Cottage Fishing

A big part of cottage life is fishing. Our most
frequent catch was yellow perch, but bass was
common too. Grandpa Cowie was considered the expert. He was the kind of fellow who if you weren't catching anything and he was, he'd give you his pole all baited up and ready to go, take yours, drop the line over the side and catch a fish on your pole while you still couldn't get a bite. If you thought his side of the boat was better, he'd change sides with you and still be the one to pull in the fish.
Grandfather told me the rules every time just before the boat left the dock. They were: You will not whine to come back to shore, once the anchor has been dropped and the poles have been set. You will bait your own hook. You will sit still in the boat. All three rules were hard on me when I was a squirmy four, five or six year old. Doing my own bait was the hardest, especially if we were using frogs, which we did espicially if going for bass. Finding and catching the little buggers was fun the day before, but putting a sharp hook through their little... ooh, I can't even talk about it. I got used to worms even though they were slimy. I guess I didn't think them cute enough to feel bad about, and they weren't much fun to gather either, but I remember the process as if it were yesterday. After an afternoon rain, just as dusk became darkness, we took flashlights and prowled the grass bent over double to grab the little buggers before they wiggled down into their holes again.

I remember falling overboard one time while trying to wash the icky slime off my hands. I must have been pretty small.
I went out fishing less frequently as I grew older. Grandfather advised me not to learn how to clean fish, so I wouldn't have to. I took that advice to this day, but I still love fish for breakfast (Arlene).

From Mary Pipher's "Seeking Peace"

from:

A story of a Buddhist who developed Alzheimer's:

"He retired from teaching because of his unreliable memory. He made one exception; for a reunion of his former students. When he walked onto the stage, he forgot everything, even where he was and why. However, he was a skilled Buddhist and he simply began sharing his feelings with the crowd. He said, "I am anxious. I feel stupid. I feel scared and dumb. I am worried that I am wasting everyone's time. I am fearful. I am embarrassing myself."

After a few minutes of this, he remembered his talk and proceeded without apology. The students were deeply moved, not only by his wise teachings, but also how he handled his feelings."

More on The Cottage

This is today's lakeside view ... The cottage was a duplex when my family owned it. The open porch side here was the Laughlin's side.

Hurricanes are rare in this area, but wind is not.

Windy days that kept us out of or off of the lake were good for going into town. Nearest town is Brechin, small then and now. We got our ice there. Beaverton is next largest and about 10 miles away. We had relatives living near there, the lumber yard was there, and they had a 5&dime for windmills, all-day suckers, water floats and such fun things. Wider range shopping could be done in the small city of Orillia about 20 miles one way. I always liked to go along when the family went there. I took no part in the shopping for supplies except to pick out cutout doll or coloring books. I still remember getting lost in a variety store in Orillia. We often went to Champlain Park for a picnic as part of the trip.

Cut-out dolls were big in my sit down and be quiet play choices, but they were fragile. One time we didn't have enough commercial paper dolls to go around for my friends who'd come over. The wind was whipping up white caps on the lake so we were sitting on a blanket out of the wind on the road side of the cottage. My grandmother (Olive Cowie) came up with a creative idea She gave us some of her old magazines, scissors, glue, crayons, paper, and cardboard. We were to look through the magazines, find models with full body photos and cut them out, paste them on cardboard, then design and color our own clothes for them, remembering to make tabs to fit over their shoulders and waists. We came up with some pretty cute stuff. Future Coco Chanels? I don't think so, but it was fun and diverting.

more next posting...