Sagkeeng Treaty Days - fireworks

The last night of the Sagkeeng Treaty Days. As soon as it gets dark, they dim the pow wow lights and the crowd, especially the kids get to enjoy the fireworks amid shrieks, laughter and the sound of the drums.

The boy at Hillside Beach for an early evening swim.

I have always spent a lot of summer time at the beach.  When I first came to Manitoba I was amazed at the beautiful, wide beaches. Surprised to discover the very large lakes and long stretches of near-white sand. In those days I took summers off from catering in Toronto and passed the summers with friends in Manitoba. I would often round up a bunch of kids, pack up some lunch and off we'd go to spend the whole day at one of the local beaches, It was not unusual for me to have eight or ten kids at the beach for the day. We worked with the buddy system, each kid had a partner and they were responsible for each other. We would do drills, practicing. When I said to get out of the water, each kid grabbed their partner and headed for the beach as fast as they could get there.

Summer at the beach

This pic looking out toward Lake Winnipeg was taken summer 2008 when I took the boys to visit a friend's cottage at Wanasing Beach.