My family
My family moved from Germany to Canada in the summer of 1980.
Various circumstances, including his back, increasing rent for the land he farmed
and decreasing returns convinced my dad to get out of farming. Rather than just get
out of farming, he decided to get out of the country altogether. He wanted to move
away from the hustle and bustle a bit, to the middle of nowhere.
As it turned out, the middle of nowhere is in Northern Ontario, so this is where
my folks settled. My dad wanted to settle way into the bush, far away
from any trace of civilisation. Fortunately, my mom intervened, as us four 'kids'
were in school age (aged 6 to 13 at the time). As such, we only had to spend two
hours on the school bus each day, which is pretty moderate for Northern Ontario.
Northern Ontario is very beautiful in the summer, with reliably good weather that
is always pleasantly warm but not overbearingly hot. A great place to spend your
summer vacation. Not as good a place to live year round, in my opinion.
Another downside of Northern Ontario is that there are very few jobs, and even
fewer jobs for somebody with an university education. As my siblings and I all
have university degrees, none of us lives within 500 km of home at this point.
I find this somewhat unfortunate.
My folks used to earn a living by renting out housekeeping cottages in the summer.
My folks bought an older tourist camp called
Amogla Camp
on Rock Lake in Northern Ontario
on moving to Canada. The original camp was from the 1940's and 50's and did not
include indoor plumbing. Over a 10 year period, we tore down all the original cottages, and
built more modern ones. The cottages are furnished entirely with furniture my dad
built. The cottages were always booked solid through the next summer by the fall.
Presently, my parents are retired, and only some of the cottages get rented out.
My dad also used to make custom furniture for people during the rest of the year.
This has always been lucky for me, as it meant having access to a large and well
equipped workshop, as well as lumber.
I now have my own, but much smaller
workshop
My dad, with his fish smoking system
My dad passed away in 2012
My mom
My older brother Markus
Markus works at Ciena in Ottawa. He stayed at Nortel till the end, and his
part of the company was sold to Ciena.
Staying put turned out to be the best strategy. He also has a website,
which he hasn't updated since 2009.
Marriage and two kids have not been conducive to working on the website.
My Sister Johanna
Johanna has a Ph.D in Geography. She is now a professor at the University of Waterloo,
doing work related to climate change, which involves lots of travelling.
My youngest sister Marlene
Marlene has finished her degree in ecology, and then lived in B.C. for a few years,
planting trees in the summers. She then studied Nursing in Thunder Bay.
She lives in Thunder bay with her husband and two kids.
Check out her old blog
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