Cottages and Black flies

If you ever been north of the G.T.A and took that rural road that led to a cottage you will quickly realize that most roads aren't paved.

The lakes are beautiful and the trees are green.

There is always the sound of a loud muffler heard from a distance, the tranquil surroundings suck you in with its influential particles from the northern air.

Truly, the great white north can be used to describe this beautiful stretch of land and community.

Even though the beauty of the land can not be denied so are the black flies.

Black flies are annoying to many people who frequent the countryside so insect repellent was invented to protect the skin from these annoying insects. Get them out of here, no more black flies.

The one thing folks don't realize is the importance of black flies to the land. I guess you can make that argument of who was there first on the land.

It's interesting how agitated people become when they believe they are entitled to something.

My experience on a beach in the Wasaga area, had me tossing my insect repellent in the garbage after realizing that black flies are never going away.  

I'll tell you how it went down on this small beach that afternoon in Wasaga. I don't know the name of the beach because we just happened to stumble on it one year prior while camping and were given directions by some nice ladies from the area. So, my wife and I promised we would bring our daughter to the beach so she could play and enjoy what we thought would be quite the experience for a five-year-old.

The experience in 2019 was quite different this time around.

The beach had receded very badly and lots of debris floated around on the shoreline displaying stuff I didn't expect like burnt logs and charcoal twigs. I had forgotten how high the water rose during the spring and some places had even called for a state of emergency to save their homes.

Nevertheless, we pulled up at the beach and to our surprise, there was a wedding happening, right there on the beach! How exciting was this to us and we could even be a witness!

An even bigger surprise was to see how badly the beach had receded and not too much beach was left to enjoy.

People were hanging on to pieces of the beach like seals hanging to layers of ice in the arctic. We had come from Toronto so we weren't just going to turn around and abandon our trip we planned for one year.

We settled in on a dry spot somewhat close to where we were the previous year. We thought we could just share this small dry area and let our daughter play in the water since the breeze was a bit too windy for us to wet our bodies into the northern water without feeling a shiver. The kids on the beach were having a wonderful time, nothing stops them.

As I sat on the sand, I noticed from the corner of my eye some movements behind me. I have great instincts for when some things don't feel right. I knew of those who felt the entitlement to the northern lands but I didn't think there were many black flies out at this time. I knew how the stories of black flies caused panic to some people but my gosh, to see it first hand was surely an experience. 

In this case, I guess the black flies were too much for one guy and he came charging at me as I sat on the beach in front of his property. 

Would I have expected one homeowner to confront me about being in front of his home? Certainly not, we were far enough away from his property but from the deep spine of my body, I knew of the entitlement some folks felt up north and he must have wanted to warn me about black flies.

Just before the guy came towards me I saw an old man looking suspiciously bored on the lawn behind me. I got the feeling that he was agitated about something and in the back of my mind, I knew it but didn't want to believe it at first. He had seen black flies and was getting bothered, he must have told that younger man how dangerous the black flies are and those black flies could devalue their property if found close by.

So as my wife sat in her chair backing this huge beachfront home I witnessed the procession of human beings anxiously figuring out what they should do about us sitting on the beach in front of their home, I assumed. I said nothing to this point to my wife about the behavior behind her that was taking place. I did not want to alarm her and perhaps ruin our afternoon on the beach with our kid.

Sure enough, no sooner than my wife left her chair, the biggest dude from the home came down to the beachfront to warn us about the black flies, I assumed. I had seen him earlier on the lawn, pacing back and forth almost trying to gain momentum and courage to tell me something. I certainly was in no mood for an argument and I had no intention of letting this confrontation turn into a shouting match, besides, this afternoon was about our daughter and I was not going to ruin it to prove my manhood or perhaps, even my rights.

The big man of the house said to me, "interesting place to sit", I asked him to repeat himself and so he did. His face was flushed red now and his words stumbled with the expectation of a battle. I asked him if he wanted us to move and he said we were blocking his entrance to the property. He avoided saying he wanted us to move but reiterated that we were blocking his pathway. My wife wanted to challenge this absurd notion but I wasn't going to let this guy ruin our time. We moved a chair and some beach toys one foot away from where we first sat and six inches away from a small path that seemed to come from the property.  

For the love of God, were we going to devalue his property by sitting on the free, open beach that happened to be in front of his home? Was the real estate going to significantly fall like our dollar on the market? I could tell that my wife was pissed off by the arrogant son-of-a-good-woman but my wife played along and kept things smooth as expected.

We stayed another hour on the beach and our daughter had a beautiful time without ever noticing what had transpired a little bit earlier. To say we were blocking the path to the home or if any actual law exists which entitled a homeowner to act in this manner, I choose to not find out. There was no meaningful point to this action because the black flies aren't that bad as people make them be. I guessed placing a sign that said no black flies are allowed wouldn't have mattered since black flies cant read and I am sure some environmentalists would have been annoyed if this happened.

Just like the black flies of the countryside we all need each other and have important roles in this society even if you choose not to believe it.  

We walked away from the beach with a happy child with tons of energy who enjoyed every second of the water but I felt sorry for the wedding. It was cut short because the water was way too high on the beach and the wind had picked up causing all sorts of excitement.

One month later, we found a new beach to spend time in the town of Port Colborne? There were plenty of black flies and amazingly no one seemed bothered by them. I guessed the people had gotten used to the black flies over the years and realized that they aren't so annoying just consistent every summer by returning to the community and helping the community out.

I wrote this story very shortly after summer 2019 but I kept it for such a very long time without posting on my blog. I don't know why I didn't post it then but I feel now that the story had to be told by me and I didn't want it to become his story.  

Be good to each other and your neighbor.