Islands

I S L A N D S

Me sitting in front of 'C cabin' on Anderson's Folly

My father had five small children and very little money when he bought a small, rocky island in Georgian Bay as Crown land. He named it "Anderson's Folly". Our island memories are vivid even now.

My Dad
I still can smell the sooty air inside the CNR passenger car taking us to our own island. As well, I still can feel the hard, wooden benches as we bumped along in the wee small hours of the morning. At the Key Junction Station, we waited in a tired but excited state for the first light, at which time we hopped onto a funny little "jigger" that ran on unused railway track to Key Harbour where our rowboat was stored. What a picture we must have made as we crowded into the rowboat with our luggage. Dad rowed us over two miles (sometimes in open water) to Anderson's Folly.

My Husband Cory & Me beside 'C cabin' It was a Robinson Crusoe life we lived there in our cabins that Dad built, but everything we did had unusual intensity. The food tasted better. Our sleep was deeper and more satisfying. We laughed harder. Even the sun shone brighter and the moon seemed closer. Both the fish and the snakes certainly were bigger. The water was cleaner and the weather was more unpredictable. Key Harbour friends and shopkeepers became our lifelines.

My Mom really caught these fish We all swam like porpoises, picked berries, canoed and sailed. We even water-skied. Then at night we lit kerosene lamps, played games, told ghost stories and burned marshmallows over campfires. We never wanted to go home.

As usual in this life, we had to grow up. Gradually, there were bigger boats and more friends around the campfire as the family grew. But my favourite time at my favourite place in Canada is when the first island memories were born. I sit on the rocks gazing at the moon's image in the water. And windswept pines form A.Y.Jackson shapes across the Bay from Anderson's Folly.