Andy Danis
Sorry to hear of Ernie's passing.
I purchased the McLeish Lake camp from Ernie & Margaret some 15 years ago and have enjoyed many seasons with family and friends there. Ernie would be happy to know that our children (3 girls and a boy) and their friends, who have come out to enjoy overnights at the camp, have created memories there that will be remembered and talked about all their lives.
His legacy lives on with us and continues to be remembered with Ernie's initials welded onto the sauna stove he built that is still keeping us warm, a Johnson's Gas sign that still hangs in the gazebo and a Johnson's Boat House sign that hangs over the door to the boat house. Incidentally I was able to get Ernie's old 75 HP Johnson outboard overhauled and we spent the last 2 summers pulling kids and adults behind the orange trihull boat with it.
I am also still cooking delicious steaks on the BBQ Ernie set up in the gazebo and growing tomatoes in the greenhouse. I even make wine now somewhat inspired by the Carboy Ernie left me and the wine wrack he built in the camp.
Even the animals appreciate this place with humming birds, blue jays, cardinals, chickadees and whiskey jacks that come to the feeders, partridge and rabbits that enjoy feeding in the back yard and on the rose hips and the seasonal mating rituals & newborns of ducks, frogs, minnows and fire flies.
And of course there's the fishing, the sunsets and occasional northern lights.
Thank you Margaret & Ernie for creating such a special place. I trust that I have rekindled some of the fond memories that you have created here as well.
Saturday January 27, 2018 at 3:11 pm