Canada – Day 10

9:10 AM

I meant to turn my alarm off yesterday morning, but what I actually did was move it from “Beep” to “iPod.”  At 6:30 this morning, Quiet Riot’s Cum On Feel the Noize began bellowing out of my docking station at about 150 decibels, rousing me and probably most other sentient beings on the lake; including, apparently, a loon and a beaver that I hadn’t seen previously.

Thus began my final day at Ulvik in 2010.

It was very cold when my feet hit the floor – around 34 degrees – and I (wisely, I think) opted not to bathe in the lake.  In fact, I have yet to bathe at all, though I did brush my teeth and I put on a hat just in case I’m overrun with visitors this morning.

For breakfast, I had a bagel from the Cornball Store that someone had thoughtfully left behind.  I considered using the leftover waffle mix from yesterday, but realized that I had no syrup – and who wants syrupless waffles?  Not me.  So I went into town and got some syrup.  Sounds like waffles for lunch.  I also got some Krazy Glue ™, as the nut that holds my camera on the tripod has come loose.  So there’s a project for today, along with sweeping out the main cabin, consolidating the trash, packing my car for the trip to Michigan tomorrow, and doing a final load of dishes.

Right now, however, I think I’ll go take a nap.

11:40

Okay, so no nap.  I way lying about that.

I’ve packed my suitcase, organized the car, swept and mopped the floor of the main cabin, put everything with a battery in it in the farmhouse cellar, glued my tripod back together (we’ll see how that works, dusted, polished the dinner table, and vacuumed the cowhide that’s lying in front of the fire.

If I keep this up, I’m not going have to do anything tomorrow except….LEAVE.   That’s just not right.

The sun has come out and is shining brightly, but I think Canada has turned the corner into autumn.  It’s 42 degrees outside – 55 inside, for those of you keeping track.

While doing my cleaning, I’ve been listening to the CBC and realizing just how much I miss it when I’m not up here.  I wonder if there’s an app for it on my iPhone.  Will have to check when I get back in the US.

Lunch is still a mystery.  Chicken or waffles.  Or a sandwich.  Or chicken AND waffles (that soul food nirvana) AND a sandwich.

Or June’s.

4:55 PM

So what I did was, I used the waffle batter to make some pancakes.  Four pancakes. 

I believe the southern expression is “I was too stuffed to jump.”  Man, I make good pancakes.  Or, more correctly, “T” makes good waffle mix.

I read for a bit this afternoon, but got bored with that and decided to watch a movie on Netflix.  Surprise, surprise – Netflix cannot stream movies to Canada.  So I tried Hulu.  Hulu cannot stream movies to Canada.  So I found some feature-length stuff on YouTube.

And that’s been my afternoon.

8:51 PM

Looks like this is going to be my last entry in Canada – once I finish it and publish it, I’ll be unplugging the modem and router and packing them in the desk for the winter.  After that, I’ll do the final load of dishes, put the clothes that I’m wearing in the washer, jump in the lake for the last time this year (there’s NO WAY I’m getting in it tomorrow morning), and do whatever else needs to be done before I go to bed (like moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer).

While I’ve tried to convey, through the last ten days of blog entries, how much I love it here, it’s really not possible to do with just words on a computer screen – or with photos of the place, for that matter.  To really understand the draw of Magnetawan, you need to have been born and raised in a small town, to have grown up and moved to a very large city, and to have been given the chance to “go home” for a couple of weeks every year.  I like having big-city “things” – the opportunity to play in a band; a job in the tech industry; world-class arts and sports close to my house.  All of those things are great and wonderful and I’m glad that I am able to experience them, but I’ll always be a small-town kid at heart.  I’ll always be able to enjoy myself most by just walking in the woods, thinking about nothing, and maybe catching sight of a deer or a hawk or a groundhog or a fox or a beautiful blue sky that seems to stretch to infinity.

So for the 50 or so weeks that I’m in Atlanta every year, you can bet that I’m thinking of the 2 that I’ll be “on the Magnetawan.”

Thank you again, Cy and “T”.  This place – and you two – are the highlights of my year.

TWD