The Far Northern Cottage

[Malthus]

... or "Cabin", for you south of the border. 

Went up for a few days with my family plus my brother-in-law (wife's brother) and his kids. Had to leave a day early because of predicted high winds and thunderstorms - the place is on an island and it is very easy to get trapped there by bad weather.

Some pics:

- The cottage itself - built in the early 1950s by my grandfather:



Below is the original draft of this poem:

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2000/11/18

The poem is about the burning down of the original cabin on the site (hit by lightning).

It has lots of original poems by my aunt decorating the walls. Miraculously, so far, no-one has broken in and stolen them, though the place has been broken into a few times:



My wife, on the dock:



The kids boating:



Typical landscape:

[The Brain]

It looks a bit like Sweden.

[Valmy]

That looks like good clean Canadian fun Malthus.

That island looks extremely rocky. I presume there is no electricity or anything like that in that cabin?

[Malthus]

That looks like good clean Canadian fun Malthus.

That island looks extremely rocky. I presume there is no electricity or anything like that in that cabin?

Yup, the whole area is on what is known as the "Canadian Shield" formation - which stretches for hundreds of miles. All the soil was scraped away by glaciation, leaving nothing but bare bedrock with whatever soil has built up since the last ice ages. Bare rock shelves abound and it is very rugged. It is amazing to see the effort that goes into road-building in this area - lots of blasting of trenches in solid bedrock.

We are far from the grid (also, on an island), but we do have a tiny gas powered generator, enough for lighting a couple of lamps - this is a new innovation: we used to use nothing but kerosene lamps. They give nice light, but are prone to bursting into flames if the mantle is not closely watched.   

[Liep]

Looks very hyggeligt!

What camera are you using? Maybe clean the lense

[Malthus]

Looks very hyggeligt!

What camera are you using? Maybe clean the lense

The shitty camera on my old phone. 

I'm actually surprised the phone survived the trip.

I stupidly kept it, and my wallet, in my pocket on the boat trip over (I was driving the motorboat you can see tied at the dock). Part of the trip goes past what is known, for good reason, as "Windy Point". Conditions were bad, very windy, with lots of whitecaps and high waves. A few waves slapped over the side of the boat and I got soaked to the skin (I was wearing rain gear, but that didn't really help).

Phone survived though. 

[Josquius]

It looks a bit like Sweden.

I do miss that side of Sweden a lot.

I wonder if the Canadian version has saunas

[merithyn]

What a lovely place, Malthus. I'm intensely jealous of it, I'll be honest.

It has lots of original poems by my aunt decorating the walls. Miraculously, so far, no-one has broken in and stolen them, though the place has been broken into a few times:

Let's be real... the kind of people who'd break into an isolated cottage on an island are not going to be literature experts looking for original documents by a world-renowned author. But now that *I* know they're there.....

[Valmy]

Is it hard to sleep with no modern humming noises?

[Eddie Teach]

Bugs are way worse.

[Malthus]

Let's be real... the kind of people who'd break into an isolated cottage on an island are not going to be literature experts looking for original documents by a world-renowned author. But now that *I* know they're there.....

... you still have to find the place. "Northern Quebec" is pretty large. 

But seriously: despite its extreme isolation, tourists (usually of the 'aging grad student' variety) have, from time to time over the years, showed up while we were there, having tracked the place down. I guess the general species is pretty honest, because if they are showing up while we were there, they are no doubt also showing up while we were not there!

The break-ins are usually after stuff that is visibly easy to sell it is true - we've lost a couple of nice canoes.    Probably not literature experts doing the break-ins, I'm guessing.

[PRC]

Lots of black flies I assume?

Cabin looks like a beautiful spot.

[Malthus]

Bugs are way worse.

I try to avoid being up there in late May through early July.  End of August there are no bugs whatsoever - you can walk around naked if you like. Do that in June, you would require a transfusion. 

Some years, early June is just unbearably buggy. Particularly just as the sun goes down. The sheer number of bugs is astonishing and horrifying.

[Malthus]

Lots of black flies I assume?

Cabin looks like a beautiful spot.

Again, varies hugely by time of year. You just don't go up during Blackfly season, unless you have no choice. End of August - there isn't a single one. 

[HVC]

Let's be real... the kind of people who'd break into an isolated cottage on an island are not going to be literature experts looking for original documents by a world-renowned author. But now that *I* know they're there.....

... you still have to find the place. "Northern Quebec" is pretty large. 

Your pictures probably have the coordinates in the code... just saying