Snake Bay, Lake of the Woods, Ontario

I'm back! I had a week away, on Lake of the Woods in Ontario. The first time I went to this lake was 50 years ago. I was teething, and evidently screaming my fool head off. My folks had had enough of car travel with a cranky baby, so they pulled into a random camp ground to stop for the night. Well, they liked it enough, and the lake enough, that they stayed. And came back. Again, and again.

I grew up on that beach, running in the sun and playing Kick the Can, or sitting in the store there on the right during rainy days, doing jigsaw puzzles and giggling with the other kids. I had my honeymoon there. Around that time, the camp changed hands though, and the feel of the place changed too. So, my family started going to a different camp, further down Snake Bay.

A change...but the lake stays the same. This place has been the one constant in my life. 50 years now, and it still draws me back.

I didn't want to leave. I've spent almost a year of my life there now, a week or two at a time. In my heart, it is eternally summer, and full of layers of memories. I am a child, I am a newlywed, I am a young mother, I am 50 years old and greying, I am...whole.