A seaworthy craft, a watery expanse, and a cottage on the shore
If you have Torontonian cousins, you may have heard of it. Pronounced in an affected Canadian accent, which makes the “o” sound, to the New York ear, like a gaping yawn, the term “the Cottage” can refer to one of several destinations. The oldest and best-known is Belle Ewart.
Located about 50 miles north of Toronto, Belle Ewart is a small, shtetl-like township that hugs a corner of Ontario’s fourth-largest lake, Lake Simcoe.
When I was growing up in the 90s, we spent all of July at 1149 Claver Avenue in Belle Ewart, morphing into amphibious creatures as we vacillated between lake and sun, lake and sun, lake and, ah… sunset. Sunsets are always beautiful, but when that ball of fire dips into a horizon-less shimmering expanse, it’s more majestic than when it bumps into tall buildings.
In those good old days, most cottages were about the same size: small. Few had more than one story, and most were built with siding as opposed to brick or wood. (Things have changed since then, and some of the cottages today are, shall we say, a bit more sophisticated.)
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