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Saturday, September 24, 2011

The Last Summer Escape

The trouble with doing the majority of your own construction labour when building a home is that weekend are no longer a break from the week, but they simply blend together as another 2 days that you wake up early and work hard. Long weekends are no exception. Usually, a long weekend just means that we have one extra day to work, or catch up one chores and errands. With all of the renovations/building we have been doing, we haven't been able to truly enjoy many weekends or get out of the city. I know that once our house is done we'll be able to attend events, or go to festivals, but for now, the summer really feels like it has gone by too quickly without enough fun. My aunt and uncle graciously extended an invitation to us to spend the Labour Day long weekend at their cabin in the Whiteshell. We were debating whether we should take the time away or not, but mentally and physically, I needed an escape from the city and from the house. A change of scenery and a forced slow-down might be just what we needed to refresh, recharge, and reconnect with each other. We decided to drive out Saturday late morning and come home Sunday night. With our trunk packed, our dog in the backseat, sleeping in her kennel, we spent a few hours on the road to arrive to paradise.

My aunt and uncle have done some major renovations on their cabin and it is absolutely gorgeous! Huge windows overlooking the lake, light coloured wood everywhere, huge comfortable pieces of furniture in the living room, surrounding a wood fire place, a huge open concept modern kitchen. If I was to have any cabin, I would want one that looked like theirs. We threw our duffel bags into the spare bedroom and took the dog down to see the lake. This was her first time on a beach and I was really excited to see how she would react to it. Very well, in fact. Especially when she found a rotting corn on the cob floating in the water. Puke. Which she did, after chewing on it. She would run into the water, stick her head under and swish it around, then jump out.

Butters, in true bulldog stance, enjoying her view of Jessica Lake
Alright, enough playtime, Mrs B. Time to do nothing! Luckily for our overly energetic beast, she had met her match in the form of my young hockey player cousin. I am not sure if he had met her before, and I think he found a new best friend. He chased her around the cabin until she was so tired that she would go into her kennel to try and sleep, but he'd find her and pull her out again and around and around they would go. It was one of the funniest things, seeing her playing with someone with as much energy as her. Her only reprieve came when my cousin would go play cribbage with his grandma. She would drag herself into her crate and immediately fall into a deep sleep until he was done his game.

Now that's a happy dog!
Another escape for B was my aunt. She used to have a doberman that she adored and they never got another dog after he passed. They have never had another family dog since then and I know that even though my cousins want to get a dog, my aunt wouldn't get another one. B was like her baby for the weekend. Whenever she would get sleepy, she would go to my aunt, who would pick her up and hold her like a newborn about to be burped. She'd coo "oh, my little bae-bee!!" and our dog was just taking full advantage of all of this cuddly love she was getting.

B being a huge suck with my aunt
Big. Sucky. Dog.
After much coaxing, C jumped into the lake! This next photo is actually the last in a series of quick photos. The previous ones are of a very hesitant hubby, looking back at me with a smile of uncertainty, head cocked to the side, debating what he should do. The water wasn't too cold, but very weedy and shallow so following that splash into the lake, hubs was done playing in the water. Unfortunately, the weather was rather cold all weekend so we didn't get out onto the lake at all. However, this cool weather provided the perfect vehicle for cozying up inside, reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Reading used to be a huge passion when I was a young girl and I have definitely strayed from this pass time since university. I think with all of the academic reading that you are forced to do in school, the time, energy and desire to read for pleasure isn't there. I'm slowly getting back into it and am having a great time when I am able to sit down and lose myself in another world.

C jumping in the lake, early morning
I went for a hike with my younger cousin's older sister, K, and her childhood friend. Getting to have some "girl time" was a really nice break for me, and enjoying the outdoors at the same time was bliss. It was really interesting to hear about their life perspective, thoughts and future ideas as they are both 8 years younger than me. They are in their last few years of university and starting to mentally prepare for entering the work force and looking for careers. Talk of moving out, how spending habits have changed, and K's long term relationship were some of the life events that were being discussed with youthful concern and careful thoughtfulness. It was an odd sensation to be the older "wiser" one of the group since I am usually the youngest in any group. I didn't want to be patronizing (matronizing if I am a woman?) but many of the worries or wonders they were bringing up, I had experience, good and bad, so I didn't offer advise, but more my take on things based on my experience. Both of those girls are smart, beautiful and driven women. While they come from well-off backgrounds and sometimes dress like the Gossip Girl generation, the have their heads on straight and their feet firmly planted on the ground. They are not superficial and have definitely thought about their futures as much as a responsible 20 year old would. I was actually a little surprised and in a really good way. I know that they will do fine.

The next morning, C and I took the mountain bikes out in the chilly weather and cycled for about 20 minutes or so, tandem, up and down the hilly highway. Despite my cold fingers, the ride was exhilarating with the hills and extremely liberating. It felt like all of the stress was being stripped from my body by the wind. The longer I rode, the less I felt worried or anxious about anything. The wind, the nature, the quiet. If we ever came into some money (serious money) I would definitely build a rustic but modern cabin somewhere on a lake, with neighbours far away and places to bike and hike.

Aside from a stress reliever, the biking and hiking were a necessity with all of the eating that we did. I think that my aunt and uncle see meals almost like a sport. Go big or go home. Everyone helped out with the cooking and each meal seemed to blend into the next. Breakfast ended and appetizers for lunch were already being prepared. Take out the fat pants! Breakfast was quiche, raisin bread, poppy seed bread, eggs, Persians (a cinnamon yeast donut from Thunder Bay that comes with a candy floss pink strawberry frosting), granola, milk, fruit salad etc.

C working on the fruit salad. My never ending coffee standing by.
On the Sunday night, the last night of our stay, a late dinner was planned with all of the current guests and soon-to-be-arriving ones. In total, there were about 17 people. Dinner prep was a very long process as trays were brought to and from the BBQ over the course of the evening. When everything was done, around 8:30pm, we all squished around the large dining room table, candles lit, warm enticing aromas wafting in every direction, and we dug in. Chicken wings, pork tenderloin, flank steak with chimichurri sauce, salad, corn on the cob, roasted vegetables and more were passed around. Dishes and flatware clinking, jostling of elbows, debates about which way a dish was to travel around the table, calls out for sauce and butter, and then finally, when all of the plates were filled. Silence. The sound of a successful culinary gathering. Mouthfuls of food followed by mmmmm's of enjoyment. Everything was delicious and everyone rolled away from the table, stuffed to the gills with wonderful home grilled cooking. It was already dark, so after a quick bite of dessert which we somehow found the last bit of room for, we loaded our duffel bags back into the trunk, our exhausted dog back into her kennel, gave our hugs and kisses of thanks and started the long drive home, back to reality.

Rested steak, being cut into serving sized pieces.

The candlelit dinner for 20

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