NEGOTIATIONS UNDERWAY FOR A NEW MUSKOKA BLOG COLLABORATION - WHAT SHALL IT BE CALLED? MUSKOKA GOTHIC? THE MUSKOKA LIAR'S CLUB? TWO WILD AND CRAZY GUYS?

I've suggested a writing collaboration with family friend and local author, Van Newell, the resident king of Bodenville…..a fictional, "all-kinds-of-stuff-going-on-there" bailiwick near the actual hamlet of Uffington, in the near east climes of Muskoka…..a short motor coach ramble from the main street of Bracebridge. Van and his family are modern day homesteaders, and he has written of his adventures in both a weekly column in the local press, and authored two successful books dealing with Bodenville, and the life of home-made soap, free of the entanglements of hydro, sewers, and hot tubs…..and hot water requires more than turning on a faucet. I have long considered myself the kind of stock that could do the same kind of back-to-nature thing. I am after all, of that United Empire Loyalist stock, of the fighting Irish and English, that settled this country when it all looked like Bodenville. I've always felt I was one decision, and only one, from taking to the woods, as Thoreau took to his cabin on Walden Pond. You know what, it's funny how the reluctance to make that particular decision….that one lowly decision, can keep one in the luxury I so deserve. And that's not to mention the fail-safe here, that should I get drunk by chance, and load up the car to join Van on the homestead, Suzanne would rescue me from what could only turn out to be grievous injury to body and mind. Not that going to Bodenville is a bad thing, just an adventure I'd never get used to as a lifestyle.

Van is a good writer, and an interesting story spinner, and I've felt for years like we should get together…..not as homesteaders, but as authors, and put together a series of blogs about our lives in Muskoka for all of these years. Van and are both graduates of York University, in Toronto, (at around the same time of the late 1970's), and we both got jobs at Black Creek Pioneer Village after graduating. I never showed up on my first day of work because I found out what "water-toting" meant at an historic site…..and how many hours it would involve with a yoke and two pails. I'm not too sure how it worked out for Van but maybe he'll write about it, if I can convince him to team-up for a new blog series this winter. Parallels, other than we both live now in Muskoka, include my two boys, Andrew and Robert, playing in his band, The Bodenville Flyers….a folksy little band that has been playing around the region for a decade or more. My lads are the newbies with the group. The band often practices at their main street music shop here in Gravenhurst, and the Flyers play in all our fundraisers…..the ones we put on for the Salvation Army Food Bank.

Negotiations are ongoing, and I plan to bait him with a really catchy title, as the headline suggests. I'd even be open to one of his own titles, just to seal the deal. We've got a lot of things to say….to write…..arguments to make, fun to bestow, and readers to win over. We both love our region, and are proud to call Muskoka home. We don't agree on too much, and we like to square-off occasionally when pissing into the wind seems the appropriate action to a week of unrelated frustrations. We are most often "point and counter-point" people, and we think diversity of opinion is good for mankind, as long as it doesn't erupt in war. As for any religious battle that might break out…..I don't think we need to worry too much about a holy war.

While everybody and their brother's uncle is defining what it's like to be Muskokan, these days, some being sickly sweet about it….or lacking of sensibility entirely, Van and I have a fair bit of experience in the field of opinionation……especially about our home region. Van the homesteader, me the historian. Van the clever story teller, and soothsayer, Ted, the half-political animal, who likes to stir up controversy, cause it feels so good, could collaborate on a real dandy if it ever becomes fact.

Like I noted earlier, negotiations are underway. He's undoubtedly holding out for more money. I told him there isn't any. He doesn't believe me. I explained to him that all he could expect as payment, for regular contributions, was a hug of heartfelt friendship, and some apple crisp Suzanne bakes regularly. I'm hopeful that will swing the deal.