"During the summer I enjoy spending time on the water. I find fishing both a challenge and a nice way to relax."

"This summer we rafted through a UN World Heritage Site, where our only company for 12 days was bears, moose, eagles and wolves. A highlight was witnessing a surging glacier split apart as we stood on the other side of the bone-chilling water of the Alsek River."

'My family and I like to spend as much time outside as we can in the summer, rain or shine. The summer started out with a very rainy weekend in May camping at Maclean Creek. This year we got a double kayak and my husband has enjoyed going for a paddle with our daughter, Rachel, every night. It is fun to cross the lake silently and see the loons, ducks and a huge snapping turtle we named Cleopatra.' —Laureen Harper

'While I was in Vancouver over the summer, I decided to stop by my old nemesis, KFC. Not to protest the treatment of chickens, but to try KFC Canada's new faux-chicken vegetarian sandwich. It was delicious! After negotiations with PETA, KFC Canada agreed to make a bunch of animal welfare improvements and to add a veggie sandwich to its menu.'

"I’ve been going to Big Rideau Lake for the summer for over 50 years, and my wife, Arlene, and I bought our own cottage there in 1989. The fishing boat I’m in is called ‘Oscar’ and has been around since the mid-1950s. It’s a cedar strip boat, which, like its owner, has been restored to mint condition. Many bass have met their maker here. To me, the cottage is home, family, memories, deep relaxation and great fun. And the loons that wake me in the morning aren’t Tory MPs."

"This summer, I brought along two of my daughters, Christina (left) and Cassia, to join in the fun at my annual Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast."

"My family and I have been going to our cottage in the Laurentians for many years. I spent two weeks there this summer with my wife, Janine, and our daughter, Jeanne. My daughter and I spent many hours fishing and swimming and having fun hanging out. I enjoyed hiking in the bush with close friends and my dog, Kyoto. I won a fishing tournament by landing a 10-pound pike. I enjoyed reading What is the What by Dave Eggers, a page-turner based on the experiences of a man named Valentino Deng, one of the lost boys of Sudan. I also managed to go to a concert with Janine, featuring Canadian rocker Michel Pagliaro."

"One of my favourite places in British Columbia is the Sunshine Coast—a place of incredible beauty. My wife, Nancy (left), and I try to find time each summer to get out to the coast and unwind. Family dinners are a big part of that and we often go to the local shops in Sechelt to choose what we’re going to barbecue that night."

"I’m on the beach at our cottage in Georgian Bay, with one of my sons. I love the bay because, depending on the wind and the sky, the water can be totally transformed from one day to the next. It can be as calm as a pond, or there can be crests and surf like the ocean. There’s a lot of sky to see. We watch as summer storms approach, and sometimes see them pass in the distance as we sit under blue sky. Sometimes, I put my younger son to sleep by walking along the water’s edge with him in his baby carrier. The sound of the water soothes me as much as it does him."

"Here I am up around the bay in Kitchuses (a small and breathtakingly beautiful community in Conception Bay) trying to get the place straightened away, and then I got to cook a big feed of corn beef and cabbage . . . ’cause after all I am up around the bay and that’s my gender imperative and my genetic obligation, and on top of that I got to start to feel guilty that I’m not baking a few loaves of homemade bread . . . and I should get the gardens in. Never mind that, we have at the most half an inch of topsoil and here it is the first week of September already and I’ve hardly picked a blueberry, and don’t mention partridge berries to me, and my God look at the state of everything...let’s just go back to town and go work out of it cause at least there is some end to that."

"HI’ve been playing tennis since high school and I really enjoy it. It’s great to be out in the sun. It’s good exercise, fun and keeps you thinking."

"I spent my summer working on Corner Gas. So basically, I spent the summer in a dark basement office, warmed by the glow of a laptop computer, writing scripts. Aaaah, the glam of showbiz. I don’t really take a break in the summer because we shoot 19 episodes over a four-month period, so it’s a pretty concentrated burst of work. But this is our final season, and after shooting a total of 107 episodes over six summers, I think I just might hit the beach somewhere next year. Vancouver’s my home, so look for me at Kits Beach. (I’ll be the guy fully clothed.)"

"We planned to enjoy water sports this day, but we were rained out. Instead we settled in for some serious family time playing board games. Since arguments often flare up as to whether Scrabble should be played in French or in English, our friend, Michelle Firestone, my daughter, Emilie Taman, myself, and my son-in-law, Michael Spratt (from left to right), settled for the less intellectually challenging game of crokinole. It’s a game that consists of knocking opponents off the board, and it carries some interesting similarities with international politics."

"This is me enjoying some family time over breakfast at a local café with my 20-year-old younger sister, Faye, who’s in town visiting from Winnipeg. When I’m not catching up with family or training, I enjoy spending summer evenings with a good book. My favourites are books are on theology."

"This is my nephew, Jacob. He’s five months old and the first little one in our family, so I spoil him rotten. I adore him, so I try to spend as much time with him as I can. He loves to swim with me and he loves when I sing to him off-key. He hasn’t started to talk yet, but when he does I’m sure his first word will be Leah!"

"This is all four of us—Eric, Jordan, Jared and Marc (from left to right)—off the ice, for once. We’re setting up a spike at Eric’s cottage just outside of Thunder Bay. The most exciting news for us this year was seeing our youngest brother, Jared, who’s 18, drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes."

"I started golfing when I got married because I didn’t want to be a golf widow. Now I love it—my husband, Jacek, and I go about three times a week. We live five minutes from the UBC golf club, so it’s convenient. I don’t know what my handicap is, but I’ve never broken 100 so I guess it’s pretty sucky!"

"I live in the Bahamas but every year my family migrates like the ducks back to our cottage. We’ve got a waterslide that pumps 1,200 gallons of water a minute. It’s commercially built and it’s the only one in Canada that’s in a private residence."

"Carrey demonstrates that he looks just as good in a monokini as his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy. No word on whether she wanted her swimsuit back."

"Reeves and his girlfriend enjoy a little surf and sand. Both take advantage of the French Riviera’s more relaxed atmosphere and decide to go topless."

"Steve Nash (right) takes some time out on Independence Day to stroll through Manhattan’s meatpacking district with Thierry Henry, striker for Spain’s FC Barcelona soccer team. Later, they joined up with friends to play some basketball."

"For me, summer means staying in the city and working. At our magazine, ‘Christmas’ happens in July. It’s our busiest season for shooting houses and gardens, and for taping TV shows. An early-morning workout with my dog, Dundee, and my trainer, Steve, is a ritual I love. Weekends I try to get away."

"Camping is the one place where I feel the safest. No strangers. No photo ops. Just me, my dog and the wild outdoors. The further into the woods I go, the better I feel. My only jobs here are making a shelter, lighting a fire, climbing a tree and sitting by the river. Here there’s no need for me to be anything other than my true self. This is the only time when my goal is to be the quietest person around."

"Here I’m at my summer home and studio overlooking Carthew Bay. Built in 1930, it was originally an ice house situated right at the water’s edge. I converted the stone and concrete boathouse into my painting studio, and planted native Ontario wildflowers and grasses on the terrace and path overlooking the sandy inlet in front of the studio. The effect of light and shadow on the water is mesmerizing, and changes constantly."

“My name is Tom Green. I live in Los Angeles, California. I’ve been living here for nine years now, and can you believe that I have a subscription to Maclean’s? I do. So I was excited when they asked me to write this blurb, about what I do in my leisure time. I hang out with my dogs and my bird. I have two Siberian huskies and I have a bird named Rex Murphy. Rex Murphy is a green-winged macaw and could live to be as old as 80. Rex Murphy is only four years old now. I wouldn’t say Rex Murphy is my best friend, but we are close. I like to drink beer, eat sushi, make hip-hop beats, play guitar, skateboard, snowboard, surf and watch CNN. I watch way too much CNN. Of course I also love the Internet. I spend a fair amount of time working in the television studio that I have built in my living room. I often “flip the switch” and go live to air on my website. You can call me some night on my home phone number. Here is my home phone number: 1-323-845-9976. Give me a shout any time. Peace out, Canada!”

“I live in hot-and-sticky downtown Toronto. There ought to be a federal cottage rental subsidy for people who live in this kiln, but seeing as there isn’t yet (Hello Stéphane Dion! Vote for sale!) my wife, Heidi, and my 22-month-old daughter, Maude, frequently trudge around the corner for cool, dairy refreshments. In this heat, an ice cream cone has the life span of a political promise. But with Maude around, things get the most fun when they’re messy.”

“For me, enjoying summer is all about staying home. Touring for months on end makes being home exotic. I love my patio and my garden and all the four-legged creatures that wander into it. Hitting the wineries, the farmer’s market and sleeping in my bed every night is heavenly. Living in Hamilton also means access to the greatest peaches in the country. And there’s nothing like leaving the tour bus behind for a bicycle. Waaay cheaper!”

“In mid-August, John Ralston Saul and I visited our troops in Afghanistan for the third time. I’m colonel-in-chief of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, who are serving there now. We saw our soldiers at the main Canadian base outside Kandahar, and went by Sea King helicopter to the Provincial Reconstruction Team at Camp Nathan Smith inside Kandahar city.”

“I’ve wanted a hammock my whole life and I have no idea why I didn’t get one sooner. We bought this one in late June in Stratford, Ont., and brought it back to my home in New Glasgow to its permanent place on my back porch. When I’m not travelling around my riding, my daughter, Victoria Cate, and I love to read and snooze in it in the late afternoon with our dog, Spunky. My daughter and I do pretty much everything together, including our favourite pastime, snuggling up to watch a comedy flick. We have a huge collection of Hugh Grant films.”

“Nothing restores balance and perspective to my life more than getting away in a canoe. I took a long weekend this summer to paddle down the Ignace and Désert Rivers in the upper Laurentians with my brothers and some friends. No roads, no noise, and mostly, no BlackBerry. Just perfect.”

“I’ve been riding horses for years, and this reining competition is something I always take part in. The main manoeuvre on a reining horse is the sliding stop. It’s dramatic, sensational, and very hard to teach both the rider and the horse. But when you get it, it’s like skiing in powder. You say the magic word, “roll,” and the horse sets back on its haunches and slides through the dirt, theoretically. Many times, he comes to an abrupt halt and your spine goes through your head. But when it’s done right, you’re one with the horse.”

“For most of the year, my travel schedule is relentless. So when my daughters, Anna and Olivia, are on their summer break, I make it a priority to spend as much time as possible with them. It’s an annual tradition for my family to spend part of our summer in Canada (this year we went fishing for a week in northern Quebec) and a few weeks each summer at our horse farm in Florida. We host a big summer party for all the farm staff and their families. This photo is of me and my wife, Laura, helping Anna (left) and Olivia (right) walk their horses, Ginger and Rosco, up to the stables to get saddled.”

“I’m writing a book about the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, so I spent three months as writer-in-residence at Berton House, in the Yukon’s Dawson City, which was the centre of gold madness 110 years ago. In late June, Dawne Mitchell, an expert on Jack London and a female gold-panning champion, drove me in her truck up the Klondike River to Bonanza Creek, 25 km from Dawson City, where gold was first found in August 1896. We dug some gravel and rocks out of the hillside of the “Free Claim” (a section of the creek where anybody can prospect for the yellow stuff), put it into the pan and took it down to the creek. There she showed me how to swirl the pan under water, getting rid first of the muck, next the bigger rocks, then the useless little stones. Gold is 19 times heavier than water, so it sinks to the very bottom of the pan. You swirl, then you tip some of the water out: you swirl, then you tip—my back started to ache, and the Northern sun was burning my bare arms, but Dawne beat out the rhythm. Finally, I saw it! A tiny flake of ‘color’ at the bottom of the pan. I had struck gold. It was very rewarding. I can only imagine what it was like for the 1898 miners, some of whom found dozens of nuggets gleaming at the bottom of their pans.”

“This is a shot of me surfing in one of the most remote parts of the world called the Mentawai Islands. It’s a group of tiny islands in Indonesia. After six months spent recording ‘Terminal Romance’ with El Torpedo, I was more then ready to get away. I needed to clear my head. In the Mentawai Islands you can’t feel any farther away from civilization. Now my batteries are charged and I’m back in tour mode full on. We’re touring across Canada in the fall, and I can’t wait. I’ve been polishing my guitars everyday in anticipation."

“I spend my summers 50 feet from the sea, kayaking, throwing a ball into the water for Nell (Labrador, black), walking (not hiking), painting fences and decks, helping out with an annual writers’ festival, sipping a gin and tonic as Carol and I watch anxiously and eagerly for the sea otter that last summer miraculously made our cove its home, and catching up with reading that is, at last, not about 19th century Canada, but rather, as an example, Clive James’ stunning collection of essays, Cultural Amnesia.”

“I’ve taken off to the cottage for two months each year for the last 26 years. I listen to Beethoven very loud, and watch black-and-white movies on late night TV. I read the newspapers very thoroughly. I marvel at the summer storms. And, by and large, I don’t do paying work. And I don’t go to court. To the extent I can, I avoid lawyers.”

“The highlight of my summer was spending time with my wife, Amanda, and our three daughters. But when I have time to myself, I love to fish, which has been a passion of mine since I was a kid growing up in Williams Lake, B.C. My fondest memories are of outdoor adventures with my dad and grandpa. This picture was taken in June at the Langara Fishing Lodge at the annual Rick Hansen Fishing Challenge.”

“In 1970 I moved to the west of Ireland and lived for two years on my first Canada Council grant of $1,500. My mother and I go back to Ireland every year, and this year my daughter, Charlotte, came too - a three-generational peregrination. I always pick a bouquet of bog cotton, which I smuggle home to Canada. In this photo, I am up to my ankles in bog-muck (it rained nearly the whole time we were in Ireland) which is why I look so crabby. We were on our way to have tea at Ballynahinch Castle where Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson had flown in to film Marley and Me. I gave Jennifer Aniston the bog cotton.”

“Nathalie, aged 14, was on her fourth fat novel of the holidays when she finally stopped reading. Two humpback whales had parked themselves mere feet beneath Mark’s lobster fishing boat, out in the Bay of Fundy, and she’d hit the deck wailing. Not Herman Melville, but Stephenie Meyer, she’d tossed aside. Still, who says kids don’t read today?”

“Since I moved from Toronto to Vancouver Island in 2004 I have tried to find ways to stay at home, but keep working as well. Where I live is a beach resort destination, so leaving during the summer to go on tour is really hard to do. The Phil Dwyer Academy of Musical and Culinary Arts has been an ongoing project, which seems to be growing every year. The idea was to combine a rigorous musical program with the development of a keener appreciation for good diet, cooking techniques, and the sense of community which evolves from a locally generated food supply. We take field trips to various bakeries, farms, cheese makers, etc and work together to prepare and eat an interesting and healthy lunch each day. Over the past four years I have had some of the best jazz musicians in North America teaching here, including Don Thompson, Darrell Grant, and this year (pictured playing trumpet in the white baseball hat) the great Ingrid Jensen. The students in the picture are some of the top university and college musicians in the country.”

“Summer events are great because everyone’s so relaxed… This year Aurora’s historic Town Park hosted a Neighbourhood Network volunteer appreciation BBQ. Luckily the rain held off long enough to catch up with a few friends and enjoy the sounds of the Good Brothers.”

“This is the summer drawing position where I seem to spend a great deal of time in the summer. It’s a bit rustic, but as you can see, absolutely at the lakes edge, looking west through a pine and granite landscape. Amid the flurry of water sports activity that seems to define the summer for some or languishing in a hammock with a book that captures others, the quiet perspective of working out a design idea in the midst of a sublime Canadian landscape does it for me.”

“This is me in Buenos Aires enjoying my version of a holiday: working, writing, recording. I knew I had to escape my own life to be able to focus, so I started searching for rooms all over the world that had pianos in them. I could have ended up in New York or London or Paris but it was the Steinway Grand in this apartment in the Recoletta district that brought me to Buenos Aires. I fell in love with the city but am searching still for magical rooms and ancient pianos.”