Cottage and bug question

Back from the cottage! Glorious weather, and there was still colour on the leaves. We had our turkey on Saturday, went to the annual Turkey Bowl on Sunday. The Turkey Bowl is one of the lake's long-standing traditions on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, where cottagers from the south and north ends of the lake play a game of touch football.

For those of us on the sidelines, it's a chance to catch up with other cottage families and park news. I remember how nervous I was when Jeff brought me to my first Turkey Bowl; I knew I was an outsider. The cottagers are a welcoming bunch, however, and it wasn't long before I felt like part of the family. Now I look around at young people I've known since their toddlerhood, some old enough to play in the Turkey Bowl.



Above: Lauren and me. I first met Lauren when she paddled over in a kayak from a nearby cottage on the lake; she was only seven years old. We've kept in touch ever since, and she's just graduated from college!

The photo below was taken this morning, as we were packing up to leave the cottage:



That stuff that looks like snow is actually a swarm of bugs; there were hundreds of them. Here's close-up of one lying upside down on my hand:



Not sure what kind of bugs these were...anyone there know? The white fur substance came off eventually, so Jeff and I figure it must have been part of the hatching process. The bugs weren't biting, at least not yet, but they were swarming so thickly you had to make sure to keep your mouth closed as you walked around. :-)



Alan Thiesen asked about the term "Canuck" after my last post because he thought the term was derogatory, and Allison did some research. From Allison, based on this Wikipedia entry: "Seems to indicate that Canadians use the term affectionately to refer to each other, but it might be considered insulting said by a non-Canadian. If used with affection, it's never been a word I'd consider offensive said by anyone."

I'm with Allison...I had no idea that the term was anything other than a fun nickname.

My friend Andy's post made me laugh:

"Hey parki, is it true you aren't afraid to dream? Does that mean you don't get the one where you're naked, and clowns are chasing you with gardening shears? Or the one where you can't find the beer, because your fridge is full of human heads, and they're all looking at you?
Oh.
.
.
.
.
No, me neither."

:-D

Hope you all had a good weekend!



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laser regatta and camera lust

Above: Jeff and Gord Gibson.

Just got back from the cottage, where Jeff and I had fun hanging out with various nephews and nieces as well as attending the annual cottagers' Laser Regatta at the Gibsons'. This year's regatta was different in Dan Gibson's absence...Dan was always the heart and soul of the event, after all. His fun-loving and enthusiastic spirit still pervaded throughout, and it was a wonderful afternoon.

Dan's oldest son, Danny, wielded his father's megaphone this year, while Jeff kept time and score:



Before the annual regatta began, participants did a "sail by" at noon in memory of Dan:



Gord let me use his camera during the event. I don't even want to speculate how expensive that piece equipment was, but I soooooooooo loved taking pictures with it! Darned heavy, though...not the kind of thing I could stick it my backpack and sling around the way I do my own camera. Anyway, all the photos on the page except for the one below were taken with Gord's camera.



My dad-in-law, during the regatta:



JBR was injured during the event, the first physical injury in the history of this regatta. He had finished one of the races and was floating in his boat, waiting for the others, when he started thinking about Dan and stopped paying proper attention to the wind...got smacked in the head with the boom as a result, and the boat overturned. He got a nasty cut and bruises around his eye as a result, but after getting patched up back at the dock, he went back out and sailed the rest of the races.

Ducks, flying overhead:



My brother-in-law, Case:



Jeff (looking darned cute, in my opinion):




Gord:



Willi Powell, who won most of the races:



It was a fine afternoon, with lots of laughter and fun-spirited ribbing, catching up with fellow cottagers and friends, and the weather smiled on us throughout.

I can't help but think that Dan Gibson would have been pleased.

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Cottage visit

Above: I took this photo early Saturday morning.

Jeff and I just got back from a two-week stay at the cottage. This past week, we spent time with my sister and her family, who were renting a cottage a short boat ride away from ours. Lots of swimming, fishing, sailing, marshmallow-roasting, canoeing and exploring. I was amazed at the change in overall temperature...last week, it was sweltering and over 30 degrees Celsius at eight in the morning. This past weekend, we had to change our plans for a canoe trip because the temperatures plummeted to just above freezing at night; some of us only had summer sleeping bags and warm weather clothing. We went for an 11 hour day trip instead, paddling across several lakes to our campsite, hanging out for several hours, then heading back again.

Here are a few pics...

One of my nieces carries some gear on a day trip:



My brother-in-law Kaarel with a canoe on a portage:



My sister sitting in the canoe in front of me (Kaarel sat behind), with Jeff and my nieces paddling another canoe to the right:



Photos of Jeff and me, by my 9-year-old niece:





I'm off to unpack and wash a huge pile of clothes, sort through e-mail and snailmail, catch up on work, and once again appreciate the luxuries of high-speed access and flush toilets.

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Nature questions

To you spider experts out there... In the photo to the right, is the spherical bit beneath the spider PART of the spider, or (what we suspect) an egg sac? I've also included a photo of the spider from above, if that helps.

I've never really minded spiders, even the big ones, though I'm still not crazy about the idea of them crawling on me or sharing my bedspace. They're such fascinating creatures, and there are so many different types at the cottage.



And here's a photo and a question for you botanists:



We found the berry plants above mixed in with regular blueberry plants in northern Ontario. There are always exactly three of the berries, larger than regular blueberries, on each stalk. You can see the shape of the leaf in the background. Anyone out there know what kind they are? And if they're edible/poisonous?

Thanks in advance for any information. :-)

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Cottage visit

Back from the cottage! We took our friend Ray with us and had a wonderful time. Because of a busy weekend schedule and house stuff, this was our first visit up north since ice-out. It was somewhat muggy, but jumping in the lake always cooled us off. I love my morning swims up there...it's a wonderful way to start off the day.

Things have gotten way busier workwise these days, so I took some work with me: finished edits on my novel and completed five illustrations for a client. Sadly, the external modem that comes with my MacBook doesn't seem to work very well with the cottage phone line but happily, I didn't need to be online. Jeff says that when I do, I can always use his Airport connection via his laptop.

Also did a lot of reading, drawing for fun, snoozing, and wrote a short instrumental while playing around with Garageband 3 for the first time.

Here are some photos from the weekend...

Ray stayed in a tent during the visit:



Jeff went sailing:



Playing a board game in the boathouse:



And some photos from the cottage archives...

Wam and Jimmy Stringer:



Their brother, Omer Stringer, was famous for his paddling skills.

Dan Gibson and my father-in-law, many years ago:



As I wrote in my Blatherings back in March, Dan Gibson will be missed by many.

I also played around with Corel Painter some more. Here's one I call "Creepy Mad Guy":



I liked Scott Snyder's comment in Flickr: "Oh, I dunno - looks like me before I've had my coffee in the morning."

:-D

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