Deep Roots In Ontario

By Maryanna Gabriel

"My paddle keen and bright, flashing with silver...
... dip dip and swing..."

Pauline Johnson

A bear lopes across the road as sunlight sparkles through pine trees, the lovely blue of Lake Superior beyond. I am surprised by how huge this great lake is and how sparsely populated. Wawa, is cold and mist is everywhere. Lexie barks at a stuffed moose and I finally convince her to calm down. It all feels so Canadian in a cliché way then I realize with a start that I have on a red fuzzy jacket with a black moose pattern and smile that I fit right in with the “scene.” I admire the Ontario architecture, the use of stone, brick, white covered porches, mansard roof lines, the graciousness of the designs. I hear whippoorwills, loons, and “dee-dee-dee” coming from birch bark forests. Lakes and rivers abound and varying plaques resurrect memory of coureurs de bois Raddisson and Groseillers of Hudsons Bay fame, martyrs Father Brebeuf and Lalement, and here explorers Thompson and Mackenzie passed. I learn “massassauga” means river mouth in Ojibway and in Parry Sound lives the Massassauga Rattler and Hog Nosed Snakes.

I have deep roots in Ontario. My ancestors pioneered here and an aunt who I loved dearly had “the happiest years of her life” in Georgian Bay. My curiosity piqued I hop on the ship with a shallow keel that tours the 30,000 islands, a UNESCO heritage

Bala, Muskoka, With My Grandmother

biosphere, and where Tom Thompson painted. The water level has dropped considerably because of irrigation and a number of other factors. What are lovely dots of islands with unique granite formation transition into a jaw dropping showcase of wealth with so called "cottages". I rendezvous on the Muskoka River with my daughter and meet a very special friend in Bala who I have known since I was five. This area is one of the reasons for my trip and why I have returned. I love that new threads of the present are being woven into the fabric of my past.  I will be heading into Algonquin Park and puis la belle province.

Algonquin Park With My Grandmother