LIFE UNLEASHED

Not even 24hrs back in Canada and we we treated to a giant feast of East Coast lobsters that my father and his wife Carolyn hosted.  There is no lobster in the world that compares to the Canadian east coast lobster. They rave about the Tasmanian lobsters in Australia, which are good, but they are just no where near as sweet and tasty as their Canadian Canadian counteerparts. Lisa’s loud exclamation at the dinner table –”Look at the size of these claws!” ensured we were invited to have more lobsters at their Pigeon lake cottage.   Sweet!  As we said, it’s all about subtle hints and lots of gratitude.

When it comes to good food we had to look no further that Lisa’s Mom’s great Eastern European / Germanic cooking. There is nothing like home made potato pancakes, rouladin (tender rolled beef), Spetzle (South German dumplings), stuffed peppers and of course some of her famous Christmas pecan squares.

Turkey has always been something a bit hard to get in Australia except for at Christmas and even then in can be very expensive. They don’t have Thanksgiving in Australia and, lets face it, at Christmas it’s just too damn hot to make cooking turkey very practical (most people have seafood instead).  Our first Turkey dinner was provided by my brother’s wife Sue who created a whole Christmas in July with decorations, a huge group of revellers, and a turnip that people actually like! It was a dinner made even more fun by a water fight and a group mauling of apple pie! Great party. Our second turkey dinner was made by Lisa’s mom who made a nice family sit down meal that felt like such a special occasion. Those types of meals with family are something you truly miss when you are away.

Being home also gave me a chance to cook,  which as most of you know is something I quite enjoy. When you go ten months without cooking it’s a pleasure to get back into it. I cooked a couple good Asian meals and a huge Tuscan feast for Lisa’s parents anniversary.

Ahhhh, the taste of a good home cooked meal! There’s nothing like it. 

Picture yourself dockside, glass of wine or beer in hand listening to the loons (large white and black water fowl with an unmistakably loud call) as you gaze over the glasslike surface of a pristine Canadian freshwater lake. The water laps lightly onto the rocks of the Canadian shield and maybe a few canoeists drift by in the distance barely making a line of ripple in the lake. THAT’s the Canadian dream… or rather, the reality of cottage life.

We spent a good couple of weeks at various cottages in Canada. Man, a dip in a freshwater lake is like nothing else. Yes, we love the ocean with it’s crystal clear water and white powder sands. But a freshwater lake has it’s own pleasures. You actually feel cleaner when emerging from a fresh water lake. There is no fear of large, many toothed, predators circling below you. To fish on a quiet fresh water lake can be a sport or a form of meditation. You do not gag and feel sick for three hours if you swallow a bit of lake water. It is as if the fresh water lake is both the cause of… and cure for hangovers. It is Canada. It is Bliss.

O’Canada, Our home and native land….Was it? Is it? We were about to find out!

It was so easy being in Canada. Knowing our way around and how to acquire the that things we needed is a major comfort. Yet, it felt a bit strange being able to speak the language of the place we were in. There were strange customs we had to relearn like how to drive on the right side of the road and how to sit on a couch and be fed information from a glowing box that told us stories of world happenings.. There were strange foods that we hadn’t tasted (in years) like the Tim Horton’s coffee, Swiss Chalet Chicken, veal sandwiches and buffalo style chicken wings. We were so far removed that we weren’t sure who the Prime Minister currently was. We had heard it was Harper. We had heard it wasn’t Harper. We heard it might be Harper but maybe not tomorrow.

You would think all this would make us feel like foreigners in our own country…but…but…there is nothing like the feeling of love and belonging you get from seeing your friends and family. Having them welcome you back. Having them cook you a meal and pour you a drink. Having them treat you as if you had never been gone at all. You can move away, you can go travelling, but you can always go home again.

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