Down with Winter

Waking up to a snow covered city on Sunday morning was really not what I was hoping for. Winter has been pretty lovely, but I am over it. Come on Spring, and Summer for that matter. Come on sunny days and beach trips and cottages, come on bike rides and dog walks and camp fires. Come on Otty Lake.



Otty Lake has been on my brain this weekend, because I am absolutely ready for winter to be over. As soon as we get our first tease of Spring weather, I seem to get cottages on my mind 24/7. I went through some old photos last night, and it’s kind of amazing to be able to see so many generations of my family spending their summers at the same place. That foxy lady above is my grandmother.


That adorable child is my mother. Successfully operating the Otty Lake row boat is actually pretty tricky, but she can row with the best of them, and she taught me her tricks.



Above is my mom on the left, her sister with the bathing cap, and I’m assuming some other cousins. The log cottage behind them is still standing, and Hollie & I have stayed in it many a time. That cottage is close enough to the water that if you are lucky enough to sleep in the side bedrooms (on the right side of the cottage) you wake up to the sound of the loons on the water.
There's also an otter that lives somewhere along the shoreline there, and in the morning and late at night you can often catch him swimming back and forth around the cove.

More family fun. Some I recognize, others I don’t. In the top right picture you can see the island in the back that I often swam to as a child. I had a crazy idea that I wanted to swim across Lake Ontario by the time I was 16, so I use to "train" by swimming back and forth to that island every summer.
In the bottom right picture you can see a beach and shoreline in the background, that is home to the Jewish Camp Shomria. Last summer I posted some pictures of us exploring that camp, and recently I've found out that some of my Jewish friends actually attended that camp as children. Small world.




My brother and I. I'm not sure how old I was here, but it's a pretty standard Otty Lake shot.




Learning how to manoeuvre that row boat with my grandma. Eventually my mom would row beside me in that very same boat as I swam across the lake to a nearby island, all part of my “training”.


Seriously, snow, I’m ready for you to go now. Warm weather, I can’t wait.