Globe Corner Blogs

Lake Erie Beach--photo by Llalan

I’ve said it once, but I’ll say it again: I don’t want you to go here. Last year I told you all the horrible reasons to avoid this tiny Ontario, Canada town; this year, I’ll tell you why I was lying.

The Food: The night we arrived our favorite fruit and vegetable farm stand (where the corn is so sweet and the peaches melt in your mouth) was closed. We were forced to go to the local pub, The Sand Bar. Everyone in the party ordered fish and chips (the two-piecer), a bottle of Blue (Labatt) and gorged themselves like the true Americans we were. I think we gave ourselves away, despite my father’s addition of “eh?” after every statement.

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A Stormy Lake Erie--photo by Llalan

I just got back from a place I like so much, I won’t name it. I will say that it is a small town in Ontario, Canada, and that I want it all to myself every summer from now on, just as it has been since my family and I stumbled upon it over two decades ago. I like it so much, I’m not even sharing a sunset picture with you — here is a storm. It’s just that…I’m sure I’m the only one who would ever want to live here forever and ever. See those fearsome waves and menacing clouds roiling up Lake Erie? Not somewhere you would ever want to be, am I right? I mean sure, this storm happened the evening we got there and was over the middle of the lake…and every other day was 75-degrees and sunny (in that bright open way that only skies over virtually empty beaches can be), but you can never be sure. It’s better to be safe and go to Florida. There is really nothing to do in my little town on the lake, anyway — just read on the beach, sleep on the beach, eat fresh fruit in the cabin, read on the beach… And the sun is so northern and indirect that it can really only sun-kiss those as vampire-pale as me. Forget the water, too. It’s absolutely frigid! Only the foolhardy venture out on little green air mattresses and let the gentle waves lull them to sleep. Only the plain stupid fight their way out on the windy days to where it gets shallow again and body-surf wave after wave to shore. So, really… Continue Reading »

National Geographic map of Canada

I like to think that through our sale this month we are promoting tourism to Canada. More Americans should go there. A lot more. I, myself, am quite a fan. Almost every August of my life has been spent in part in Canada. Every time I tell someone where I am going I am met with: “Canada?!” Then they assume I must be going to Toronto, which many US citizens seem to consider an American city that simply wandered too far north in a moment of confusion. When I correct them and tell them the true location of my favorite place on earth, I am met with more bafflement, now mixed with mild disgust: “Lake Erie?!?” Yes. I stay on the Canadian coast of the Great Lake in a tiny fishing town — it’s almost directly across the water from Cleveland, but I usually leave this fact out to avoid further astonishment. Nonetheless, the whole matter befuddles many, so allow me to illustrate the reasons why I love our neighbor:
1. Loonies.
2. Ordering a “Blue” (Labatt’s) at the bar. Continue Reading »