Memories of Past Times

Cottage – Family (in the beginning) During the beginning years of cottage life, we all enjoyed the cottage. My brother and sisters came up most weekends. This was especially true of my brother, Chuck. He, and his friend, Dennis Bradley ( one of the 4 founders of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, located in Hamilton and, its first president ) were in partnership of a seaplane, a Seabee. Dennis and his family also owned a cottage on Lake of Bays . Their cottage was on the Dorset (east) end of the lake and ours on the Baysville (west) end. They would fly up to the cottages from Toronto. One weekend Chuck would keep the plane at our cottage and the next weekend, Dennis would keep the plane at his cottage. In the beginning, all families would stay in the original cottage, but because the families were growing larger, Chuck built his own prefab cottage on the property. It added a great deal to the cottage site, both in value and accommodations. During the time, we all got together to s...

Cottage - Guests (Part Two) Another time my best friend, Richard , was invited to the cottage to be with me. My parents had invited one of their friends ( Mr. and Mrs. Watson ) also for the weekend. Rich and I had a wonderful time swimming and playing around. In the afternoon, a little before supper, we both fell sleep. My dad and his friend decided the play a joke on Rich and me. My mother and her friend went along with the joke. They came into the room where we were sleeping and asked us why we had missed dinner and slept though the night. They actually had us believing that we had missed dinner and had slept through the night! Eventually, my mother broke the news that we had been tricked! Over time, I had other friends visit the cottage, none them were tricked the way Rich and I had! The adults had one “ kid win ”, but I had their “ adult money ”!

Cottage - Guests (Part One)   My parents, especially my father, were very social. They loved to invite friends to the spend time with them at the cottage. There were a few couples that they invited more often. One of those couples, the Moniers , liked the area so much that they bought a cottage themselves from, who else but Mrs. Haynes , herself! Yes, that’s right, the same lady that we had purchased our cottage from. Their cottage was on the same cottage road that ours was, but was located on a different bay. In thinking back, my must favourite memories of the cottage, not counting swimming, boating and waterskiing, were the evening card games. One of the most memorable games, was with two of my parents’ best friend couples, the Moniers and the Watsons . The evening of cards started off normally. This evening the card game of choice, was poker, 5 card draw.  The stakes were 5, 10, and 25 cents. For me, the game become interesting when I started to win, and I won lot. Not m...

Huntsville Our cottage was quite close to Huntsville . This is where we shopped for our cottage supplies. We didn’t go to Huntsville often during our summer vacations, but I always enjoyed our visits. This was especially true when I was younger. There was one store, in particular, that I loved to explore. It was the Algonquin Outfitters , located on the main street. This store was amazing! It was like the other “ trading ” stores that I told you about earlier. However, it was much different, in that it was much larger and had more fun things to discover and play with! Like most young children, my eyes grew “ very large ” when we entered the store. My parents would indulge me by giving me lots of time to look around. Eventually my parents, usually my mom, would have to drag me out of it, with a promise that we would be back soon. She was able to convince me every time. As a kid, I never tired of going to the store. I am sure that my mother had other thoughts! However, she always kept h...

The Marinas (Part Two)   My few years working at the marina were great and set me up for a lifetime of work. However, good things sometime come to an end. That’s what happened to my relationship with Cal Martin and the Kelmar Marina . Although my experienced with the marina were positive, my fathers were not. I believe that Cal started to take advantage of my father and his business. The interaction between then both became strained. At the end of one of the seasons, my dad decided he had had enough and moved his business and boat to the other marina, the Baysville Marina , owned by Gordon McCormack ( he also owned the Baysville General Store ). I don’t think that this new relationship was quite as warm as the one with Cal, but, as they say, business is business. Fortunately, my work relations were over with the marina and I went on the bigger and better ( ? ) things. I became a “ gas jockey ” and worked for my brother-in-law at his ESSO Service Station in Toronto . More about...

  The Marinas (Part One) As I mentioned before, there were two marinas in  Baysville ,  Baysville Marina  and  Kelmar Marina . My dad, from the beginning of our adventures on  Lake of Bays , chose to deal with  Kelmar Marina . The family who owned it were very hospitable and were great to deal with. When I turned 14, the owner of the marina, Cal Martin, offered me my first job! Boy, was I excited! I was to help his customers with their boats and to help at the gas pumps. I loved the job and was very enthusiastic about it. To get to the job, I would take our boat and tight up at the marina docks. Cal was great to work for. Part of Cal’s business was making waterskies, especially slalom skis. Cal knew that I like to waterski and offered to let me build my own. What a thrill! It was bright yellow and I kept it and used it for a very long time. After an unfortunate waterskiing accident, my “ baby ” ( the ski ) was retired! I’ll tell you more about this “ t...

  The Village - Baysville (Part Two) What I mean as “ fun ” was ice cream, candy and Miss Langmaid . Miss Langmaid owned and ran Langmaid’s General Store . It was a typical country store, except that it sold “ excellent ” ice cream. Miss Langmaid always served large ice cream cones. One of the quirks of going into the store was Miss Langmaid, herself. Whenever anyone entered the store, she would shout out, “ Up for the summer! ” It happened every time we entered her store. I often wondered if she said that when a “ local ” customer entered. I enjoyed, going there, Miss Langmaid was always cheery and pleasant. At the back of Langmaid’s store was the Muskoka River. Beside the store was a small but beautiful park. It overlooked a dam that controlled the river. Judi and I still visit the park when we are in the area. It’s shaded and peaceful, a great place to sit and relax after long drive. Across from Langmaid’s was an old country inn. It, too, sold ice cream. Sometime we would go t...

The Village - Baysville (Part One) The village of Baysville wasn’t far from our cottage. We could get there by car or boat. My choice of travel, as you can imagine, was by boat. Since I didn’t have a driver’s license and I wasn’t old enough to drive, my only choice was by boat. Even after I got my license, the boat was still my choice! Baysville is located on the Muskoka River . The entrance to the south branch of the river is located on the southeast portion of the lake. We would boat south to the river’s entrance and then follow it right into Baysville . Baysville had one police officer, who patrolled the river on his flat bottomed “ fan-boats ” ( you can look it up on Google, if you don’t know what I’m talking about ). The engine was very loud, so you knew when he was patrolling! He wasn’t all that friendly to young boaters! I, of course, never ran into him. When you reached Baysville you could tie up at the municipal docks or as we normally did, we tied up at one of the 2 mar...

Boating (Part Three) One day, we drove to the local marina. On one of their docks was a new gleaming Outboard Marine “ Tri hull” boat, with a 75 hp Evinrud e outboard motor! Amazing! My dad told me that it was ours! I couldn’t wait to get it back to our cottage to test it out. That didn’t happen as soon as I wanted, but when it did, I was in boating “ heaven ” I was sure that it was the “best” boat in the world! It wasn’t as beautiful or as classic as our wooden Shepherd, but boy could it “ fly ”! And, as a “ tri hull ”, it could turn on a ” dime ”   and not tip over! My boating passion was back! I can’t tell you how many hours of boating pleasure ( and waterskiing ) I enjoyed, but they went by too quickly! Since I was the “ baby ” of the family, my youngest sibling was 7 years older than me, I was at the cottage most of the time. Both my sister, Barb , and my brother, Chuck , worked at our dad’s insurance agency, so they were away during the week, as was my dad. My sister, Mar...

  Boating (Part Two) The first year we stayed at our new cottage, we had 14’ runabout boat with a 10 hp engine. Eventually, that year my dad purchased a new Shepherd outboard boat with a 50 hp Johnson motor. It was a magnificent classic wooden runabout outboard boat, made in Niagara-on-the-Lake by Shepherd Boat Works . I was allowed to drive, and loved every minute behind the wheel. We had the boat for a number of years, until a nasty storm stripped it away from our boat dock and carried it away to the rock of a nearby island. We ( I ) were devastated. I felt that I had lost my best friend. For me it was my “ life-line ” to my summer “ freedom ”. Not only did it give me peace of mind, but it transported me through the waters on my slalom ski. For sometime, I felt a great loss, no boat to explore the lake with, no slalom skiing and no summer fun!   I think that my father must have experienced the same melancholy. After all, the boat was his pride and joy. I believe he enj...

Boating (Part one) As I have mentioned before, I love boating. Exploring the “ nocks and crannies ” of a lake, any lake. So, Lake of Bays was the perfect “ vessel ” for further explorations! I believe that the Lake of Bays has the most shoreline of any of the Muskoka lakes. The lake runs all the way from Baysville in the west to Dorset in the east. The lake has so many little bays, it would take a life-time to explore them all! While I was boating there, I tried to explore as many as I could. One of the most interesting attractions of the Lake of Bays was ( is ) Bigwin Inn located on Bigwin Island . I passed it many times on my water excursions, and even visited it a few times. The main attraction for me and my family ( father and brother ) was the islands golf course. It wasn’t a bad little course and we had fun playing on it. On occasion, we would play with one of dad’s friends. Of course, the main benefit, other than family time, was the beauty of the island.  (To be co...

Waterskiing Like I said, I learned how to waterski on the Muskoka River. After mastering the essentials of waterskiing, there was nothing holding me back. After we moved into our Burnt Island Bay cottage, I skied almost every summer day. My father had purchased a beautiful wooden Shepherd outboard motor boat. It had a 50 hp Johnson outboard motor. It was the kind of boat you could treasure for ever. Also, it was a great boat to waterski behind! It was behind this wonderful boat that I continued to master waterskiing. First with two skis and then on one. It was awesome, slalom skiing became my passion. I even made my own slalom ski when I worked at a local marina. The more I skied, the better I got. One summer one the cottagers near us built a “ slalom course ”. Anyone in the area was welcomed to use it. What a rush. The first time I tried it I fell. It was difficult, but I was determined to “ master ” the course. I can’t remember how many times I ran the course or how many times I ...

Getting There – The Road (Part Three)   However, once we got passed the bad traffic and reached to turnoff road to Baysville , that’s when the “ real ” fun began. When my parents first purchased the cottage the road from the turnoff ( Muskoka District Road 117 ) to Baysville was amazing, that is if you loved ( I did ) twisty, windy and hilly roads. Fortunately, my dad loved the road and used to drive it fairly quickly, especially at the steeper hills. As he approached the hill he would speed up. More so at the peek of the hill! I’m sure he did it for my benefit and his ” humour ”. As we raced over the hill, my stomach would “ sink ” and I would cry out “ my gogo feels funny ”. We would all laugh, even my mother, and we would look forward to the next fun hill. Later, when I had my own car, a 1959 Triumph 2A , I would drive the road like it was a Formula One racetrack! I would “ down shift " as I went into a curve and the “ up shift ” when I was going out of the corner! What a th...