Scenes from Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay is one of those spots that simply feels like home. It’s not the prettiest of towns, by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s where my grandfather immigrated from the Ukraine in the late 1920’s, where he met my grandmother, almost seventy years ago, and where much of my family still resides. And what the city lacks, the country makes up for in vast quantity.  Plus? It has persians. And finnish pancakes. So I’m not going to complain.

I’ve been visiting practically every summer for as long as I can remember. When we were much younger, we’d all pile into our van (six of us, plus a dog) and make the seventeen hour drive (each way) to spend two weeks at the cottage (an hour outside of town) with our grandparents. Sometimes we’d drive straight through the night, and others we’d stop halfway. Those years we made that pit stop we’d stay at a sub-par hotel in Sault St. Marie simply because it had “the worlds biggest water slide” (one that’s probably actually significantly smaller than I’m picturing at this time).

Now that said grandparents are 89 and 91 respectively, they’re no longer able to join us at the cottage (or camp, as we like to refer to it). Though we made a number of trips into town to visit, their country-side absence made this particular trip a little more than bittersweet.

I’m not one who usually embraces change. I tend to confront it slowly and carefully, always with a slight skepticism. And while this past week was incredibly relaxing, beautiful and fun in its own right, it was different. With it being just my mom, brother and step-sister this go around it was unusually calm and I think it’s safe to say that we all felt that void that lingered during those more silent moments. That being said, the quiet, the lake and just the right amount of breeze acted as the perfect recipe for finishing 4 books (thankyouverymuch!), imbibing in cocktail hour almost daily, and totally kicking my brothers’ butt at many, many a board games (I expect a comment from him below in due time!)

all images original to lark & linen

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