Once More to The Lake
It’s the end of summer, the week we’ve talked about for a
very long time, the week I have thought about for ten years because I was determined
to take my grandsons to The Lake, a place I hold nearest and dearest to my heart. They needed little in the way of clothing:
two t-shirts, a pair of shorts, a bathing suit, a couple of pairs of
underpants, socks and running shoes. They needed a flashlight because it would
be dark, darker than they’d ever known. And they would need passports to get
into Canada.
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Finally! We're at The Lake!
The banks of the lake are steep; cedar trees cling to the
shale cliffs; hemlocks and silver birches, and maple trees fill in around the
summer cottages that are dispersed loosely along the shore. The ice left the
lake in April this year, and my cousins will close the cottage soon after Labor
Day, so the season for summer folks is short. This is not your Adirondacks or Sunapee
Lake summer scene; this is rustic, rugged and wild and, aside from the
electricity brought in a few years back, this place on the shores of Lake
Memphremagog has changed very little since I summered there in my youth. The
spring at David Douglas’ beach still trickles from a pipe in the rock wall, so
we got our own fresh drinking water. The water for the cabin’s basic needs of
water in the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and toilet is pumped from the lake.
“Don’t drink the water from the tap,” I told my grandsons, but then added, “but
if you do, you probably won’t get sick. The water is very clean.” In fact the
limestone base neutralizes the acid rain so, unlike many lakes in the east,
Lake Memphremago is very healthy.
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| Oops! Trying to "boob" the canoe. |
Memphremagog means Lake of the Shining Waters, and when we
arrived the lake glittered under the shards of the setting sun. We parked our
car at the top of the path, loaded our food and gear into a large Garden Way
cart and trundled down the winding path to The Hemlocks. Ten minutes later,
Auggie and Jude were initiated in the lake. Here is the scene.
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| Catching Crawdads |
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| Tom gives Auggie his first driving lesson. |
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| "We got wheels!" |
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| Be Careful! |
New Swiss Army Knives work great on striped maple.
The boys learn quickly and marshmallow sticks are first
on the list.
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| Fun! Fun! Fun! |
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| Barb and the Boys |
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| Bathing Beauties! |
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| Trip Team...Always Smiling! |
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| John Teaches Barb About Kindle Wonders |
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| Refilling the Wood Pile Before we Leave |
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| Last Look
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What a time it was! I joined the polar bear club, swimming each morning before breakfast. After my swim, I'd walk up the hill to the Hemlocks where the boys had made a fire and were already sipping hot chocolate. Who cares if my version of the polar club meant swimming at 10 am when the sun was already on the dock? We made our own rules. Don't tell anyone, but Lake M is the best place to swim anywhere with Chief Owl keeping watch.
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