Baskin’s Beach
Here are some photos from
the family’s Summer getaway, a trailer park only about twenty minutes drive
west of Ottawa. The close proximity reflects how in Canada one doesn’t have to
go far to escape the stresses of urban lifestyle, and find refreshing peace of
mind amid the wilderness. Located on the Ottawa River, near Dunrobin, Ontario,
my parents have been camping there since 1980. Although only open from May to
October, residents are allowed to leave their trailers (located on a plateau
above the river) year round for an annual rental fee.
In itself a small
community, despite the comings and goings of many over the years, the camp also
has its long time residents, including my parents. Since we’ve been there,
we’ve seen it all, from a murder a few streets over, to a tornado a couple of
years back, that felled large trees, damaged trailers; my folks and their
trailer however fortunately escaped unscathed. The park has a weekly bingo on
Saturday afternoons, raffles, and door to door newspaper delivery on weekends.
There are also organized dances, and each year the camping season comes to a
close with a Thanksgiving party in October that includes horseshoes, bean bags
and darts competitions, evening dance and corn roast.
It’s not uncommon to see
a large variety of wildlife at Baskin’s, including deer, fox, raccoons,
rabbits, families of skunks (harmless if you leave them alone), and an
occasional black bear, although I’ve fortunately never come into contact with
one. The camp also boasts its own resident falcons and hawks, among an
assortment of other birds. Butterflies, especially Monarchs and Black
Swallowtails (as seen in some of my photos) are quite common. We also have the
usual population of mosquitoes to contend with, now a growing concern with the
arrival of West Nile Virus, however an equally vibrant community of dragonflies
that will hopefully keep their numbers down.
Note: Due to Internet
Service Provider (ISP) limitations on web space, I’ve reduced the kilobyte size
of my photo scans to post here on the site.
For starters…
Here’s one of my favorite pics taken down at the beach. A
small group of kids in the middle of their swimming lesson:
Another water shot of sledders coming in after some fun on
the Ottawa:
Photo of Jazz, the family Golden Retriever, after fetching a
stick in the river:
A resident red squirrel brought in close thanks to zoom
lens:
A shot of yours truly feeding a peanut to another squirrel;
amazing animals in that once you’ve earned their trust, they’ll clamor all over
you for more:
Jazz again, looking a little drier this time:
A photo of another hairy beast known to inhabit the area, an
elusive Sasquatch in search of a cold beer, who turned out to be quite
friendly:
Trailer shot from the early eighties, when my ex and I had
our own spot; the one in the middle with the Canadian flag was ours:
Party time! …
Here’s a photo of some of the local residents whooping it up
at mom and dad’s. Mom’s on the left, and even Jazz wants to get in on the fun:
Can’t have a sing along without the local troubadour. A
close up of minstrel Gordie jus’ doing his thing:
Baskin’s Beach ladies in the middle of a sing song. Mom’s in
the middle:
A close up of dad holding court over the party proceedings.
Could be mistaken, but does he look Italian to you? :
Baskin’s Beach men, please look
this way and say cheese. Maybe I’ll get a bigger smile out of em by saying sex:
Smaller but equally important folks…
A shot of my son Jason in the mid eighties with a visiting
clown:
Another view a few years later on
the water:
A pic of a couple of my younger nieces with a very friendly
Black Swallowtail:
Close up of above:
A Monarch butterfly atop and surrounded
by Purple Loosestrife in an adjacent meadow:
One of the resident dragonflies,
taking a break after hopefully ridding us of some of those pesky mosquitoes:
At the end of the day…
What’s camping without a fire? :
Behind every cloud there’s a… :
Another magnificent sunset on the Ottawa:
I’ll close with one of my favorite
shots, actually taken by my son with a disposable 35mm camera. Proof positive
one doesn’t have to be an expert shutterbug to capture that next photogenic
masterpiece:
All photos © 2003 Chris or Jason Sorrenti
click on thumbnail below to read my mother’s poem Baskin’s Beach
