Summer. Out on the Mira.

It's the first day of summer. For me that brings back one memory. It's a place called Grand Mira. It's a fabulous little "piece of the universe" located in Cape Breton Island. One of my earliest summer memories is of my parents letting myself and my brother swim bare-butt in the Mira River. Then we went to Europe but when we came back some years later, it was summer and we went swimming in the river again. We stayed on the family farm. I remember cows, horses, chickens and sheep. There was an outhouse and we carried water from the well. Because we were air force brats, we traveled a bit. But luckily we were able to return to Mira for many summers. We got to meet our cousins. They were brats too, just like us. I just remember enjoying the fact that I had "dozens of cousins". I loved it. By the time I was ten, I learned how to smoke, swear and drive the milk truck.
Summer. Mira. It doesn't get much better.
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There is a wonderful song written about Mira:
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Out on the Mira on a warm afternoon,
Old men go fishing with black line and spoon
And if they catch nothing they never complain,
I wish I was with them again.

As boys in their boats call to girls on the shore,
Teasing the one that they really adore,
And into the evening the courting begins,
I wish I was with them again.

~Chorus~
Can you imagine a piece of the universe
more fit for princes and kings?
I'll give you ten of your cities for Marion bridge
and the pleasure it brings

Out on the Mira on soft summer nights
Bonfires blaze to the children's delight
They dance round the flames singing songs with their friends;
I wish I was with them again.

And over the ashes the stories are told
Of witches and werewolves and Oak Island gold
The stars on the river they sparkle and spin;
I wish I was with them again.

~Chorus~

Out on the Mira the people are kind,
They'll treat you to home-brew and help you unwind.
And if you come broken they'll see that you mend
I wish I was with them again.

And thus I conclude with a wish you go well,
Sweet be your dreams, may your happiness swell,
I'll leave you here, for my journey begins,
I'm going to be with them,
going to be with them,
I'm going to be with them again.