We go each year because it’s local and it’s a fun outside thing to do.
Check out these –as well as some new 2011 shots of the family.
Photos – Family – Animals – Exotic & Farm / Haunted House / Corn Maze / Seasonal Food
August 27 2011 Maple Lake Ontario Canada Sunset
Obi - swam out and jumped on the raft and then... what?
The clouds are part of my favourite thing about Maple Lake...I'm aware that I'm supposed to worship sunny days but some clouds make for a prettier picture!
'Giant Water Bowl'
More to come!
Chris's 19th - Roger, Chris, & Jim - August 20, 2011
After tomorrow it is officially vacation for Roger and me:
Chris has to go to school and work and Jim has a still-new job clocking in 6 or 7 days a week–and a real-no-excuses boss. Fortunately, Jim had a trip back east my see his grandparents not too long ago. <3
Chris is flying into Buffalo, N.Y. –20 miles from the Falls– on Friday morning—leaving Sunday evening. My mom’s memorial is on Sunday August 28th …with folks coming in to the Haliburton Highlands so we decided to make it more vacation-y and stay overnight at a close to everything place in Niagara Falls. Three stars that my oldest son helped me very much in finding–for cheap–check out the topographic map of how easy it is to walk to the Falls! Excitement!
Niagara Falls Ontario--topographic & map view
… then the next morning at 11 a.m.–perfect-ish for a night owl like me…pick up Chris and do something by the Falls before heading back to Maple Lake until Labour Day… is the plan.
PHOTOS: Chris’s birthday at Fridays’ tonight- He refused the singing. (boo):
Chris 19th birthday aug20-2011-fridays-schaumburg-il-by cyn-mccrackan
- Plus: No one* takes my picture – further proof
*only me
August 19 2011 - Son's 19th birthday Fridays with entire nuclear family!
Some Friday's decor that made me nostalgic and I was already _in_ that frame of mind! * On another note: Was I the only chick that thought Linda Ronstadt was hot like 'this'--versus her hot pants-period (later)? I thought so. She's got really soulful eyes.
Saw on August 20 2011
It was just OK…not great. A couple of the science-based plot holes really distracted me from the film. Also, they wasted Frieda Pinto (sp?) other than as eye candy.
Nope, not a lawn chair in sight--we'll make do... Mom did! (Though I DO covet those Adirondack chairs in the background!)
Frank’s Way – Take gravel road until sharp left, drive until you see cars can parked at the top of the hill with the Lake below – walk down gentle hill to bottom until just before you walk down into the lake–turn left–2nd white cottage, named ‘Catawompus.’ Stop. You are there.
Or, click small link below map.
Peggy McCrackan - Fall at Maple Lake (mid late 1950's)
Thanks to my spouse for putting the directions to my mother Peggy McCrackan’s, memorial together. He’s been a real sweetheart of late with all things Maple Lake Ontario. She passed on January 12 of this year.
He and our younger son Chris, opened up the cottage last month and spouse and I shall return soon.
Dad is going to be there before us–so go say ‘hi’ to him.
Peggy McCrackan - Obiturary (Arpil 9, 1927 - January 12, 2011)
Me and some of my kin at Maple Lake--years ago...
Full Moon Rail Line Ramble - August 13 - Haliburton Highlands
I always try to plan my time at Maple Lake, Ontario, Canada to coincide with the full moon. This year however, is a little different in that I’m heading up at a completely different time than I usually would. While this is exciting for me as weather conditions and such could be quite different–late summer in the Haliburton Highlands is something to behold–I’m going to miss the full moon.
BUT if you are in the Haliburton Highlands area now–or plan to be on Saturday August 13–you can enjoy this little adventure with Earth’s ethereal satellite. Read on for all the details! (CLICK to enlarge for better viewing.)
Haliburton Highlands - Full Moon Rail Line Ramble
Thanks to the Haliburton Highlands Visitors Center for the great info!
The winter gave the stone shore wall a good bashing
My spouse and son are at Maple Lake–without me (!) ( It is a bit of a long story involving too much ‘stuff’ including the dogs,and work being switched up for both my spouse and me this year).
Anyway, the guys made the long trek in great time!– 12 hours or less and they went easy on account of taking the old Malibu. They sent these shots and as you can see it Maple Lake, Ontario, CANADA looks awesome!
Personal note: However, I would love to put siding on the rest of the cottage! Will be happy to do it but need Dad to supply the material! (We’ll see if he reads this.)
We have special folks/lifelong friends coming up for my mother’s remembrance service at the end of August. Roger and I could get the siding done the week prior.
Dad?
Click to enlarge the pics!
Maple Lake Ontario - beachfront July 27, 2011 That tall fellow is my son.
How the cottage looked on Day 1 ( July 25, 2011)
Spouse in fornt of our cottage, looking darn good for an 'old guy' LOL :kisses:
I Love Canada!!!!
Happy Canada Day!
Credit and thanks to the Haliburton Highlands Visitors Centre!!
I was born in Canada and despite moving to the United States as a kid, I will always be a Canadian (have the passport to prove it). Part of the reason, probably a big part, is that I was raised by Canadians. My mother especially, was pretty hardcore Canadian. I’ll offer an example. I’d come home from elementary school after being taught American History. Mother would always remind me that there were two sides to the ‘history’ I was learning and I was being taught the ‘wrong’ side! Example phrasing: “It’s all lies.” A bit confusing, pretty much a guarantee that I wouldn’t exactly excel in my history classes but her intent was pure–to help me stay true to my Canadian roots. I have to state that 1. It worked and two, in a slightly less adamant way (having struggled with American History, I wanted them to at least pass it!) I told both my kids the same thing– to at least to remember you should make up your own mind about what is true and what is not.
Second thing that kept me true to Canada was Maple Lake, Ontario. Spending years, over time, on Maple Lake immersed in cottage country beauty, I knew that a little piece of heaven exsisted north of the border–one that I continue to savour to this day and plan to savour to my last.
Happy Canada Day!
Summer '94
Literally, all my life I’ve had a beautiful summer place to go.
Thanks to my grandparents, I grew up sometimes spending months on a crystal-clear lake in the breathtakingly beautiful Haliburton Highlands in Ontario, Canada. At the time however, my nuclear family had emigrated to Connecticut–just a stone’s throw from the great state of New York and where I spent the rest of my year. My dad kept the radio on especially in the morning and I’d hear PSA’s for The Fresh Air Fund. It was hard as a child to imagine what it would be like stuck in the suburbs all summer long–never mind the inner city! Later, TV adverts made an even more indelible impression on me that I was exceptionally fortunate as there were many kids who were not.
After over 130 years of giving inner-city children the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, ‘creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities,’ no one needs to remind the not-for-profit The Fresh Air Fund of what a fantastic difference spending some of the summer away from the city can make for children.
Please consider: Finding out more about being a host family:
Reach The Fresh Air Fund by phone between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST, at: (800) 367-0003
Mailing address is:
The Fresh Air Fund
633 Third Avenue, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10017
The Fresh Air Fund on: Facebook
The Fresh Air Fund on: Twitter
Read an excerpt from a recent news story on how summer resources for city youth are going to be even more scarce in summer 2011:
NEW YORK — A rising number of children can look forward to excruciatingly boring school breaks this year as budget crises in places such as New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and Detroit rob them of the activities and programs that have long defined summer in the city for urban youngsters.
Swimming pools are being closed. Recreation centers are locking their doors. Library summer reading programs are suffering. Openings for short-term jobs have evaporated.
In New Orleans, Mayor Mitchell Landrieu this year fulfilled a campaign promise to boost city funding for children’s recreation facilities and summer programs, despite the city’s economic difficulties. While last summer, about 700 children participated in sports and literacy activities through the city’s summer camps for children ages 5 to 18, this year the city is expecting to serve 5,000 campers with the help of local organizations, private partnerships and doubled city funds, said Gina Warner, the executive director of the city’s Partnership for Youth Development.
The city – where nine out of 10 recreation sites were damaged by Hurricane Katrina – will be opening 12 pools this year, up from seven the year before and three the year before that. And libraries will be coordinating with the city summer camps to keep children reading, Warner said.
Warner said that while her city faces the same economic struggles as its counterparts around the country, elected officials see the New Orleans summer programs as not only an investment in children, but also a crime-prevention tool.
“We’re a very tourism-dependent city, and so we can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer,” she said.
SOURCE Article excerpt: HuffPost - ‘Budget Cuts Rob City Kids Of Summer Activities’
Mom and Dad - Maple Lake 1957
(Notice that my mother has a camera in her hand?)
Remember when I said I’d be using this for a personal blog for a while? And I hadn’t, yet, really?
That time is now.
My mom died on January 12 of this year. We will celebrate Margaret Victoria Adeline Dereham — ‘Peggy’ McCrackan at Maple Lake on Sunday, August 28, 2011. It is the weekend before, not of Labour Day (9.5) so hopefully, it will be sort of quiet on the Lake. The more recent times that I’ve been up that week it is usually quiet–then all hell breaks loose on the official ‘last day of summer.’ It like the U.S. in miniature at that time of the year. Consequently, most Labour Days of the future I plan to be on the U.S. side of the border at home. Who needs the traffic on an ‘iffy’ weather weekend, anyway?*
*Good Lake weather for me is determined by one question: ‘Is it nice enough to swim in the Lake?’
This event should be quite simple and quite lovely. I know there were a ton of people who loved my Mom however when you live to age 83, sadly, the still-living ones constitute a considerably smaller number. Those folks will most likely hear from my Dad however, if you wish to find out more about August 28 at the McCrackan place on Maple Lake please feel free to email me maplelakeontario@gmail.com. If it involves attending, I’ll check with my Dad and get back to you.
My mother, Margaret Victoria Adeline Dereham was quite close to her maternal aunt, Sara Stinson, a Canadian chiropractor–along with my grandmother, Inez Dereham (both neé Sheardown) who was also a chiro, both educated in Michigan–graduating in the same class. Isn’t that neat?
Here they are with my mom, who is age 11 in this photo.
(l to r) Inez Dereham, Mom, Sara Stinson
Mom was just 12 years-old when her mother died. Eight year’s previous her father died, too
Her beloved Aunt Sara only lived until ‘Peggy’ was 14–then my Mom was on her own, though for a time she stayed with her best friend, also name Peggy (Many years later, she became my godmother).
Finally, I have no idea how a typical Ontarian family functions nor do I know how a typical American family does. However, since age six I’ve been a resident alien here in the U.S. consequently it’s been impossible for American culture to not rub off on me despite been raised by a couple of Canucks. Long story short, even without the American upbringing I’m probably a little different than from some folks might expect or wish and I’m afraid at this point it is too late to apologize for that–even if I were so inclined.
If I offend anyone it is almost never on purpose, however somehow I’ve managed to do so with I don’t know how many of my relatives. But this event is not about me or them. It is about my mother and it is for those who cared for her–that simple.
Cheers,
Cyn
(Cynthia McCrackan)
Found photo: Summer 1985 - "jimmy & his mom' Going through recently the thousands of photographs that my mom had amassed, I came across this one, taken by my mom.
Hm, I thought, I’d not ever laid eyes on it or any of it’s companions. Of course Mom took it back in the days of film development vs. downloading and she often wouldn’t get a full 36 photos taken and developed until (as in this case) after vacation, maybe months later.
I remember this day, though. After dinner, with the sun about to begin disappearing, it was time for the little guy to get cleaned up for bedtime. Back then we had no proper shower or tub, so one would take a bar of Ivory soap and scrub up in the Lake. (Now of course, that is an explicit no-no. Not a problem as we’ve long had a shower and pretty cushy sink and vanity, thanks to my Mom and Dad).
Anyway, in this situation, it was not warm out so I got the little guy cleaned up as quickly as I could. He was extremely good–never kicked up a fuss and as you can see, was glad when it was over. This little guy, who ultimately grew up with no Dad, was the perfect kid. Bar none. Ask anyone who knew him then. A perfect child because, I think, he felt he needed to be.
…at least until his step-dad and then, little brother came along.. 
Maple Lake -Summer '94(?) - Jim (11) and Chris (2) w/ Roger in distant background -'Brothers.' I don't think we ever thought of these guys as 'half' anything. Just brothers. 'This was about as good as it got. And this was pretty darn good. One more 'found shot'. I have a bunch from this set as I took them but they have not yet been scanned 'cept for this one..
A chillier point in being 2 y.o., getting washed up on a not-warm evening on Maple Lake, Ontario in 1985. ( I am so glad I did not yet have big hair!)
I was a 25 y.o divorced mom. ‘Jimmy’ was born in 1983 when I was 23. I think I was a pretty good mom (grown-up Jim has said so–without prodding or bribing!)–certainly right in there, sometimes overprotective, but that’s pretty typical with one’s 1st child, never mind one with a dad 100% out of the picture. Plus, I’m ‘ya know, fierce as a mom (and if need be, rarely, other times).
