The “month of many people” is over and with that comes some reflection. June was one of them months where relatives and friends from all corners of the earth gathered henceforth at the “compound” for many days of laughter and much indulgence. Burlington and Ottawa, plus Stockholm, Sweden all were represented in this pilgrimage and to say the least the conversation was wildly divergent and madcap mayhem was lively. 

Such is life at Pigeon Lake.

The first group was my child bride’s brother and sister in law, who are terrific folks, akin to having fun, good conversation and food. Having been out here before and knowing our neighbours was a bonus as the “sessions” out on the deck picked up right where they left off, which from my recollection, was rather blurry.

The second group, from Sweden was certainly the wild card, as I hadn’t seen my buddy Lars in about 20 years. Having gained a wife and two way-cuter-than-they-should-be-given-the-father’s-gene-pool daughters was a distinct upgrade to our old days swilling gin in Fiji and the visit was terrific. We even survived a Swedish mid-summer ritual involving schnapps (which I think could almost taste as good as the stuff powering my lawn mower). Though we sprinkled our time between frenzied trips to the West Edmonton Mall and Calgary, all in all, it was a very satisfying time.

Of course, as we dropped the Swedes off at the airport on Wednesday, our Ottawa guests were on our back porch at the lake waiting for us to arrive. In this case it was my family at the door and being from Ottawa there was no shortage of jolly good Fed bashing. Adding to the festivities, we hosted 13 family members a day later for a mini family reunion, complete with 64 course meal and the inevitable stories about the oddball family members who weren’t there, which is standard for all family gatherings.   

Naturally I gained 36 pounds during this month, but that’s peripheral damage given the upside. 

The result of all this is that right now we are quivering mounds of jelly trying our best to clean out our fridge of various fragments of leftover mystery food. In many cases we don’t know what we are eating, though it still seems to taste good and isn’t furry or crawling.

It all boils down to having a great place on a great lake. That’s why we bought the place and things like taking the visitors on the Seadoo to see the pelicans near Ma-meo was a highlight for some. Meeting the fun lake people out here was another. Sitting around the bonfire was yet another. Pigeon is a gathering spot and that’s what we like to do. 

After some World Cup TV vegging, it’s time to man-up now and take on July!