I grew up in Nova Scotia and spent my really early years in Dartmouth, which bills itself as "the city of lakes". We had several lakes very close to our house. We swam all summer and skated all winter.

Birch Cove was the lake where I learned to swim. It was shallow and until I got the hang of swimming I could cheat by "walking" my hands on the bottom and kicking my legs. I thought I looked like I was swimming but I probably didn't! My Mom didn't know how to swim but she was our lifeguard, on shore, watching me and my six older siblings having a lot of fun.