The Colours are Coming

The sunny days and cool nights have Mother Nature's paintbrushes on high speed this week.

I took these pictures from the car on Monday and today there are twice as many trees that are turning. Will try to take another batch soon. The sumach have gotten redder by the day this week.

Since George's web cam doesn't show any colour yet, I decided these were worth sharing.

Where is summer?

It is July 30th. We are stuck inside - again - with rain and very cool temps. High today (according to iphone weather) will only be 19.

Okay, so if we are a month behind, July's weather was June's. August's will be July's - unless August decides to do September's. Fingers crossed that will not be the care.

The only happy living things around here are the plants. They are ENORMOUS! There are thistle-like weeds at the side of the road that are well over 6' tall. And folks who have been coming here for the 20+ years we have been here can't get over how green everything is.

Oh well, no sense in beefing about it, since it won't change anything - oh to heck with that - of course we can complain.

Here's to a warmer, dryer August! And sunny weather for our AGM on Saturday, August 2nd. 
Our hosts will be Adrienne and Peter Boersma (of Boundary Lake, driveway near the recycling bins and our message board).

Look for the bright green sign in our Message Board for directions. 

Hope to see you there. 

Another Art Bombing

Not sure where you all are, since the lake is very quiet, but when you do come, you will see this on your drive in Blue Lake Road.

Here's a little closer view.

Once again, something that looks totally at home in the pond. It will have you doing a double take.
And then smiling.

Hope it is still here when you come!!

PS Took the first water temperature last Sunday and it was 19 degrees.

Leaves, Bugs and Keys Keys Keys

I am happy to report that the leaves are pretty much out. They seemed to pop in the last week.
With them, unfortunately come the bugs. Ya gotta love when blackflies and mosquitoes overlap. A feeding frenzy.

But the biggest pest this year are the keys. Thousands upon thousands of them everywhere. A banner year, according to everyone I have spoken with. Apparently it happens every five years or so, and I am sure we can thank that merciless winter for this year's yield.

Apparently, if they are on lawn areas, you can weed whack or mow them to get rid of them. But seriously, they are sprouting in places where the degree of difficulty for growing is horrendous. I have already devoted hours to picking them out of the driveway, pathways and river rock. And today, I will begin on the lake side. Here are just a few pics I took.

pathway in the garden

front "lawn" (and I use the term loosely)

garden bed

Bug suit, bug spray, rain boots and gardening gloves will all be in style while I pull bucket after bucket of seeds from the garden. You can sit in one spot and pull hundreds without moving. Yikes!!

Oh well, boats are in so we can have a lovely cruise before dinner as our reward.

GONE!!!

At dinner time last night, there was still a fair bit of ice out there, even though there were lots of open spaces.

And as the water opened up, the first loon landed in our bay. I swear they must have their own air traffic controller who lets them know when they are "good to land".


Then, when I woke up this morning, it was gone.

Just a tiny bit around the shoreline where the sun can't reach. But the next endless days of rain will get rid of that for sure.

Going, Going.......

It is a beautiful sunny day here today and the remaining ice on the lake looks like it won't last the week.
Most of the docks are now floating and the narrows near the Hawkes' is open. Fingers crossed the season is on its way.

And look who's back. Right at the edge of the ice on the right hand side is our little water line duck.

On our walk today, we saw a butterfly. That seemed strange, but hey, we'll take any sign that this awful winter is over.

By the time the long weekend is here - very early to be sure - we should be able to get out there on the water. Not so sure about IN, but ON seems like a safe bet.

Will try to post again when the ice is gone, gone, gone.

Land ho!!!

Finally, with a few mild days, good winds and a bit of rain, there are patches of earth showing through the snow!!!

Today we didn't get the predicted downpour, but we have a mighty fog and can't see across to Booze Island - well maybe just the tops of the trees.

Here are a few pictures to share:

One of a few big patches left in the front.

Front garden is mostly clear.

Lots of clear patches in the woods - even more now than day before yesterday.

Cautiously optimistic that the white stuff will soon be history.

This time last year our boat was already in the water - well, officially tomorrow. So we have a lot of melting to do to get there. The ice appears to be gone around the edges of the lake, but there still looks like there is lots in the centre.