Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Sproat Lake

I grew up in this painting, in fact it was painted by a friend of my mother's. It is Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island and the wonderful mountain in the background is Mount Arrowsmith, which is the largest mountain on Vancouver Island. Sproat Lake has 144 miles of shoreline and 13 islands. When I was a teenager living on Vancouver Island, my friends and I spent July and August living at Sproat Lake. The girls, Fae, Bonnie, Ann and I, stayed at Fae’s place and the boys, Doug, Bill, Gary and Randy, stayed next door at Doug’s place. We were only 13 or 14 at the time, and not really dating boys yet, but it was our first venture into flirting.

I’ll never forget one warm summer evening, the girls were lounging on the wharf, trying to look sexy. The boys attempted to impress us by jumping off the roof of their boathouse. We pretended to be very mysterious, and ignore them. But as the boys leapt off the roof and flew towards the water, each one of them lost their bathing trunks in mid air.

Make no mistake, God is a woman, and She has a sense of humor. The girls’ shrieks could be heard echoing around all 144 miles of shoreline. And then the loons took up the cacophony. Fay, Bonnie, Ann and I still get together occasionally, and without fail one of us says, “Remember the day the boys….?”

One afternoon after a day of swimming, we all went back Doug’s place to hang out. Doug asked me to make him a sandwich. Big mistake. From a very young age, I have had a feisty streak. It gets me into trouble all the time.

“Sure, you just sit where you are and read your newspaper. I’ll make you a sandwich.”

I opened the fridge to see what was there, and I found a can of dog food. I buttered the bread, spread the dog food, added a little ketchup, cut the sandwich up nicely, just so, and served it to Doug. He loved it.

“This is really good, what is this? I didn’t know my Mom had anything this good in the fridge. Can you make me another sandwich?”

“I would be happy to…!”

After wolfing down the second sandwich, Doug asked me what I had served him, and I held up the can of dog food. And then I started running. Doug chased me all over the property with the rolled up newspaper in his hands. I hid behind trees, in ditches, behind logs, watching his feet running by like cartoon characters. He finally caught me, after I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer. To my surprise, he laughed as well.

For years afterwards, whenever I ran into Doug and he was with a group of his friends, he would always point to me and say, “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.” Lucky for him, he didn’t.

I hope on warm summer evenings, that somewhere there are still girls and boys learning about each other by just having goofy fun.

30 comments:

denese said...

OK. This is a story from my husband's family. They ate everything. If an animal was butchered, none of it was wasted. Before we were married he visited me at my parent's house and my mother had food she had cooked for our dog in a tupperware container (she would get horse meat from our vet and cook it in garlic). Sometimes, the meat was rank. She kept it much longer than she would have if it was us that were going to eat it.

Of course my husband went fishing around in our refrigerator (even though he barely knew us) and he ATE that dog food.

Later when my mother went looking for the dog food and asked where it went, Rich admitted to having eaten it. My mother melted into hysterics. I have never seen her laugh so hard. Then Rich began to laugh. And we all laughed. Any mention of that incident, now 26 years later, dissolves all of us into uncontrollable laughter.

ha!

Denese

Canarybird said...

Jo...perhaps we know each other then!
I grew up in the shadow of Mount Arrowsmith (in P.A.) and my family has always had a house at Sproat Lake, where my brother still lives. Every summer I go back there to Canada and join up with my grown daughters, grandkids and family for our annual get together 'out at the lake'. Small world!

Canarybird (Sharon)

AnotherLinda said...

Well, Jo, you say in your bio that you are not a writer, but after reading today's blog posting, I must disagree. Funny story - especially the way you wrote it. Nice going.

Peggy said...

There is something about summers at that age... girls will be girls and boys will be boys! What a fun story, Jo. Thanks for sharing. I do remember my grandmother getting into the Frosty Paw dog ice cream snacks in the freezer, but I don't think it was becuase she was hungry. She just didn't know she was eating a dog treat!

The author said...

You have some wonderful stories on here! It's been delightful to browse. Since others are leaving their family stories, I'll add mine. In our family we giggle over the story of how my grandfather accidently bought cat tuna and ate it for dinner. My grandmother, after finding the can, spent the whole night getting up to look at him, to make sure the cat tuna wasn't killing him. She stopped only after he meowed.

Donnetta said...

You know, I like this sandwich idea. If hubby ever gives me any trouble, well, he better be good! I could serve up Percy's food with a bit of mayo on rye. Or how about Princess' food on crackers? What a wonderfully wicked idea!

The painting is really nice. Looks like a lovely place to grow up. D

Just deranged said...

I loved that story! It makes me long for a warm summer while in the midst of a really really cold Chicago winter.

Boutique By Bonnie said...

This post really made me smile! You really took us all there with you!

*LIS said...

That kind of reminded me about Anne of Green Gables. Just as the very beginning from the post before this one.

Really nice!

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

Stories like this should be made into a feel good movie. It is a pity that most of today's teenagers consider themselves too adult for those kind of playfull things. Oh well, they can learn from the fun we all had in olur younger days when life was more innocent.
When last have you been back to the lake. Perhaps a trip with the camera to show us what the scene of the painting looks like now.

lovelyprism said...

Yet another lovely story from the woman who claims she isn't a writer. You are my inspiration and I can't thank you enough.

Melodieann Whiteley said...

What a delightful story. It brought back so many memories of younger days when we first started to notice boys and yes, get to know them better by just having fun together. There were several of us that all grew up together in my neighborhood and we swore we all marry each other and never lose touch. Of course, it didn't happen that way, and I don't even know where some of them are now. Thanks for the chance to recapture some of those memories.

Ann said...

Life as it should be lived! Our kids don't really get the chance to be this way often enough anymore.

Rebecca said...

I stopped by because of the blog of note mention, but now I'm a follower! It has been a pleasure to browse through - I look forward to more! Best wishes from across the Straight.

Veronica said...

Jo, it's a charming story, lovingly told. How fortunate we all were to grow up in those times - and from other comments posted, it seems that no matter where we all were/are in the world, we can relate.

Jeannette StG said...

Feel for you -have heard the same comment from another blog-of-note-author, but I saw the painting on my blog, and I'm a painter, so I couldn't resist!
when things have died down, visit me sometime, cheers, Jeannette

The Wanderer said...

Omg, Dog food sandwiches! I lol'd so loud I scared my dog!
Nice blog, and wtg on getting blog of note nod.

Muznah said...

you have a wonderful way of writing and that is a gorgeous painting :)

Pauline said...

what a great story to read first thing in the morning! I'll be grinning to myself all day!

Bimbo Orogun said...

This is a nice work, keep it up

Russell said...

Your times at Sproat Lake sound terrific. Every teenager's dream!! To have two cabins next to each other on a beautiful lake. One cabin with all your close friends and the other cabin filled with all those boys! Goodness!! Literally heaven on earth for all of you!

Just like you have fond memories of those days, you can be sure those boys have great memories, too!

That is what youth is all about. Having a chance to be with other kids, doing fun things, venturing into the dating or flirting realm, and just laughing a lot.

Good for you! Great stories about a wonderful, memorable time!

Anonymous said...

You say you're not a writer.... i say you are. Its not just that you have wonderful stories, its the way you tell them. You have a wonderful voice.
This is really a blog of note.

Annie in Austin said...

I love it when you share these stories, Josie! Sproat Lake seems like an enchanted place to grow up, just perfect for a mischievous group of girls & boys to try out their flirting skills.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Charles Gramlich said...

Sounds like great fun. I wish we'd been able to do more summers like that with my son Josh.

Deb said...

Now that is the story of all stories! I loved it. Honestly, I cannot believe he didn't know what the heck he was eating!

As I was reading your story, my mind wandered off the the latest Kid Rock song where he wanders off to the summer of his youth. Granted, his version of thoughtful memories were a bit R rated, but nonetheless, it was all about reminiscing!

kimber said...

I also have very happy memories of a summer or two at Sproat Lake. I remember my dad's friend taking us in his boat to look at the petroglyphs etched into the cliffs on the far shore. It's truely a beautiful place...

This post made summer seem so far away! *sigh*

Mary Ellen said...

Jo- You brought back a few great memories of growing up as a kid. Although I've never been to Sproat Lake or Vancouver, for that matter, it sounded just like the lazy summer afternoons I'd spend with my friends at the beach in Chicago. After watching my girls grow up and go through their adolescent and dating years, I remember thinking at the time that there was so much pressure for them to act "cool" that they were missing out on so much fun. I'm afraid that the era of allowing our children to BE children is fading away. It's scary.

The Pink Cowboy said...

What a lovely and funny story. Sproat Lake looks like one of my "dreamscapes." It reminded me of being at summer camp. Have you written any books. You have the "gift." I'll be coming back for more.

Anonymous said...

I wish I had some of that summer ease and feeling right now. Thank you for reminding me. It was much needed today.

Lívia Fornaciari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.