My New Favourite Tradition

Those who know me well - heck, even those to whom I am only a passing acquaintance - know that I love traditions. Christmas is my absolute favourite because it is the exact same each year: we watch the same movies, listen to the same music, and see the same people at the same time every single year. To bookend the other end of the calendar, are my cottage traditions. My parents call my brother, my sister, and me 'The Heritage Committee' because we won't let them update, change, or touch anything in our largely 1920s and 1960s original cottage.

Well, boys and girls, we've got another tradition to add to the list: Josh's cottage on Canada Day.

I wrote about it last year, and we went up a few weeks ago just for fun, but I think the Canada Day weekend up there at Lac Rheaume is the best version we do of the place. We had A TONNE of people up there this year too: 17 the first night, and 14 the second. And there was even enough space for everyone to sleep (although one friend chose to sleep in the boat, so that could have explained it). It's kind of the Harry Potter magical tent of cottages I suppose.


I got a ride up with the lovely Saunders Sisters et. al. on Saturday afternoon (after seeing Will and Kate on Parliament Hill with my perfect parents), and the festivities quickly began. First part of the new tradition: throwing on a swimsuit, grabbing a beer, and hanging out on the doc almost before your bags hit the ground. Nothing could be sweeter!

The gang re-assembles after international wanderings

Upon further reflection, I guess there's not too much to share here, which hasn't been shared before. Boiled down to its simplest ingredients, Josh's cottage always equates to drinking on the dock, going for boat rides, swimming about, then lots of eating, drinking games, and singing late into the night.

Boats boats boats - the host and some other lovelies

So I guess it will suffice to say, that Saturday was a wash, rinse, and repeat of the day before. And although this may be a descriptive cop-out, that's what it was, and it was great!

There were a few special moments of note though. There was one point where a bunch of us were treading water/standing on rocks a ways away from the dock, when our friend Peter (recently back from Norway, what a nice treat!) made us all screwdrivers, and swam them out to us on a flutter board. You think drinking on the dock is nice? Well you ain't seen nothing yet partner!

On the second evening we played one of the best games of kings I ever have (nothing beats the rule of putting your head down on the table when you swear - until the next person swears), and then made s'mores around the campfire. Friends melted bottles (apparently quite the thing to do?), and we had a rousing sing-a-long. When we exhausted all the songs people could play on guitars, and then all the folk songs that enough people could sing acapella, we finished the night by all singing Disney songs (sorry again, neighbours). I guess we're representative of our generation, eh?

Our model friends feinding the fire

So if we have to keep doing this every year, that would be just fine with me! For some of my friends there it had been a considerable time since I had seen them, so not only is this new tradition (please Josh?) a great way to celebrate the birth of our nation, it's a great way to ensure high-school reunions each and every summer!

Happy Belated Canada Day to one and all!

Your friend Lina