Canadian Lake Perfect Setting for Special Birthday Bash

Suppose you are having an 83d birthday party in the land of your birth, Canada. As Neil Young so elegantly put it, all your changes were there.

So you drive three days to stay where you always stay in the third floor room with a balcony looking at the lake. On your birthday, on the lawn below your balcony, 200 or so audience members sing you the birthday song, to the music of the Young People's Symphony led by Maestro Boris Brott and sung to you by popular tenor / actor Michael Burgess. Pretty cool, Mum.

Boris, his wife, and Michael sit with us at dinner that night. The conversation was delightful. A cake is delivered to the table. It is a changing of ownership night as well at Windermere House. The end of an era.

Later in the week, we went to the antique wooden boat museum. Gorgeous gleaming curved wood from the '20's and 30's, sleekness that lived in boat houses with a porch above and sleeping rooms.

And there it was, floating in a slip at the back of the museum. Neriva, first owned by the man who gave you your first kiss (but not on the boat!).

Shelagh and I stayed largely stunned as the happy confluence of coincidence, planet alignment and good planning combined for a sure winner in The Bestest Birthday Ever race. Shelagh is back to normal now; I remain stunned.

© 2008 mikewhitney

Our thanks to Karen Miller and Putman Travel for their additions to a great vacation.