Muskoka Monday

Near idyllic. Rose early enough that the morning was still cool and the porch and dock still shady. My attempt with the unfamiliar coffeemaker resulted in coffee so strong it refused to be diluted by milk, but I managed to drink it anyway. The day began lazily, chatting, reading and watching the ducks on the water. At eleven I made the short drive to town dropping the garbage off along the way to pick up a few groceries we missed yesterday. After I left the supermarket, I thought I would pop in to say hi to my sister since I had no way of calling her. I found what I thought was the correct road but could not find the familiar landmark of Bangor Lodge, which no longer exists. I kept on until I reached Santa's Village at which point I turned back for the main road thinking I had mistaken the turn. However, when I came close to Port Carling I realized that I simply didn't know how to find her place so I turned around again and headed back to the cottage. When I arrived my grandson was down for his nap as was his grandfather. I had a bite to eat and my daughter and I read quietly until her partner arrived. He brought more groceries and we began to plan dinner. Then my granddaughter was back from an afternoon of play with the landlord's son. Our little guy woke up and there was a lot of hustle and bustle for awhile. At one point, he was drumming with two badminton rackets on the floor of the porch and under his instructions, I was drumming on a small blue plastic sand pail. Lots of fun and noise. Then I went in to make peach and corn salsa for the tortilla chips (leftover roasted corn, fresh peaches, fresh lime juice, salt, and our home-grown basil and chili peppers). The landlady brought us some potato and macaroni salads. We had lots of raw veggies including some tomatoes from our garden at home. The fresh cobs of corn were bbq'd along with PC portobello and Swiss burgers and we sat down to a feast. Afterward, daughter and granddaughter did the dishes, his dad got our grandson ready for bed, and husband and I just sat on at the table until the cat tried to make her escape. We leashed her and walked her about the place, down to the dock where the neighbor boy was trying to catch one of the mallards much to their amusement, a big dog came along and had to be gently shooed along home, and then the cat decided to explore the back reaches of the property. It got to the point where I was not going to be able to follow her any further. We brought her back into the house and I resumed my reading down on the dock facing the sunset and watching the water change from golden dapple to opalescent to silvery with a pink afterglow. Once the sun had truly set the air became chilly enough that I was glad to go into the house. We finished the evening playing games of Spot It and Block-us with our granddaughter until her bedtime followed by Carcassonne with her parents until 1:00 a.m. And that is just the half of it. There was fishing, drawing, painting, bug-catching, frog escapes, walks, and playing with toy trucks and balls as well. More than you would ever imagine could fit into one day. But it did.