harvey bischof’s story

 From the time I was quite young, first my aunt and then my parents owned cottages; I grew up loving cottage life.

Twenty years ago, after about five years of looking longingly at cottage real estate magazines, we realized we could probably afford a little place in some relatively affordable area.  We bought the very first cottage we looked at, here on Paudash Lake, and have not regretted it for a second.  

The fact we’re located on a shallow, muddy bay never stopped the kids from spending whole summer days in the water, coming out only when we forced them to because their lips were turning blue.  And no doubt most families on the lake can recall that particular Paudash rite of passage, the first time a child braves “level four” at the cliffs in North Bay.Our kids are mostly in their twenties now, so I don’t spend nearly as many hours dragging them in tubes around the lake, but the memories are indelible.  

Every winter, I have spent many, many more hours making a skating a rink on the lake than it was ever used but it was always worth the effort.  If the days were too warm, I’d sometimes get up in the wee hours to apply a flood that would freeze up nicely.  Hockey games with the kids would stretch into the darkness when we’d haul out the lights and keep the fun going.  I vividly remember two years when it rained all day New Year’s Eve and then froze in a flash overnight, turning the whole lake into a perfect, smooth surface on which we’d take off on mile-long breakaways.

Mist, lit by the early morning sun, rising from the lake as I head out fishing.  The Milky Way wheeling silently into the black sky from behind tall spruces as we sit by the fire.  A lake of many bays, islands, and special places, Paudash remains magical to me twenty years after I first saw it.  So I’m glad there is an organization dedicated to protecting the things that make it special.  I joined the PLCA executive a year ago and I have to say I’m impressed.  They’ve done a great job organizing social events like the annual regatta and the Canada Day boat parade but I’m most pleased with advocacy and efforts put into maintaining the health of lake.  Of course, this helps to preserve the value of our investments here but, at least equally, it supports the way of life that attracted us here in the first place.  It is a friendly, welcoming organization and I can’t overstress its value.