I spent about 2 hours last night writing the first version of this email and lost it all in one wrong key stroke! This is version 2, less spontaneous but certainly more thought out!
Ru
ps Linda and Charmaine: If I get my facts confused let me know. It won’t be the first (or last) time I’ve had to write corrections.
Charmaine and Linda Charlotte Island, Lake Sharbot, Ontario
In the year 2000 a group of 250 people including Randal, Linda and Charmaine took part in Odyssey 2000, a year long bicycle ride around the world. Friendships were made. So after leaving Boston, Randal and I drove up to Lake Sharbot, Ontario, Canada to visit Linda and Charmaine. In March 2012, Linda and Charmaine are planning to join us in Cyprus. Randal and I will rent a car and show them sites we want to share and then we’ll go on to explore all of Cyprus, North and South. In late April the four of us will make the 2 day passage from Cyprus to Israel. Linda and Charmaine are real adventures. In 2009 they joined a fund raising trek to the Himalayas organized by Save the Children Canada and pharmacists across Canada of which Linda is a member. Charmaine is a physician. Here is the article about Linda and Charmaine that was featured in the Frontenac News in 2009.
http://www.frontenacnews.ca/2009/09-40_oct_8/himalayan_trek.html
It was an all day, mostly rainy drive from Boston to Watertown, NY where we stopped for the night. The next day we rose early and drove to the Canadian border.
Approaching the border.
Most government facilities around the world prohibit one from taking photos. I have no idea what the rules were here at the border, but I’ve trained myself not to take photos and go asking for trouble. My mother would always say, “If you have to ask, the answer is No.” Pretty sure the answer would be NO, I didn’t ask.
Crossing the border into Canada took about 5 minutes at most. There were no lines that Saturday morning and the border guard asked just the few basic questions. We had less than the allowable amount of alcohol, no tobacco or firearms. He asked to see our passports but then still asked our nationality. He asked our professions and I think I saw him smile at the word librarian. (For all that we hear Google is taking over the information industry and librarians will become obsolete, we have had several positive comments when Randal wears my “Librarians are Novel Lovers” t-shirt.) I think we mentioned the ham, apple and Virginia peanuts but they were no problem. Then we were waved through and on our way.
When we finally arrived late morning at the shore of Lake Sharbot, there were Charmaine and Linda to meet us with hugs and smiles. We packed up what we needed from the car and loaded books, computer, camera, art supplies, 3 days worth of clothes, toiletries, vitamins, (VA wine, peanuts, ham) and soap making supplies. Yes, soap making supplies! Randal had made soap years ago before we’d gone cruising and thought it would be a fun “island project.” It was going to be a very full 3 days!
Randal Ru Linda Charmaine (photo by Charmaine)
At home on Charlotte Island
I love their house! It’s just the right size with floor to ceiling windows that make you think you’re inside and outside at the same time! And lots of comfortable chairs!
Space for tents for the summer crowd on the platform at the lower left of the photo.
Charmaine and Linda bought the “cottage” as these lake homes are called and renovated it to meet their needs and “green” philosophy.
Front yard and out building and one of the pieces of art displayed around the island.
The Guest House
The front porch and the guest room with a Linda-built Murphy bed that folds back into the wall.
You can see the big house just across the way where there is a lovely shower with a window/wall, a heated floor when you step out from the shower, a bathroom with a self-composting toilet and everything a house has that isn’t located on a 1 ¼ acre island in a lake. We “no way” were roughing it!
View from the guest outhouse
At the end of the guest room porch is the outhouse with another self-composting toilet. You don’t need reading material because the view is so interesting. One morning I watched some loons diving for food as they swam by my view.
Sunset colors!
Watching the sunset, the trees light up with Fall colors, and the day turn to night.
Lake Sharbot is about. 120 km west of Ottawa
More Canada stories and photos in the next several emails….I took lots of photos!