"The cottage" is owned by Tara's folks (hi Dave and Linda) who are most gracious in letting their children make use of it. It is situated on the shores of beautiful lake Memesagamesing. The lake is due north of the quaint little town of Loring and due south of the French River (aside- one of these days I'm going to canoe from the cottage to the French River)
The cottage has running and heated non-potable water, but no indoor plumbing (ie a toilet). There are 3 bedrooms and a great kitchen (for a cottage anyways). You can sit at the table and look through the trees out to the lake. It is very nice.
When we go to the cottage we really only do a few things: sleep, eat, fish, read and sit by the fire. That's it.
For reading, we brought a number of books and magzines, but the majority of the time was spent swapping a single copy of the book Dune (by Frank Herbert). It is a great book, worthy of a read by both SF fans and non-SF fans. It is hard to share a single book between a couple of people, especially when they have different reading speeds; so as Tara was reading it, I read through 3 or 4 Gourmet magazines that were at the cottage (back issues, from 2001 or so - they are a little prissy/snotty, but I copied out several interesting recipes).Cottages are perfect for reading - I can't think of a place where I would rather read. No distractions, but stuff to do when you have had your fill or reading. I polished off The Professional Chef last time I was there for an extended period of time.
And as for fish, well it's best to keep in mind that fishing is about the experiance, not the end result right? We spent 16+ hours out on the lake with nothing to show for it. Nothing. We fished with worms, leeches (a first for me) and with crayfish. We fished with Meps and Rapelas and pickerel rigs. We fished early in the morning, during mid day and at dusk. We fish from the port, bow, starboard, and stern. We used the engine and the paddles. We fished in Memesagamesing Lake, Portage Lake, and Stinkum Lake. Nothing but sunfish, baby bass, a nice tan and these pictures:
The weather was really nice at the cottage: highs of 25, lows in the mid teens. Perfect for an evening campfire by the lake. I burnt the cutting board that I brought back from China - it had split down the middle. It burnt so well I'm surpised China has all burnt down by now.
And of course, you can't have a fire without marshmellows, smores and jiffy pop. Jiffy pop on a fire is tricky, but we managed to pop most of it and not burn any of it. Neighbours from the next cottage over popped over for the fire. It was a great evening.
About a month ago, a big storm passed through the area. There was damage all over the area and a number of large trees were felled by it. The trees up there get pretty big, which is a little surprising, as the soil isn't deep in a lot of areas.
Alas, relaxation must come to an end. Saturday we packed up and headed to Tara's folks for a quick tour on their boat before heading home on Sunday. But that's another entry...
6 comments:
At first I thought I read that you were fishing FOR worms and leeches...I had to go back and reread that paragraph!
Sounds like a very enviable, lovely time. Now I'm officially jealous.
Maybe we would have had more luck fishing for crayfish :)
I can't get used to putting leeches on a hook; they start sucking on you and I get the willies all up and down my back. I spasm and the leach goes flying!
I'll stick to worms or minnows I think...
Do you think Dave and Linda would rent there cottage out?
I grew up going to Sag Lake every year for about 25 years then my Grandfather sold his cottage and we miss it very badly.
If you like fishing you have to portage over to Stinkum lake, best large mouth bass fishing I have ever done!!!
I don't know if Dave and Linda would rent out the cottage. They haven't before but it doesn't hurt to ask. Who was your Grandfather?
I know Johnny still has a few cabins he rents out, but I don't know how booked up he is. Everytime we go up, at least one of them is used.
As for the fishing, we did make it out to Stinkum lake. We were on the lake before 7:00 (which is impressive, since it takes 30 minutes to get there with the boat, plus the time to portage). We had zero luck. It might be a bit too late in the season. Stinkum is shallow - the bass may have all moved into deeper, colder waters... Ah well - at least we have some pictures :)
Bill Meech was my grandpa's name,
don't really like the cabins at Johnny's, not the same as getting to a cottage by boat and the scenery is not the same.
Been to Jimmy Godfrees's place also but his son stays up there all summer now.
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