The Last Weekend of the Season...

It is with a touch of melancholy that I always approach the end of August at Grand Beach as it means I must return to work.  That in and of itself is not the issue, it is rather that I get used to being with my family for those months and miss them tremendously when I first return.  There is also a certain sense of pining for my youth as I know that next year will be different than this one and I will love next year with my children, but that they will never get this year back and I hope that they love the beach every bit as much as I did in my childhood.  This August when we left it was almost the perfect example of pathetic fallacy as it was a gloomy, rainy day.  It was though in another sense a beautiful day as I took Rowdy for a long walk and swim and spent half an hour observing the bald eagle flying for fish and had a wonderful time with my parents and kids


Coming back to shut down the cottage is a task that I find equally sentimental.  It marks the last time I will be at the lake for more than half a year, unless I should prevail upon my family the joyful (when rare) experience of a few days in December at the cottage.  Just as my life has shifted back to work from pleasure, the weekend is always more about work than pleasure.  This year I had to sprayfoam the underside of the cottage along with the normal shutting down, and I was well on my way to getting it all done as I was nibbling away at the work to be done Saturday and Sunday.  I did though get to bring Teresa and Frances down to the chilly sand on Saturday, and on Sunday I took Rowdy for a rare walk and swim on the front beach down to the channel and back.  We were awaiting dinnertime and then the last cleaning of the year when that touch of melancholy I feel was washed away with stunned sadness as we were suddenly dealing with a tragedy in Cara's family.  We quickly finished out tasks shutting down the cottage and went straight home...  I can't speak for next year but this year I pine not for my youth.


We had forgotten out camera, but packed the video camera.  As such I took some video of the beach.  The first video is of Teresa, Cara & I playing with glow bracelets and sparklers.  I know that it is dark, but that's the best time to play with these things silly!  The second video is of the changes in and around Grand Beach since the summer.  It ends with me going for a swim, but the battery dies due to the cold temperature.  I was massively irritated when I got out as I did three dives to make certain Yosts happy, even though I didn't want to, believing they would all be on film forever.  Cara can vouch for my wetness when I got home.