps were closed for some reason, but they were not so we had to pack up the garbage again. Unfortunately when we put the bag back in the car, the thing was ripped so some brown sludge dripped over some luggage and Carrie’s leg, and my car. ICK ICK ICK! Furiously, I threw the luggage from the trunk into the backseat and was going to put the garbage bag into the trunk but it was leaking too much.
Here comes another dude dropping off this garbage and the pickup truck dude comes to intercept and says “Hey, is that household waste?” “Nope” replies the dude. “Just a bunch of beach toys.” The pickup truck dude then says “Well, I’m heading to the dump anyhow, why don’t you throw it into the back with the rest of the garbage?”. I ask the guy “Hey, can we throw ours in there?” in which he replies “Nope.” But he offers us an empty garbage bag which helps out with the dripping mess.
We are not some punks trying to litter here. We put the garbage into the big metal bin so that bears could not get into it. We are human beings here – help a guy out and throw it into the pickup truck filled with 32 bags of garbage that you’re about to bring to the dump anyhow. It’s the human thing to do.
Anyhow, that was the weekend! The trip back was uneventful other than multiple stops. Most times on a trip, I’m all about getting back ASAP…this time, we took our time and took in the sights.
On a random other rambling note, this is the second pair of sunglasses I’ve lost in the span of a month! I’ve had a hard time finding sunglasses I want this year and when I decide on a pair, I end up losing them! At least I’m not one to spend too much on them and ended up spending a whole $18 on the two pair. I should just give up and super-glue my aviators back into shape. They are my faves.