Home once more

Warning: Picture intensive!

Home again, but already wishing I was back at the cottage. Our week there passed far too quickly and was much busier than usual. We arrived on the Friday at noon, anxious to put the boat into the lake, only to find the motor was dead when we turned the key! The battery had been charged before we left, could it be that the battery needed replacement? After towing the boat to a nearby marina the mechanic informed us that it was a relatively minor problem. The cables from the battery to the engine were shot and needed to be replaced. He could do the job for us the next day. Disappointing, but not as expensive as we'd feared and besides, it rained most of the day Saturday so we didn't mind not having the boat.

The cottage was as lovely as always. The owners had put in a new dock this year and are now awaiting their permits for a new boathouse. After lunch on Saturday, my cousin Sheryl and her husband Bryan arrived to spend the weekend with us. It was great seeing them again. It was their daughter who was just married that I had stitched the wedding piece for. We spent Saturday catching up and enjoying a marvellous meal which Bryan prepared for us.

After attending church on Sunday morning (by boat!), we took them on a boat trip to Port Carling for a picnic lunch. Following our return they headed home.

During their stay we had warned them that the cottage had several mice which had taken up residence. The owners had left several mouse traps around but said they hadn't seen any yet. We had seen several last year and one joined me on the couch on our first night there this year! Now at this point I have to tell you that my DH is frightened of mice. So on Sunday morning when we found a mouse dead in one of the traps I knew that he wouldn't be disposing of it! Thanks to Bryan for getting rid of the mouse for us. Although several mornings later it was my turn... not one but two dead mice! Ugh!! At this point Bob suggested not replacing any more of the traps until we left. That way neither one of us would have to deal with any more dead mice!!

Bob and I were invited on Tuesday night to a friend's home to hear his son give a vocal recital. We were both looking forward to this since Fred has a lovely home with an incredible view of Lake Muskoka. The photo above is the view from Fred's deck as the Segwun steamship passes by. What better setting for a recital? However on Sunday afternoon we received a phone call to inform us that the pianist who was to accompany the recital was ill and could Bob possibly fill in? Our lakeside vacation suddenly became a working vacation! Bob was more than happy to help out since Fred had previously owned an island in the Muskokas where Bob cottaged (no charge) for many years and where we had spent our honeymoon. During the next two days while Bob rehearsed for the recital I sat on the deck at Fred's place and stitched. Heaven!

However this was to be one of the few times in which I could sit and stitch. We spent Monday visiting Bob's stepcousins who now have possession of his maternal grandfather's cottage. Beautiful spot on Lake Muskoka just down the lake from the Taboo resort. The cottage is approximately 85 yrs old and is a true old-fashioned cottage. In fact Bob said that nothing had changed and the cottage still looked the same as he remembered from his childhood. On the bottom picture on the left you can see the welcoming crew who greeted us at the dock. We had travelled to visit them by boat which takes about 1 hr from Bala to Gravenhurst. On both our trip there and back we checked out some of the cottages in the many bays off the lake. I prefer the old cottages to the new ones but either way we won't be investing in one anytime soon. A 900 sq ft cottage with 50 ft of lake frontage goes for about $400,000 to $500,000 and many of the newer cottages with 100 - 150 ft of lake frontage range from $1 million to $4.5 million in price! I'd be happy with their boat houses!! If you click on the link in my sidebar to my webshots albums, I should have the Muskoka pictures up by the end of this week and you can see some of the shots I took of cottages and boathouses.

One of my favourite past times at the cottage is to sit in the morning on the dock with my coffee and stitch. I only got the chance to do that on one morning this year! Most of the time it was too windy to sit at the lakeside. Patterns and floss would be flying! So this year I took to sitting on the cottage porch and awaiting the arrival of the hummingbirds who stop by the feeder each day. I sat very quietly with my camera and managed to sneak a few pictures. It could be clearer but I was taking it through the porch windows.

Wednesday was a washout because of rain so I did manage a wee bit of stitching indoors before we had more visitors arrive. This time it was the neighbours, also related to the cottage owner, who remember when Bob's family cottaged in the area. Following this we had tickets to see a musical performance in Parry Sound. Every summer this town hosts a 3wk music festival called the Festival of the Sound. If you follow the link, the picture on their home page just happens to be the concert which we took in. We saw our first concert there last summer and hope to take one in each time we visit. The music is varied and very reasonable in price plus it's an incredible concert hall.

The following day we were invited to lunch at the former Jones' cottage which is 5 doors down from where we rent. The current owners purchased the cottage from Bob's grandfather in the sixties for $16,500 and the cottage is now assessed at $600,000! I don't think we could afford the taxes even if we'd inherited. The cottage was sold long before any of the Jones' boys were old enough to take possession. It was a lovely visit and certainly another trip down memory lane for my DH.

Despite our many visits and visitors we did manage to make several morning trips by boat into Bala to stop in at Don's Bakery for scones and pick up fruits and veggies at the roadside market. I love going everwhere by boat! On one of evening trips around the lake we managed to get very close to one of the loons and I took this picture.

Then before you knew it, it was Friday and time to leave the cottage for our B&B in Gravenhurst. We had hoped to get the cottage for 10 days but because of the approaching holiday weekend, the owners were returning on Friday. So off to the B&B which was the next best thing. This particular spot is located on the Hoc Roc River, just off of Lake Muskoka. We were able to tie our boat at their dock with easy access to the lake. Our stay though was very brief since yours truly developed a stomach flu overnight Friday and spent most of Saturday in bed. Other guests were arriving and since we had a shared bathroom, we made the decision to head home late Saturday afternoon . There's nothing worse than being sick away from home, especially when you don't have the bathroom to yourself! Of course the drive home was no picnic but I plied myself full of drugs so that I slept most of the way and my trips to the bathroom would be few.

Feeling better today but I still don't have much of an appetite. Maybe that's good considering all of the junk I did eat while away! I'm hoping Bob doesn't come down with it next since he says his stomach just doesn't feel right today.

Although I didn't stitch as much as I'd hope this trip, I still had a fun, relaxing time. I even managed to pick up Cirque again. I'll save a picture of that one for my next post. I hope to work on it again tonight. My August ornie is almost complete and I did put in some stitches on my Tantes Zolder piece as well.

Tomorrow is my return to work, yuck! It's a short week though and I'm only working 3 days next week. We are hoping to visit a friend's cottage on Big Rideau Lake that week. She's a fellow stitcher so that should be great fun. I look forward to catching up with all of you in the next few days.