Cohen: Celebrating the rhythms of a Canadian summer

LAKE TEMAGAMI, Ontario – For days, the fires of Temagami flared. On the evening we arrived, under a slanting, molten sun, the place was otherworldly.
It had not rained hard for weeks. The forest was a tinderbox. There was a smell of smoke in the air and a curtain of haze but no flames, which were far away.
That was Tuesday. On Sunday, just two days before, our neighbours on Outlet Bay reported that the smoke and ash was too hard on the eyes and lungs; at 8 p.m., they fled.
Another friend,