The summer solstice found us sitting on a boat, celebrating a wide expanse of blue sky and cool breezes with happy faces turned to the horizon. We took my Dad to one of our favourite places, the Thousand Islands in Gananoque, it is beautiful and at the very least worthy of having a salad dressing named after it. Even waiting for the boat became a fun adventure before we headed off in search of pirates and sharks in the choppy waters of Ontario.
After a week of oppressive heat 30C seemed positively refreshing and combined with the fresh breezes out on the water it felt like the heat and tiredness of the week was being blown away. Coupled with the freedom of an endless blue sky one day trip felt like a holiday.
I’m sure I must have annoyed the other six passengers on the top deck as I dived from side to side taking pictures of all the lovely houses, tucked away on their tiny islands; the seemed to bask in the glorious day as much as we did and I always find myself wondering who owns them. All the ones below are those I deemed appropriate as summer holiday homes for my sister…
The one above would be particularly suited as a hobbit run for my tiny sibling, she could a walnut shell tied up to the deck for boating outings to visit friends and a mouse in the stable for long overland journeys.
The boys enjoyed the pirate ship adventures but became a bit restless at about 35 minutes. Stephen blessed me and Dad with a peaceful 20 minutes up on the top deck as he chased the boys fore and aft below (that’s sailor talk that is). They returned to us at the end of the trip, listening to Grampa’s stories of high adventure and calamity; way more interesting than the official version piped through the tannoy.
All along the journey I had the feeling that I had stepped into a Mark Twain story, freed as we were from normal life for a brief time, the world seeming endless. I revelled in mindless gazing, allowing the wind to carry my thoughts away, tossed like wisps of cloud until I could no longer hear them.
As my Dad said, it was a day that will live long in the memory and one I will certainly treasure for always.
Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emmalina and Her Unfeasibly Large Bonnet 
Heh, now it’s you making me homesick!
Looking forward to my walnut boat. I could kit it out with a bed and travel aroung all the islands, years of mischief! The white house was my favourite too. Looks like it has a retro sixties hair doo!
Love the picture of dad and the boys, definitely a keeper.
May a thousand butterflies alight upon you and yours!
xox
What a perfect day out. How sweet are those houses! My hubby would love to live that close to the water. You have me wanting to visit that part of the world. Jacinta