When we visited Brookwood we sometimes would go calling on area relatives. Sometimes we would visit Julius and Mabel Bahr on Loon Lake near the cabin. They had a “resort” on the shore of the lake with a sand beach. I remember them as kindly people with ready smiles and easy hugs. Mabel was my great-grandfather’s grandaughter via his daugther Leah.
I remember being quite young and visiting Loon Lake. A couple of things 
happened there. First, for some reason I could never get their names right. I was known to call them Uncle Mabel and Aunt Julius. That brought lots of laughs to the grown-ups and it is an somewhat embarrassing revelation today. The only reason I can think of for this odd twist of names is that Julius must have sounded like Julia to me- so it was a girl’s name, right? I didn’t know any other Julius. And I didn’t know any other Mabel. Silly child!
The other incident was, in fact, terrifying, to me! I was I believe about 4 or 5 years old, and wading in the lake was a popular habit for all of us kids. The grown-ups watched from shore. I wandered out too far into the lake…..and lost my footing, going down beneath the cool blue water. In my panic and confusion (and not knowing how to swim) I started the drowning process. Leaping up from the water, spitting water from my mouth and hollering for help! After the second time under I felt a strong arm grab mine and haul me to the surface. Kicking and sputtering and crying, I grabbed on to Dad with arms of steel, thanking him over and over. He was my hero! He still is……
After that incident I don’t remember too many other trips to Loon Lake. I am sure it is just that my memory has latched onto that episode and sort of wiped out anything else. Mom tells me we did go there on occasion, even after that. I guess it is just the sort of thing that sticks in your mind!
