i sit back and watch my boys playing in the backyard in their imaginary fort which lies beneath the big branches of an old evergreen tree. we had been fishing earlier in the day and swimming in the lake; all activities making me reminiscent of my summers at our cottage. there was no television, no gameboys, no ipads or iphones or computers. the radio consisted of cbc radio – the voices of peter gzowski, stuart mclean, shelagh rogers, barbara budd, the sound of the tone at 1 o’clock, the morning side theme and quirks and quarks. the music of the cottage included whatever was on cbc, the piano playing in the front cottage or at the neighbouring cottages, classical music and my uncle’s incredible whistling – i still long for that talent or even just to be able to whistle. my brother and i were probably the only grade schools kid in toronto who knew the radio personalities of cbc radio or who knew the song of eyes are blue, five foot two or bicycle built for two.
funny enough, my graduation day from trent university was the last morningside and peter gzowski’s final show. my brother and i didn’t want to get out of the car. we had been listening most of the drive from thornhill to peterborough that morning and it was hard to pull ourselves away. surely that was a good excuse for being late to my university graduation, plus my last name started with –s-
my cousins, the other cottage kids, my brother and i would play for hours on the beach making sandcastle towns, go fishing, play for hours in the lake, play games of kick the can and flashlight hide and seek at night and just hang out and enjoy all of the beauty of lake benard in the summer. blueberry picking, trips to trudgeons, ms mertons, mini put, drives around the lake or off exploring some new place in the area, a day was never dull. my brother and i were the youngest two of our generation of cottage kids but another baby boom came along about 12-15 years after us – a new generation of cottage kids but with an entirely different cottage experience.
in our days at the cottage we had no running water, no showers, no flush toilets, no laundry - our bathroom was basically an indoor, glorified and better smelling outhouse. yes we had electricity but no phone, no tv, just the radio and the great outdoors and books. if it was a cold summer it sucked because the lake was the bathtub and it was pretty tough getting in there when you had to wash because you were on day 3 or 4 of cold weather and you hadn’t been in for the 4pm swim. that seemed to be the exact time you would see figures of people leaving their beaches to meet at the drop off. the kids of course were under and soaked in the first 4 feet from the beach but the adults took their time walking all the way out there and then stood for what seemed like eternity telling the kids that they couldn’t be splashed and finally they eased themselves into the lake. everyone would bathe and then slowly make their way back to shore staying under water – literally crawling back to shore. i know completely understand the slow process of getting into the water. water is never cold to kids, but come adulthood, that lake that we once referred to as pea soup or like bath water became refreshing, and sometimes downright chilly.
so, flash-forward to today, all the kids of the cottage are all grown up now, most of us with children, with busy lives in the cities we live in and in the crazy hectic schedules and demands that revolve around us. most of us return to our cottage roots but life is really different around the cottages. the front cottage has a phone (cordless at that), television (with satellite) a wireless network and computer. when i was there two summers ago one of the younger generation cottage kids was sitting on the couch in the front cottage with an ipod in his hand and earphones on his head, complaining that there was nothing to do. he had checked his email, there was nothing on television, the wii competition had come to an end and to top it all off he was fully clothed – socks and running shoes included. i think i lived in my bathing suit all summer long, had bare feet for 80% of the time or flip flops on and can’t ever recall a day of being bored.
even rainy days at the cottage were fun – scrabble with the couple next door (who i am sure the man totally cheated so he could beat me), monopoly games that lasted hours, cribbage, euchre, reading a great book curled up in the sun porch, playing outside in the rain or in the lake when it was raining as long as there wasn’t lightning or even a trip to the big city of north bay. we never left the cottage for a trip to the bay though if it rained before 7 because according to my uncle it would be clear by 11. but, if the morning sky was red and it was raining in the morning we would pack the car and head north.
that particular day of encountering the bored kid was a real eye opener for me. my aunt told me to tell him what we used to do at the cottage and how life is never boring there. he balked at the idea of fishing, exploring the trail along the creek to first bridge or second bridge, making sandcastles, trying to windsurf, lying on the dock, canoeing, reading a book or even about the adventures of jughead and archie that were still up in the loft or pretty much anything i relayed as an idea. wow what world did i grow up in? what world was that generation growing up in? what were our kids going to be doing at the cottage?
i was suddenly so grateful to my family – including my aunt and uncle for creating the environment we grew up in. to appreciate the small and simple things in life. it really resonates with me in my search for making a simpler life. all of the recommendations on the lists of the 100 ways to simplify your life include all the things i did at the cottage as a kid – get rid of electronic devices or turn them off on a regular basis, do things you enjoy, get rid of the material things and basically live things simply by doing the things you love to do and eliminate all the stressors, unnecessary commitments in life and put yourself and your time first.
so again i look at the boys playing in their fort under the evergreen tree. so thankful i have been raising them the way i do. to enjoy the outdoors, live life or at least live summer with very little electronics including tv, ipads, iphones, wii and so forth. going fishing, blueberry picking, rock hounding, exploring places we have never been before, hiking, camping, reading, swimming and living where we do. while we do live in muskoka – cottage country of the rich and famous, sports stars and movie stars - we live a cottage type lifestyle in muskoka year round – and the cottage lifestyle of my childhood. not what people today know of the cottage lifestyle - a world of exclusive multi-million dollar cottages – boathouses that are bigger than my home and nicer than most people’s homes, sound systems on their docks and in their bathrooms that cost more than my annual salary, complete wireless networks and cellular service, computers and iphones and laptops on the docks so everyone can keep in touch with the business world. let’s not forget about the insanely loud, fast and crazy speed boats, i guess maybe to replicate their loud fast and crazy life in the real world.
i love my hammock that sways slowly in the breeze under my trees, i love my kids pretending that the backyard is a jungle with secret hideouts, i love that my kids love picking berries, rock hunting, fishing, swimming, catching toads in the back yard. i love that my son keeps an eye out for deer or moose on our way to school. i love that i once had to wait for the bear to be done sucking the juice from the hummingbird feeder in the yard before i could go to my car to get to work. i love that it takes me 20 minutes to drive to work and the only traffic i worry about is the wild turkeys or deer on brackenrig road.
i love that i grew up not watching tv all summer long, or that i had to listen to cbc radio, or that on rainy days i curled up with a good book or ran around in the rain in my bathing suit. i am glad i make my kids play in puddles, that i don’t care if they get dirty, that they know what deer, moose, bear, raccoons and ducks look like. i am glad that my sons know what bush is a blueberry bush or a raspberry bush or strawberry plants, what mica and quartz crystals look like and that you should always carry rock hunting gear in the trunk of your car.
the simple things in life are best – they are educational, inexpensive, relaxing and of the utmost importance in my life and hopefully i instill that in my kids.
