Here we will discuss the perils and pleasures of island ownership, along with the perks and pitfalls of being completely surrounded by water. That can be a joy on a beautiful sunny day, when the lake is calm and the water is warm, but a bit frightening during a storm when the wind is crashing the water over the dock and you know that you cannot safely take the boat to the mainland. Of course, that’s the time to throw a log into the woodstove and put on a Garrison Keillor tape and just sit back and relax in your private little world and laugh at those crazy Lutherans in Minnesota.

Island G is located in about the centre of Ministic Lake, about 45 minutes northwest of Sudbury Ontario. It is about a 5 hour drive from Toronto and then a short boat ride. Well, its a short boat ride if you have a motor that actually runs.

We purchased the island in January 2003 after travelling out across the lake on a skidoo to see it. I was the passenger, but my husband was towed on a toboggan. He fell off several times, but fortunately for our bankers, he was not discouraged.

We fell in love with Island “Goodenough” under a blanket of snow that covered many sins. We discovered the sins after the snow melted in the Spring and had to hire a dumpster and borrow a barge to remove them. These were the sort of sins that my husband calls the detritus of the lazy - old rusty metal, kids broken toys, old car seats, old wringer washer piles of garden hose and shingles and broken chairs.

Some details about our little bit of heaven - about a half an acre in size. A main cottage, about 20 years old attached to the original log cabin which we believe was built in the 1940s or earlier. The log cabin is now our bedroom. There is a second log cabin which is our bunkie or guest cabin, as well as a sauna, a leaky, broken down shed and the proverbial outhouse. We have a propane stove and fridge as well as propane lights in the kitchen. Other than that, it is flashlights, lanterns, candles and a couple of lamps that my son wired up for 12 volt that use auto tail lights and give a terrific light for reading at night. We bought a couple of those wonderful 12 volt batttery things from Canadian Tire and this year for Mother’s Day, my boys bought me my own solar panel so I can re-charge them at the cottage instead of bringing them home every trip. They no longer buy me flowers as our cats just eat them.

Currently, our little Island G is drying out after amazingly high water this Spring. In fact I believe our island was somewhat smaller than when we closed up for the season last fall. At that time the water was so low our boat was beached. This year it is so high and the weather so fierce a couple of weeks ago that our boat is now sunk at the dock which is now about 8 feet from shore thanks to the winter ice going out and trying to take the dock with it - for the third time. Thankfully the motor was off as it is back in the shop being re-re-repaired. Our mainland dock has now been removed from its tether by the Spring floods and we understand from a neighbour that it is floating somewhere in the bay. We will be dismantling the old island dock and re-using the lumber to create a deck, to which we will attach our new floating dock. It sounds so easy, but we know it will be more than a weekend task.

Its a lot of work to fix up the camp, but there’s nothing like dancing on the deck on a moonlit night to the strains of Frank Sinatra, finding your own special fishing hole, leaping into the lake for an evening swim after a nice hot sauna, seeing a double rainbow arched across the sky, and baking a pie with blueberries from your own patch, to give you wonderful memories to last a lifetime. Of course this is balanced with rescuing a terrified wet cat, who thought he was a boat hood ornament, dealing with a fire in the middle of a rainy night, lugging 100 pound propane tanks by boat and then by vehicle into town for re-filling, dealing with unruly boat motors and the embarrassment of being rescued from disaster many times by capable, ever-patient neighbours

Our island is a labour of love. We don’t expect it to be perfect - just “goodenough for the likes of us”.

Visit Island “G” Gazette

Filed under: Community, Islanders, Regional