September…

The best part of driving in the cottage road is the chance to see deer!

These two didn't hang around very long.

Weather in the valley stayed nice, and we had lots of days to putter around the property.

This is a great place to sit in the morning. The view is nice and the sun warm!

The chipmunk, who has survived all the dogs in the neighbourhood, was delighted that I put out some bird seed (a.k.a. chipmunk feed).

It takes a while to empty the feeder when you can only do it a mouthful at a time.

Iain took this lovely sunset shot. We were just finishing dinner, and I made him run outside to get it.

This calls for a nice day tomorrow!

The marigolds were spectacular (I thought) and drew this pretty moth, among other insects.

It's a Common Sulphur moth.

Iain cut up one of the dead cedars and made two large fence posts. We’re going to put a small gate up, to define the East Beach area in the summer months.

Nice to have help with the work!

Onyx Update

I can't let October get away too far before wishing Onyx a happy birthday! I know he has fans out there. Believe it or not, our boy is eight years old. I did a double-take when I checked the year.

Relaxing on the couch (in my favourite spot).

And….summer ended, just like that

In August, the Touch-Me-Not blooms. I love these wildflowers, and there are usually several large bushes of them on the  “point” (what we’ve always called the little peninsula on which our cottage stands).


They've never actually "exploded" they way I expected them to do.

Iain was on his own quite a bit this summer, at the lake when I had to be at work.  He and I both noticed how early the songbirds left this year. We saw Blackpoll Warblers passing through before Labour Day. Below is another warbler he spotted on a long walk, during which it was the only bird he saw.

Dodie will know what this is; I forgot to look it up.

The moon rises over the lake.

Leon and Jill take one more canoe tour; soon it is time for them to close up the cabin for another summer.

They have some nice watercraft.

In the morning, a deer leaves the island for the mainland shore.

One of the joys of cottage life.

Paul’s harvest of cattle feed was much better than last year’s, when due to the drought he got (I think) 9 bales, compared to about 23 this year.

I'm not sure exactly what he was growing, but I do know it is for the cattle.

It was a very fruitful year all ‘round. Jo’s apples were amazing.

And delicious! Transparents.

And Mom celebrated her 96th birthday! Isn’t she a honey?

Love this lady so much.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Okay, summer is officially over, so it’s about time for a recap.
When we left for the cottage, the birds were already beginning to flock: pretty typical for the beginning of August.  For what it’s worth, I’m predicting an early winter, and lots of snow.

Happy birds, splashing in the now-very-dirty bath. Gotta love Starlings.

We had coolish weather, compared to the heat we’d been promised. Wonderful anyway, especially since we had Craig and Karen for a few days to visit! Much fishing was done, mostly by Karen. I won’t post her picture with her biggest catch (she wouldn’t want me to), but it was a proud moment.

As usual, much time was spent in lazing on our or someone else’s deck. Nice to visit with Carl and Irene, especially when Irene pulls out a new drink recipe!

The view as we relaxed on the deck. Can't beat it!

These were every bit as yummy as they look.

Hiking up to the “upper farm”, we found a lot of wind damage from the previous week’s huge blow that made such a mess around Petawawa and Pembroke (and flattened an old barn of my friend’s family; I hope the link works). Saw at least a dozen trees down.

Look how Iain is dwarfed by this tree's exposed roots. It was some kind of poplar, I can't remember which. The roots towered around 15 feet, and held in their grasp a rock that measured about 1'x1.5'x3'.

We didn’t do a whole lot of anything, really.  Lots of time was spent checking out the frogs and other wildlife that visited/took up residence at our place.

When I took this, I don't think I even saw the little turtle on the left.

We were privileged to have a Merlin visit us. I worried he'd catch one of our chipmunks, but I think they survived.

Touring in the boat or the canoe was also a favourite pastime. I never get tired of looking at “our” lake.

A group of weathered cedar roots.

This Kingfisher just caught a snack!

Sadly, I didn’t win the lottery, so back to work I go.

Iain putting away the boat until next time.

Nibbles

…would probably be a good name for this little guy. With him, Mr. Buns (as Iain calls our little rabbit) and the chipmunks, I’m surprised we don’t have more plants eaten around the cottage.
I’m happy to report they’ve  finally decided to let the Liatris grow a bit – here’s hoping we see something  nice from it this summer.

Iain is still doing odds and ends of landscaping: here finishing a stump removal (it looks much better with it gone).

We have had a fairly relaxing July anyway, so far. I’m looking forward to doing a bit of camping just for a change of pace, this weekend.

Under the carpet

We pulled up the carpet from the old cottage, last weekend. More accurate than carbon-dating, are these newspapers which set the installation of said carpet sometime after October 1979. I don’t know why Dad or Mom put them there; perhaps they were to level a spot? Or soak up a spill that was then forgotten?

The front page mentions a new industry coming to the industrial park, which I think must be Westinghouse.

This closeup of the picture shows Howie Haramis  on the left, and on the right is Joe Zerbach, who was the plant manager at Blue Bell when I began to work there.

The Shady Lady Disco was a hot spot in the 70's and early 80's.

If only tune-ups were still this cheap!

Thirty-four years sees a lot of changes, doesn’t it?

May is (almost) done–and it’s finally getting warmer!

…so as much as I hate to see May leave, I am happy to be getting some nice days.
A little pictorial review of May:

The ice was mostly off when this picture was taken at the end of April.

My Mom was with us – here getting ready for a cuppa.

The tree on our front lawn in Renfrew (a maple) had a lot of blossoms this year.

My first-ever sighting of a Clay Coloured Sparrow was on the long weekend; one for the life list!

We were happy to see a school of sunfish – cute little fellas.


Someone was enjoying the fishing, or maybe, like us, just drinking in the beauty of this little lake!

The full moon rising over the bay, last weekend.

Five o’clock: time for tea? No, time for ‘tini!
We’re ready for June!

Not Quite The Weekend Update

I have had a busy month, which is why no posts. Winter is ending – long overdue – and spring briefly exploded to form an early summer, before settling back into more seasonal temperatures. There was frost last night, so I’m glad I didn’t rush out to plant annuals as yet.

The church’s annual yard sale/bake sale took place last weekend, which meant I had to do some baking, though not as much as in some years past: no buns (no time), just four or five batches of cookies. The sale was a success anyway, so I don’t think they were missed much (I did get told that my baked beans must be available at our fall sale, Lord willing).

We brought home the old VHS player from the cottage so I could try an experiment: transferring old VHS stuff to DVD. It seems to work; we have a DVD recorder that we used to used in our pre-PVR days, that has just been gathering dust. I hooked everything together and VOILA!: the old super8 movies that I had transferred to VHS (about 20 years ago) are now ready to burn to DVD. It isn’t a lot of film – only about 20-30 minutes worth – but it has some precious images from the 1970’s.

This is a still I found between scenes: it’s blurry (there were only two frames to take it from) but I know it is my Mom at the kitchen sink, probably drying a dish. Strange to find it wedged in there; I didn’t even know it existed until I was editing the raw VRO file. Probably I turned on my camera for a second by mistake, and that’s how it ended up on the film, but I’d never seen it before this, it being there and gone too quickly for the eye to see.

It’s too bad there is no sound on those old films. When I see my Dad, and Dodie’s first husband Terry, and my Aunt Bea, how I’d love to hear their voices again!

We’re gearing up for the long weekend, and then summer is truly here. Cottage time again, and I can’t wait!

Water, Anyone?

Not the nicest weather at the lake, but it was an interesting trip, if only for the sight of the swimming pool Mother Nature has installed in our side yard.

I’ve never seen flooding like this. Iain’s remark when looking at the road that runs between the two lakes was that it seemed to be just one lake, now.

The creek was running very high – the culverts could hardly handle all the water.
Today was beautiful and bright, and the waters had gone down a few inches, so it seems things will be alright.

On our way home, we saw a Northern Harrier and took a few pictures. This wasn’t our only bird sighting, just the coolest. The Song Sparrows are back at the lake, and seemed to be building a nest; and I saw a gorgeous Great Blue Heron just outside Renfrew.

A Short Visit

Port Hope is a nice place to visit, especially when you get to spend time with great people like Carl and Irene.  Five of us made the trip down for the weekend: Dodie, Myles, Jo, Iain and me, ostensibly to watch the “Float Your Fanny” fun, but really to just talk and eat, which is what we do best.



His name is Dibbley, and he is C&I's neighbour. Isn't he adorable?


The day was clear and a bit chilly, and we were happy to be on the sidelines watching, and not be participants in the race!

Really did need the hood.

The race ran very slowly this year, probably as a result of the lower-than-usual water levels.  We didn’t see anywhere near all of the entries. After watching for a while we headed home, stopping along the way to check out the fish ladder at the dam, where no salmon were jumping. Oh well.

These guys are getting their craft out of the river to portage around the dam.

Port Hope is full of lovely old buildings and structures.

This mill is near the dam.

The railway trestle is marked as being built in 1913! I wonder does anyone remember that this is their centennial?

Just snapped it while we were driving by.

Downtown Port Hope. Home of Ken Bell's store - awesome costume jewelry.

Lots of very impressive churches in Port Hope.

The view from the edge of Lake Ontario always humbles me: it could be an ocean, it looks so vast.


The water looks inviting.