A Fish Out of Water: Canada, Part Two

After a few weeks visiting my family in Brampton, Ontario, Canada (the first part of the trip was blogged here) my sister arrived, followed a few days later her daughter Zoe. We now had an almost complete family reunion (only my husband and nephew were missing) and to make it extra special we drove up to Sauble Beach and stayed in a rented cottage for a week.

It was a little bit early for really great beach weather, but we did have some nice warm days and it was nice being in a more northerly growing zone because we got kind of an extended spring. The best part: more lilacs! I had been so glad to see the lilacs in bloom my family's garden, which I haven't been home for in years and years, and here I got to enjoy the flowers all over again.

Sherry (my brother's girlfriend) and Shuma (9 months old) enjoying the lilacs in the cottage's lovely garden.

Here's Julie and Shuma on the deck. We spent as much time out here as we could, but mosquitoes, rain and cool weather often kept us inside.

I love Shuma's old-man face here.

Besides recently learning to pull himself up to standing, he started spending more time on his belly (something he's never enjoyed). No crawling yet though.

He reports that the sand on Sauble Beach is delicious.

Here's Zoe demonstrating out traditional family "glorp" sandcastle technique.

Don't go thinking she did all the work though- this masterpiece was a group effort.

Here is Shuma taking over an abandoned sand hill (you could hardly call this inferior creation a sandcastle, could you?).

And Zoe modeling her new floppy hat (she's a real actual model currently working the runways in Thailand).

Us older ladies had some nice hats of our own.

Sauble Beach is actually really beautiful, but on this day we were at the dog-friendly section. Which is right next to the parking lot.

There were swings right on the beach and we got plenty of use out of them.

Oh yeah, and the water? Freezing! Only the hardiest could get in past their feet (this was Lake Huron in June after all, and even in Sauble's shallow waters it was about 14C) but guess who loved it?

Shuma "Nerves of Steel" Nakazawa, that's who.

When the weather cooled we hung around in town.

And went for walks.

We found these pretty pink lady slippers by the side of the road.

And some some inviting places to take a rest.

Our cottage was very nice and had plenty of visitors, like this popcorn-loving chipmunk and the chickadee below.

This window feeder attracted many birds more exotic than this, but goodness they were fast! No chance of me getting a picture. One night my parents heard some noise outside, and in the morning the feeder lay in pieces on the ground. We figured raccoons but when we told the cottage owner she thought it might be a bear. Yikes!

We took plenty of little trips and always seemed to end up in Wiarton, including a stop at Howell's Fish for some local whitefish, perch and trout. Mom fried it up for a wonderful Father's Day dinner.

Also near Wiarton was this section of the Bruce Portage, an old route between southern Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. We were in search of a nice easy hike and were somewhat disappointed to find only a very short trail, but this would have been a nice place if we'd had a boat or some fishing gear. And we did manage to see lots of pretty flowers, an eagle's nest (and the eagle herself), and a turtle nest surrounded by hatched eggshells. And Shuma got a nice new stick.

We kept passing this Turtle Crossing sign on our drives, but never saw any turtles.

Wiarton is home to Wiarton Willy of Groundhog Day fame (he is the Canadian version of Punxsutawney Phil). I got to see the groundhog himself (or at least the bit of his fur visible as he napped in his nest) and of course we all admired this tribute to him. Majestic, isn't it?

My family's groundhog impersinations (I feel that Shuma and Cletis could have tried a little harder).

Wiarton had a little playground where we swung and watched Shuma practice his standing, and a nice waterfront and small historic downtown where the ladies did a bit of shopping while Shuma napped in the car.

And a nice pub with an outdoor patio. This is the kind of place I really miss when I'm in Japan.

Cool weather didn't completely keep us from the beach. There were sticks to collect, views to admire, and rare piping plovers to spot.

And of course the swings. This time I got a nice view of Shuma's curls.

We spent some time at Sauble Falls. We used to play in these falls when we were kids and especiially loved sliding down on our bums, but on this day the level was too high and the weather too cool to do much. Dad did get to show Zoe how to find crayfish, and I almost stepped on two snakes out sunning themselves on rocks. That's always fun.

Shuma was not terribly impressed though. Not even by the snakes.

He did like Shipwreck, the pirate-themed fish & chips place in Tobermory, though.

He ate some fries, made some great faces, and patiently posed on my shoulder (get it? he's a parrot. ha!). And the adults enjoyed some really good fish & chips.

We went for a nice walk in the woods nearby, starting with a climb up this lookout tower.

The view must be spectacular on clear days. It was petty nice anyway, but it's hard to see that with these pictures. Keep in mind that those trees below are not runty at all, and you'll understand that it was a bit scary up there.

Again, Shuma just wasn't impressed.

Lady slipper.

Lilly of the valley.

Forget-me-nots.

The path ended at the water, right near the tip of the Bruce Peninsula where Lake Huron meets Gerogian Bay.

Shuma was having much more fun now (he always has fun with Aunt Sherry).

Wow, that was like a million pictures, and it still doesn't come close to showing how much fun we had. Oh well.

I'll wrap up my visit to Canada in another post, and until then you can see even more pictures here. Please note that many of these pictures are not mine (namely: the good ones, which are by my brother Greg Bishop, his girlfriend Sherry Park or my father Jim Bishop).