Isolation Part 2
-On The Prairies-

Part 1 of this personal project can be found here: https://www.heatherbays.com/projects#/isolation/

1/7

Of course we headed to the prairies. More specifically, my favourite place, the Interlake! In Manitoba there were hardly any covid cases. Photographers were allowed to work! We had a place to stay. A couple of places actually. And of course much of our family live there. It’s also somewhere we visit every summer. In fact, we had plane tickets already booked for July which we clearly weren’t going to be able to use. So, driving to Manitoba the moment lock down ended was the best decision. It was the rejuvenation that I needed to help relieve the stress from the past few months. The 25 hour drive was lovely. Of course. The Canadian Shield has got to be one of my favourite places on earth! It’s scenery is very dramatic. We were going to do the drive over three days, but after the first night in a motel we decided it wasn’t worth the risk or stress, and we just hit the road early the second day so we could get to the cottage by night. It was rather quiet on the highway due to the fact that most people were staying home. As a result the moose were out like I have never seen! We saw a total of FIVE moose on our drive. If you know moose, you know that a sighting of one of these majestic creatures is a rare treat. I managed to capture pictures of a few of them. Mostly walking out in the road, or eating grass in the ditch on the side of the road. But one time we were lucky enough to pull up and park right near a mama and her baby! I couldn’t believe it. They were so cool with us. But we certainly didn’t stay long.

2/7

Even though we had to spend the first two weeks in quarantine, when we arrived at the cottage this incredible sense of relief came over me. Well, all of us actually. And the next 2 weeks were absolutely glorious! Between working and online school we did lots of reading, running around the yard, croquette, bird watching, and for me personally, the best part was when the fishfly phenomenon arrived (you may remember, my love for fish flys), along with mowing the lawn and painting the cottage. Two things I can say I honestly LOVE doing! I’m glad my kiddos were enthusiastic about helping.

3/7

The moment we were free from isolation we headed to Dairy Bee! Of course! We went on bike rides and played at the beach! It was so good to be free. And to feel safe! We had so much space. The town was quiet. And it stayed that way most of the summer. Which was very unfortunate for the seasonal businesses. So we made sure to support extra. I’m sure that wasn’t enough, but hopefully these sweet shops survive.

4/7

It was clear that cases were going down for the summer. In fact, as soon as we wrapped up virtual school, Manitoba had ZERO cases!! And it stayed that way for a while! It was also clear that this was temporary. Cases were predicted to go up in autumn and likely get quite bad. So it made this time even more precious. And we made the most of our time with our loved ones while we had the chance. The first person we wanted to see was our Oma (our kids Great Oma)! So we had a beautiful family get together at the cottage! That was soon followed by many (mostly outdoor) get-togethers with the rest of our family and our close friends. It was strange to be around other humans after so long. But it was the best feeling.

5/7

Since we were in Manitoba for almost 3 months instead of the usual 14 days, and considering the kids swimming and theatre and dance classes were abruptly cancelled indefinitely back in March, we thought signing them up for private horse lessons was a safe and super fun option. All outdoors and just the two of ‘em with their instructor. At this point it occurred to me that my children were living my childhood dream. I am not shocked one bit that they both fell madly in love with riding. St Andrews Stables forever has their heart. How was I going to get them back on a horse after this?! Riding in Toronto isn’t really an option, so I started to think that maybe we were going to have to extend our yearly summer trip to the prairies. Fourteen days will never suffice!

6/7

It wasn’t long before we felt safe enough to stay with friends and take advantage of the gorgeous cottage scene Manitoba offers. We even got to dip in to Kenora to introduce the kids to the classic “Chip Lady” truck that I used to visit when I was a child! We were truly having the best summer ever which was unbelievable because the world was dealing with a pandemic. I never imagined that something so wonderful could happen during such a dark time. So by this time in our trip I was toying with the idea of buying a house or a cottage. The real estate was tempting. Especially coming in with a Toronto point of view ha ha ha! The timing was pretty perfect making it hard to resist the temptation. We LOVE Manitoba. We love the people! But before we know it, August hits and we’re wearing sweaters. Leaves are starting to change colour. Fall is in the air especially in the evenings. And I’m reminded of the looooong winter in which I quickly stop looking at real estate. The truth is, I just can’t handle the long cold winters. Though I hear global warming is (unfortunately) making a few changes over there by warming up the winters and eliminating the “skeeters”!

7/7

The last week was full of birthday celebrations and family bbqs. I couldn’t believe after 3 months I still wasn’t ready to leave. It was a sad departure, but the whole way home we talked about how we can make this all happen again next summer. If we could. Only time will tell.