Citiots and journalists

Muskoka keeps getting attention if a bizarre way.

They keep assuming that the rich, wealthy and famous are the norm. Yet another Muskoka article, by a reporter who talked to three people and made assumptions.

As popular as the Muskoka region is getting, locals insist it’s still a piece of paradise

Did she ever miss the mark! I didn't have time to talk to her, but this is what I would have told her.

On many lakes you can find lovely cottages that sell for $250,000, but these barely make their radar. Many hardworking people, like my parents, who were working class and saved every penny to cottage here, bought the land in the early years of development and scrimped and saved to build a true cottage.

Many moved into apartments, once they retired, to spend summers here in the outdoors. Today's prices, whatever the market will bear, is raised by those who like this lifestyle.

We had no town water or sewer in those days. I recall delightful picnics as we spent hours clearing the land.

I remember the hand pump we used to bring water up from the lake. The delightful little sink in which mom bathed us, and in which I bathed my children.
I remember rainy days indoors, in our 3-bedroom cottage, building tents of card table and blanket and having lunch in them.


I remember hours catching frogs, snakes, and toads, and swimming and learning about the wee creatures that lived on the land and the water.

I remember watching carefully as I stepped, so as to avoid smucking toads as I walked. I remember the trillium in spring, and the fall colours.

All of the neighbouring cottagers; Mr. Wilson who was a retired science teacher and taught me to look under rocks for creatures, Uncle Doug (below, left) who let us cross his property to get to my aunt's cottage two properties down, and taught me something about Muskoka. Uncle Bill (right) who all helped us learn to fish. My brother, also in the picture, just celebrated his 50th birthday this year. Time flies.

Mom (1925 0 2006) and Dad (1925 - 2007) taught me to look around me at nature and its beauty. They taught me to walk softly, and to put critters back where I found them. To take nothing and leave nothing.

I still have a list of the 1960 lake association.
All of the original cottagers have gone. A few adult children, like ourselves, still own the land and family cottage, but not many.


We rented a cottage, in the old days (1950s) on nearby Clear Lake. Eventually, Mom's brother, and her sister each bought some land and built a cottage. My parents saved up and in those days the land cost us $2000. Their mortgage (I still have the paper!) was $1000.

We scrimped and saved to finally build a deck on the cottage. Until then, we had a ladder we climbed up to get in the door!

The cottage, built of cedar, retains its smell after all of those years. I remember that first entry and the smell, every summer as we finished school and entered our summer home. Built well, it is nearly as old as I am (48 years!).

Of course, with bigger and better toys, the citiots do visit us. They do not understand the land and the water. But they are not the norm, they are the exception. Praise be! The biggest change is in technology, and the ability of visitors to zip around the lake on power boats, snowmobile in winter, and enjoy what used to be 2 or maybe 3-season life, at best. We are now on town water and sewer, and life up here is now 4-season. A thriving year-round community that depends upon both seasonal and winter residents for its infrastructure.