RECORD STORE TALES #1131: Foxes & Fireworks
Five New Things This Weekend at the Lake

After 52 years, it’s not always easy coming up with new experiences to have at the lake.  Sometimes it’s a fortuitous mixture of planning and luck.  I am always conscious  that every second at the lake counts.  Unfortunately, my energy isn’t what it was.  I don’t remember having so many naps back in those days.  I just remember going, and going, and going!  Gosh, when Peter Cavan used to come up to the cottage for a weekend, we’d go from one activity to another without taking a break.  We’d go from badminton to throwing around a football, to playing a video game to making a stir fry for dinner.  Then we’d be in the car to buy some fireworks.  We like it easier these days.

New thing #1:  Road tunes

Our weekend began on Thursday evening for the first spin of Arkells’ new album Disco Loadout Volume One on the road.  It was a singalong success from start to finish, but it only took us as far as Listowel.  For the rest of the trip, we played the Moody Blues Long Distance Voyager.  Another success.  It is always a pleasure to try new tunes for the road.  I am happy to report that both albums did very well, and voices were raised.

We settled in quickly for a quiet weekend.  Well, quiet for the moment.  I inaugurated the weekend with some Deep Purple on the porch.  This was done to celebrate Rock Daydream Nation’s excellent Deep Purple Stormbringer episode, which I was a part of.  The episode was well received and I had a blast doing it.  Of course, Friday night was Grab A Stack of Rock which I always love doing from the lake.  There’s only one issue with doing anything on the porch involving a computer.

As another hallmark of my increasing age, my back hurts plenty after a day of rocking out and a night of live streaming from the porch.  Writing?  Extremely difficult.  The deck chairs are very comfortable there, but only for leaning back.  For working with a keyboard and a screen, they are not so practical.  Not to mention, we just have these small glass deck tables to put my laptop on.  I’ve used a number of laptop stands, but none offered the height, position and stability that I needed to easy my aching back.  There must be a solution.  Enter:  Amazon.

New thing #2:  Amazon calling

I heard through the grapevine that Amazon were now delivering to the cottage, though sometimes they have problems finding the addresses.  Some of these places are not on GPS.  However, let’s give it a shot.  I picked a new desk that I thought would work on my front porch, and had it delivered straight to the cottage.

Much to my surprise, it worked!  The delivery truck backed into the driveway at 3:00 in the afternoon, and I went outside to find a cardboard box on the deck, waiting for me!

The game has changed.  With Amazon now offering next-day delivery to the cottage, imagine what things I will waste my money on when I’m bored!  When we were kids staving off boredom, we were limited to whatever toys and cassette tapes the local stores had to offer.  Not anymore!

Now, time to set up the desk!

New thing #3:  I have a desk on the front deck now

The desk was easy enough to assemble, though the included tools were no match for my dad’s ratcheting screwdriver.  It would have taken me an hour or more if I used the wimpy little screwdriver that came in the box.  Soon, I had my desk set up, and adjusted for maximum comfort.  The game has been changed.

I could spent all day typing now.  It was like I had my own little porch nook, surrounded by coffee, lego, potato chips and CDs.

With this new desk, I should be able to do more writing and more video editing than ever before.  If I want to!  That’s the key to remember.  The cottage is for relaxing.  I must remember to do what feels right, instead of pressuring myself to “produce”.  That said, it was great broadcasting Grab A Stack of Rock with such comfort.

I did want to produce a video short this weekend, and that was semi-successful.

New thing #4:  Slow-motion fireworks

My mom and dad left us some Roman candles from the May 24 long weekend.  Though not as practical as fountains, they would do for my attempt to get some slow motion video of fireworks.

The first one didn’t give me any footage.  The problem is the firework is mostly pauses between bursts of colour.  It’s hard to hit record at the exact right time to capture anything, and even at super slow-mo, it’s hard to get more than five seconds of footage.  Next time we’ll try a fountain, but for this experiment, I was able to get two videos up on Youtube.

I love it when a plan comes together!

The last new thing that happened was complete serendipity.

On the Saturday night, Jen and I went down to the beach after finishing our delicious ribeye steak dinner.  It was after sunset, but the glow of the sun lingers for hours, and you don’t need a flashlight at the beach during twilight.  I got up to have a pee in the bushes, and after doing my business, I sang a little song and turned around.  That’s what I saw him.

The fox was heading straight towards me.  He had a gait unlike a dog.  He was unmistakable.  With absolutely no fear of humans, he walked with intent right past both of us, and on down the beach.

New thing #5:  I finally captured the fox on camera

I’ve been trying for four years now, and I finally got him.  The pictures don’t do him justice, but you’re never expecting the fox until he’s right there in front of you.  I named this one Eric Caravello.

We didn’t even get into the Lego, the steaks, the fish fry!  That will eventually make it into the cottage video.

A wonderful weekend of firsts.  Maybe the next weekend will just be old favourites!