The Lighter Side of Life

Chesley Lake is an annual veritable feast of family & fellowship for Vanderkruk clan.

The crowd keeps getting bigger every year with offspring - significant friends and tag-alongs!

I like the way it has become priority to most of us - we commit to catching up on each others lives this week and we do that in various ways...

This is an option (below) but the kayak appears so 'solitary' (even with two seats) it may not fit the formula for raucous fellowship. Ya think?

Still, I promise to call and warn the Coast Guard should curiosity get the better of me.

I don't know. Sunning on a tranquil deck seems like a lot less work.
Fishing. Now there's a vessel more in keeping with company and conversation.

Provided a cooler of libation makes it into the boat before launch of course.

Mark went out to Canadian Tire to buy this sweet sedate little 'prop' for his boat. I have to laugh at how committed the pair of them are to his rediscovered love for fishing.
Every day so far they've received the royal enthusiastic greeting of nieces and nephew when their ship comes to shore.
Aunt Jo's Diner is the annual convergence in one cottage of approximately 50 people for an all morning breakfast. This time around it was held on a mighty frosty morning and everyone understandably lingered till at least noon. Here Britt is taking the opportunity to register her last semester courses at Brock with the assistance of brother Brent. Whatever did we do before WiFi?
The two daughters of brother Mark found a cozy spot on the couch. With at least a dozen littler people underfoot, a large TV showing The Magic Tree house worked its magic alright for the rest of us trying to reconnoitre as we are wont to do on these occasions!
Aunt Jo's Diner typically offers the bacon & egg and sausage fare with just a bit of healthy stuff (yogurt and fresh fruit) thrown in for good measure - recently we combined it with Pauline's Pancake House (formerly held on Friday morning) to round out the menu.

It means a bit of pre-evening prep work and this year that meant my hubby was out on the deck wearing a parka with some froth in a bottle beside him endlessly rotating the chow on an overworked grill. :) Well, shucks. I've been told for years to learn how to delegate more...
At peak times, its standing room only. But we've learned to move over, use the floor and shove a bum with great ease. Small sacrifices for what its worth.
Thankfully, the cutlery is plastic and just a little less threatening for those learning to eat like the big people. Come to think of it - there's a few big people that could use a bib like that.
A well-stocked toy cupboard got the work over just to add to the chaos. Carter carefully guarded his line-up of dinky cars and was rather wary of my attempts to film from the floor boards.
My little peach Danielle pacifies herself with her thumb when the morning nap gets over-extended. Good thing too. She's got quite the set of pipes to let you know otherwise!
So far, we've only made two trips to the local emergency clinic. I think we have to get a grip and realize that we can't keep playing beach volleyball with the teenagers like we used to.
Arriving with her hungry tribe, sister Sue made me laugh out loud when she marched through the door - blurting that she had brought two unannounced guests from her campground and proudly thrust an extra package of bacon into my hands to make provision. Funnier yet - we actually cooked it up and finished that off too!
A vibrant night sky announcing the cold front that made for another nippy evening outdoors for our scheduled traveling euchre tournament. We played with about six teams of four - with the winners of each round being treated to an indoor table. Brrr! This is when a vintage bottle of Ripasso makes for great company!

Pauline and Gerry struggled up the driveway today on the bikes they hijacked from their kids. They decided to bike around the lake for old times sake and found themselves quite lost two hours later. A hospitable cottage owner let them use their facilities and drew them a map to help them with their bearings. We hosted the bedraggled pair for another couple of hours on the far end of the lake before anyone thought to notify the others -- it wouldn't be the first time a worrisome (un)official search party was executed within the ranks here at Chesley...but it's typically NOT for the adult members of our family group.

*sigh* someone always winds up sick too. Poor Julsie, hopefully she's slept off that nasty little flu-bug before it makes inroads to the greater community.
This was a brief afternoon respite from feeling unwell. I think we have a budding artist on our hands. There is nothing so entertaining to Jules than a paintbrush, palette and cup of water!
She's telling me she wants to go down and swim in the water. I'd want to do that too if I was feverish. But I'm not. So too bad. Paints and fruit snacks it'll have to be!
Stay tuned. More to come as the week unfolds.