My friend is a Tool (e)

It was a gorgeous sunny day to drive back to Calgary on the Canada Day public holiday Monday. Fortunately we did not have to rush back to town. Kelty was staying on holidays at her family's cabin by the lake. Specifically, Pigeon Lake. It's called the Toole Shed as it's owned by the Toole family.

The family cabins owned by her grandparents are shared equally and generously with all members of her extended family and sleep about 30 people. We drove to the nearby village where Kelty has arranged to meet us by the "fountain" which turned out to be a glorified upside-down tap (see picture if you think I'm exaggerating). The rest of the village was not overrated. It was a lovely cottage village with crafty clothing and furniture shops and cafes, in addition to hunting and fishing supplies. After a look around we went with Kelty out to the cabin and met some her cousins, Aunties and Grandparents, who warmly welcomed us and would have had us to stay the whole afternoon if we'd had the time.

Laura, Kelty and I went for a walk along the water's edge, Kelty alternatively delighting and horrifying me with stories of visits to the lake over the years. That day there were boats on the lake, people fishing and toddlers playing on the pebbly shore in the sunshine. In winter the lake freezes solid and you can cross-country ski, icefish (cut a hole in the ice) or drive a car on the lake. As a teenager, she'd played a game with her cousins during the icemelt that involved jumping from one block of broken ice to another on the lake. She fell through and sliced her leg open. Of course it's a good clean cut and you can't feel it because it's so cold, it's all ok... (what the ...???) (Again, reinforcing my conclusion that Canadians have an understated mental and physical toughness that lurks beneath all that niceness).

We said cheerio and went back to Calgary, another fantastic weekend over and more adventures to be told.