Horseshoes Anyone?

This November will mark the 8th anniversary of Neil and Barb's Cottage. So I'm surprised it has taken this long (well, maybe not too surprised) to set up a horseshoe pit. Thanks to Andrea and Allan for a really smart gift.

Last week, I tossed a horseshoe for the first time in many many years.  I immediately remembered how much fun we had at my parents cottage playing this old fashioned pass time.  Three horseshoe related stories from those years stick in my mind.  First, there was the time our mom tried her hand at it and tossed the heavy U through the canvass wall of a nearby tent.  Maybe the tent was a little too close to the horseshoe pit, but no one else had managed to hit it before she did.  I think it was the first and last time she threw a horseshoe. That story was retold countless times over the years with accompanying laughter.  Less funny was the time Mark and I were playing catch with a football and he fell backwards and landed on the iron stake - ouch that hurt! Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been and he survived with a bad scrape and a bruise.  Lastly, one summer in the mid 1970s, my cousin Pierre from Montreal came to the cottage. He brought his new video camera. As you can imagine, that was a really big deal back then.  Together we experimented with what we thought were genious film making techniques. We couldn't edit the film after it was shot so we had to make every scene perfect.  In one scene, I threw the horseshoe and he stopped  filming while it flew through the air.  This was to be followed by a tight close up of the pin. My job was to toss the horseshoe from about two feet away, just outside the camera range. This approach was to guarantee we would film a ringer.  I was nervous because I only had one shot at it.  I practiced several times before we rolled the camera, nailing it each time. Then, of course, with film rolling, I missed! We laughed. Anyway, Pierre would go on to a career as an award winning television cameraman and director and I would go on to write a blog about clumsy adventures at my own cottage.  We'll have to wait and see what horseshoe tales are created at Petit Lac Cayamant. 

Greg throws for a ringer! It's easier if you aren't throwing from two feet away.