The Get-Away

Debbie and I just returned from a three-day, two-night get-away in the silent beauty of the Whiteshell.

We rented a beautifully hand-crafted chalet at Pinewood Lodge at Dorothy Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park. The chalet, one of five, overlooked the frozen stillness of Manitoba’s winter wonderland.

The chalet consisted of two floors. The second floor boasted a Jacuzzi and an open bedroom. The main floor unwrapped a master bedroom, bathroom with a Swedish steam bath, a living room with a fireplace and a satellite-fed television, a kitchenette, and a dining room which overlooked a wrap-around wooden deck, with a gas barbeque on it.

Wow! Describing all that was quite a mouthful! But, the experience with it was quite something else!

It was a private, undisturbed, uninterrupted, unhurried, and wonderful experience for us both.

I gourmet-cooked, on the grill, succulent standing rib steaks, juicy prawns, and skewered mushrooms, served with baked potatoes and stir-fried broccoli, carrot slices, mushroom, asparagus, and chilled white wine that Debbie bought last August in Missouri (for a special occasion, said she).

We ate whenever we wanted. We viewed a movie on the DVD each evening. We had our own version of water sports: running from the Jacuzzi to the Swedish steam bath, having a lot of 6-year-old fun.

While Debbie read, I played the guitar. When she wrote on her laptop, I painted some watercolour. We even sang together until my chording fingers began to ache.

We both agreed that that was what the doctor had ordered and what we so desperately had needed.

Debbie suggested that we’d make it an annual retreat in the same chalet; except, this time would be for six days and five nights.

Well, I have 365 days to work hard in earning that privilege to get away in this quiet haven again this time next year.

Did I say “heaven”? Or, “haven”?