Since we have 4 family cottages in the same vicinity, meal times are often communal. These tomatoes along with pounds of apples were dropped off by my nephew who had a surplus of both from his garden. When we make too much salad at supper, we run the remains across or up the street to whatever family hasn’t finished up their dinner. If you are out on your own you will invariably be invited to someone’s place for supper. If you happen to ride your bike by when everyone is eating brunch on the deck, you will be pulling up a chair and digging in, in no time. When Sister #3 has catered an event and has extra dessert around, all the kids will be invited over for make-your-own sundaes. When Sister #2 is making eggs Benedict or anyone has taken a pie out of the oven, word goes around really quickly.

We typically eat two meals a day: brunch when the guys get home from the tennis or volleyball courts and then dinner. Bacon is a mainstay at many weekend brunches, pictured above with wild blueberry pancakes.

At “Life is Good” everyone pitches in on the cooking and whomever hasn’t cooked has to help with the dishes. J1 will whip up his fabulous Denvers or Boo and the Frenchman will make everyone waffles (with real maple syrup, of course). The grownups typically can manage until happy hour.

But the toddlers like the Wee One and her cousin may need a picnic of cheese, crackers and strawberries!

The surplus apples mentioned above were fantastic with slices of cheddar and fig & kalamata olive crackers. These were placed on an over-turned tree stump between two swinging hammocks one snack time.  Some of the gang bring spring rolls and samosas for communal happy hour. This summer I often put out antipasto, marinated artichokes, olives and feta and loved it each and every time.

The surplus tomatoes also mentioned above went into this caprese salad with huge basil leaves that I harvested from home just when our vacay had begun.

Our favourite dinners are those centered on the grill. D does a great job with squash and mushrooms and peppers. New potatoes were amazing with rosemary & sea salt. Whatever mixed greens had arrived in our garden share were sautéed with garlic and lemon juice.

One evening we enjoyed a batch of moules et frites (mussels and fries). The former made with wine, garlic, butter and whatever fresh herbs were available and the latter cut thin, blanched and then finished on the barbeque. We dined el fresco on this evening and to our surpize the Wee One loved the mussels as much as the adults. Unfortunately, so did the bears which are plentiful in our area, as the beach house is located in the midst of a provincial forrest. At 5 the next morning, D woke to a sound, looked out of our bedroom window, to see that an absolutely enormous creature had unsecured the clamp down handles on the garbage can, dumped out the mussel shells and lay on his (or her) tummy for their feast! We are not about to accidently forget to secure the garbage can in the shed again any time soon.

Even though I am not the greatest baker, I make the occasional pie or crumble utilizing the bounty of summer fruit.

The best dinners of all are the random ones that miraculously become delicious times together. The first weekend of our vacation, it was casually mentioned that we were invited for boccia and beer by my eldest nephew. The games attracted more of the family and when it was time to disperse for dinner, he suggested that we all bring what we were preparing that evening and put the finishing touches on together. There were hot dogs, slow roasted chicken, left over monster pork chops, taco salad, kale salad and the sweetest corn on the cob I have tasted this season. There were 17 family members at dinner. I called it a “30 Something” supper. Do you remember that show?

My nephew’s trick with the corn is that he soaks it still in its husk and then places it on the barbeque until the husks burn away. He then throws half cobs into an enormous pot with butter and salt and recruits someone with upper arm strength to jostle the pot around until the cobs are perfectly seasoned-YUM!

Kath’s quote: “Well, I haven’t really anything to eat at home, I began, but then stopped, as I realised that a dreary revelation of the state of one’s larder was hardly the way to respond to an invitation to dinner.” ― Barbara Pym

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

No matter what the weather, the Wee One cannot stay out of the water. Her little feet were frigid early in the season but she insisted on skipping rocks. She is a “noticer” and a “collector” like her Glamma. She loves to gather stones on the beach but even on a gravel road where she will stop dead in her tracks when she spies a good one.

I love walking the beach and am fascinated with everything that nature has deposited on the sand-the way drift wood accumulates into a cradle and the designs that floating sticks make when washed in by the waves.

I even love what others would consider trash. If only I could get someone to cart this rusted stove drawyer back to the yard of the beach house. I would strategically place it to display my favourite drift wood and rocks.

The beach is usually calm and blue but I also love it when it is wavy and grey.

D and I often lug our chairs and a glass of wine down to the beach to watch the sunset together. I get a little too focused on getting the perfect photo and don’t pay enough attention to the sun itself or the beautiful man sitting next to me, so I try to reserve my photo taking to solo walks.

Sunsets are my favourite time of day.

The sky seems impossibly big by the water’s edge.

All kinds of pretty wild life are found on the shore, like this little pink mouse

and this pussy cat created by one of our many young guests.

Kath’s quotes: “To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude.”-Jeanne Moreau

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

This is our screen door entrance to our beach house “Life is Good” at Lester Beach. The cabin is very small but the longer we own it, we find more and more efficient ways to use the space.

As everyone living on the Canadian prairies this summer knows, the weather has been “variable”. Even more so than usual. Sometimes it rains in the city with not a drop at the lake and vice versa. One Saturday there was a water spout spotted north of Grand Beach, i.e. exactly where we were. This weather phenomena occurs when a tornado picks up water while crossing an open body of water (i.e. the lake).  Power outages have been frequent. There was another one just this weekend. The photo from one of the early long weekends above, indicates that we have been having them all season. It also shows that we can be resourceful, boiling the kettle for coffee and heating up left over pizza on the wood stove.

The Wee One often comes out with us on Friday evenings as both J1 and J2 work on Saturdays. This situation absolutely delights D (her Poppa) who gets up with her in the mornings before he leaves to play tennis with a gang of regulars at Grand Beach. Poppa provides constant amusement for both the Wee On and as a result, all of us.

On very humid days we didn’t venture down to the beach and had to find other ways to pass the afternoon and stay cool at the same time. D hooked a hose up for the Wee One to play with her car mountain. She took the matter into her own hands, put on her boots and doused her head repeatedly with measuring cups full of water.

Between our extended family, there are seven dogs and a couple of pussy cats, all of whom love the cabin as much as the humans. This photo is also a depiction of one of the best things about lake life-rest. I usually get nine hours of sleep per night, unheard of when I am in the city.

My two favourite places to read are on the beach and in our cozy bed at night. I typically volunteer to stay home with the Wee One so that the rest of the gang can play cribbage or sit around a bonfire at one of the other family cabins. The Wee One loves to read in bed too.  This weekend we snuggled up and read every single one of her books.

I can be particularly productive in our gazebo at L is G. Work doesn’t feel like work at all, when you enjoy what you do and love the setting.

Kath’s quote: “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” – Socrates

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

The decade stretching between 40 and 50 was a busy time of keeping up with school lunches, suppers on the run, swimming lessons, bocce practices and tournaments (travelling to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on numerous occasions with Beep), soccer games, gymnastics and dance. Both J1 and Boo fell in love with dance. By this time I had ventured into my second career in the advertising business and D had taught high school, did private consulting, ran a huge cafeteria and catering business, finally following his sense of social justice as Operations Manager at Winnipeg Harvest. D and I renewed our wedding vows on the eve of the new millennium. He had blessed me the year prior with a trip to Israel and Jordan. We were able to afford another little piece of real estate-the beach house on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, just north of my precious Grand Beach. This could only have been accomplished with the help of Sister #2 and her husband. There were nine of us and two big dogs in a 500 square foot cabin. During the glorious summers we raised our kids as one family and loved our beach times, bonfires and brunches on the deck. Joy though was tainted with sorrow again, as D had lost his Dad the decade prior and then my gentle Daddy died as well.

This past decade has been the sweetest yet. We welcomed three new family members: J2 who we had known and loved for years married J1 and then gave birth to the Wee One two years ago. The Frenchman wed Boo this past fall. All three kids pursued secondary education: J1 receiving his Brewing credentials, Boo her honours degree in International Studies and Beep her BA in Creative Writing and Literature. She is currently back at university for her Masters degree in Disability Studies.

I opened my own media consulting business and have focused on teaching. I have trained myself to blog and have venture into many other social media realms. I have found pleasure in writing and am surprised that I am actually being paid to do so. I love my long time media acquaintances as well as my new blogging friends.

D and I are traveling more often visiting New Orleans, New York (both on our bucket list), Ireland and Italy (Sicily, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre), Nice and Paris for our 25th wedding anniversary. Isla Mujeres was discovered by my two sisters and I and now all my siblings and our kids and spouses have been smitten too. Even the Wee One has visited. But sorrow entered in again when one of my devoted older brothers died at a too young age.

Our wee house is now the perfect size and D and I love cooking together, fixing simple nutritious meals, sharing coffee and the newspaper on Saturday mornings or a glass of wine at the end of our day. The kids join us every Sunday evening for dinner (mandatory) and we love to be invited to their beautiful homes for special occasions. We love the beach house which has recently become ours alone. We love to watch Jets games (especially live), watch our reality shows and dramas on Netflix. We love to entertain and spend time over long dinners with good friends. This October we return to Italy, this time Tuscany and I am dreaming of the rolling country side and the exquisite light (not to mention the wine and FOOD)!

And so it is that I am 60.  I am healthy, active, stimulated, busy, content and still madly in love with my husband of over 30 years. My life is good.

My next decade between 20 and 30, I finished my degree and took off on a European vacation with Melinda, her Mom and my roommate Steph who I met at my second job. In six weeks I visited London, Greece, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France with a side trip to Majorca, Spain thrown in for good measure.

That second job mentioned above was as the Assistant Studio Programs Co-ordinator at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. My love of the arts took me more behind the scenes in arts administration as I was pretty disillusioned about the lifestyle of an actress. I really enjoyed the artists that I got to work alongside, but my real love was actually the hospitality business. I had been offered a position as a Marketing Co-ordinator at The Keg because they were opening second (and then a third and fourth) Winnipeg location. At this time, I was smitten by a different travel bug. This one was called “the winter vacation” and I journeyed to Varadero Beach in Cuba on a number of occasions.

We worked hard and partied hard and these were pretty crazy and wonderful days. But, more and more of my friends were getting married and I decided that my wild oats were successfully sown. Finding my true love turned out to be a difficult task as I was looking for love in all the wrong places, as the song goes. Right under my nose was another of my good friends. D as he is called in this space was younger than me and off studying Hospitality and Tourism at Ryerson University in Toronto. “He couldn’t possibly be the ONE, could he”? I remember asking myself. At 29, D and I wed (he was 22). We had a beautiful little wedding reception at Brandy’s night club where we and so many of our restaurant friends had spent many happy hours.

We headed east for our honeymoon, as D had the urge to travel, as strong as I, experiencing Quebec City, Rockport, Maine, Boston, Rhode Island, Vermount and Montreal with extended time wedged in between at Cape Cod. I had already suspected and then known absolutely that I was my happiest, walking a beach. But our travelling days were put on hold for a number of years. By this time, D and I had moved to a gorgeous town house in St. James near The Keg where he was General Manager.

Beep as she is called here was born 10 months after we were married, with J1 coming along 2 years later. Boo arrived four years after that. Some say upon the arrival of babies that our “joy was complete”. There was joy all right, but despair and sadness too, as Beep suffered a catastrophic illness at age five.

D had entered into a partnership and owned and operated a number of family style restaurants. I took an extended leave from The Keg (they were so kind and gracious to me) and then everything turned upside down and I was laid off. At that time I was the Regional Marketing Director for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Chicago. I loved my work but took a couple of years to be home with my little ones. We moved from our big old home in Wolseley, which no longer worked for Beep and moved to our present house in River Heights. Considerable smaller, we somehow made it work with five of us and an enormous dog. We did manage to travel just a bit with a trip to The Big Island in Hawaii and two to Cozumel. I was definitely smitten by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean.

To be continued……