Thinks happen: Today in 2003

Sunday, August 03, 2003

The sun was a bright orange ball as it began the morning just above the trees on the far side of lac Gustav. A lone frog chuckled in sync with nothing, and a bird trilled a short ditty but mostly silence and the mist from the water held the morning together.

The drive from Ottawa yesterday was tiring. The trip up to this very remote lake always seems longer than anticipated. The highway stretch is long, and when finally turning to the country roads between the scattered small towns, they seem farther apart than memory held them. Then the rocky back road to the lake cottage seems endless. The ruts and holes get larger, the rocks and trees larger and more frequent. There are narrow passages through boggy areas and long winding, uphill stretches between sky-high trees.

The only evidence of man is an occasional logging road or an entry drive to an unseen property, screened by the relentless trees and brush and wildflowers. The vegetation presses constantly to refill the voids where it has been cut away to accommodate a driveway or path. And along with the wildflowers that line the ditches that define the road, there is the occasional day lily or cosmo or rose; flowers that show man was here at one time, some time, perhaps very long ago.

Finally the trip is over. The car is parked as close as possible but there is still a good walk down a steep hill to the cottage. It takes several trips down and up the path to transfer the carload of provisions and clothes from car to cabin.