Tag: lake living

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Wage war on summer’s tormentors

deer flies on hatI am Canadian. I live in the woods. But I have never, and will never make peace with bugs.

You’ve heard me say before it’s a cruel joke that when the weather gets nice, the bugs get brutal. First it’s blackflies, then mosquitoes, and then the scumbugs of the insect world, the dreaded deer fly.

When it comes to bugs, I choose to go on the offensive. Bug zappers are an effective weapon for mosquitoes, but not for deer and horse flies. No siree, when it comes deer flies, you have to unleash summer’s secret weapon: the deer fly patch.

If you’ve never used a deer fly patch before, let me educate you. It’s a sticky strip of tape that you attach to the back of your hat. When the deer fly lands on your hat, bam, you got him! He sticks to the strip like glue. You can even watch him trying to lift his spindly legs and see the look of panic in his beady little eyes when he knows his buzzing days are over.

On our nightly walks, we make it a contest—who can capture the most deer flies with one strip. I beat Clare this week with lucky thirteen, but there was one time when I came back with 23 deer flies on my hat after a long canoe trip. That’s my all-time record.

This week’s #HappyAct is to get a deer fly patch, or share your favourite weapon of bug destruction. I’m curious whether anyone has tried those high end bug zappers at Canadian Tire. Do they work? We need to stick together and share intelligence in the war against bugs. Leave a comment.

deer fly strip package

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Discover your Ultimate Attitude Adjuster

lillies at the lakeThere are some weeks when Friday can’t come fast enough. This was one of them.

That’s when you need to rely on your UAA: Ultimate Attitude Adjuster. I discovered mine 13 years ago when we moved to this house.

Mine goes something like this. I walk in the door around 6 p.m. The house is empty but I can hear squeals and laughter at the lake. I grab my bathing suit off the back deck railing, a bag of chips and a cold beer or cooler from the fridge. I head straight to the lake and after three or four sips, dive head first into the cold water. Within minutes, the stressors of the week wash off of me and dissipate in the ripples of the water, and life is good again.

Living on a lake has become a huge part of my work life balance. No matter how bad a work day we’ve had, Dave and I know we can always come home to our Ultimate Attitude Adjuster, a plunge into our beautiful spring-fed lake.

This week’s #HappyAct is to find or share your UAA. How do you destress after a busy week? Leave a comment.

Ed. note: Even though we live on a lake, I’ve discovered we have a sad lack of fish and dock pictures in our archive, so I’m sharing two shots I took at the lake this weekend that I like. The frog was cool–he was kind of a mutant and looked like he was half frog with green on the top and half toad, with brown on the bottom. I’ll save the snake videos for another week, just for you Jessica Schonewille!

frog

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8 things to do on the May two-four to recharge your batteries

pig roast
Make a day trip to The Day of the Pig in Parham–the hoppin’ place to be on Sunday

The May two-four. The first official long weekend of summer. Since our family rarely goes away in the winter months, I find the Victoria Day weekend a lifesaver. It’s the first real chance after a long winter with no vacation to recharge our batteries. And I don’t know about you, but my batteries were running dangerously low before this weekend.

Whether you’re camping, cottaging or just enjoying time at home, my happy act this weekend is for you to enjoy the weekend to the fullest.

Here are eight things you can do to recharge your batteries on the May two-four

  1. Drink alcohol. Alcohol is known to be a great stress reliever. My favourite bevies of choice on the long weekend are a cooler on the dock, beer—any beer, any time, or a nice glass of red wine before dinner with appetizers on the back deck
  2. Take a cat nap in a lawn chair
  3. Plant some flowers
  4. Sleep in every day. Don’t make any plans before 10 a.m.
  5. Get out on the water—go for a kayak, fish or take a Thousand Islands cruise and enjoy the sun shimmering on the water
  6. The best part about long weekends is they give you a bonus day. Use it to the fullest by planning a special outing. If you’re in the Kingston area, why not head up to Seed to Sausage and The Day of the Pig in Central Frontenac today—an old fashioned pig roast with live music and artisanal cheese and beer makers from across Eastern Ontario to tantalize your taste buds.
  7. Watch some fireworks
  8. Do nothing at all. Sit. Relax. Watch the world go by. Just enjoy being.

This week’s #HappyAct is to enjoy this first glorious long weekend of the summer to the fullest. Have a great long weekend everyone.

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Spring’s symphony

 

Spring is a delight for the senses, especially sounds. For the past few weeks on my nightly walk, I’ve been serenaded with the symphonic sounds of spring.

The first movement begins with the dolce sounds of a songbird, introducing the sweet melody in the opening sonata. His solo transitions into a chorus of sopranos and altos: spring peepers and chorus frogs whose peep, peep, peep and crick, crick, crick fill the night air with fanfare.

The staccato sounds of a woodpecker pierce the night air, rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat. A barred owl takes centre stage in the spotlight demanding, “who, who, who cooks for you”. The final movement builds in intensity, as the drumming beat of a grouse drives the last few refrains. Quiet descends.

A perfect performance on nature’s stage.

This week’s #HappyAct is to get out and enjoy the symphonic sounds of spring.

Hear the sounds.

Watch these videos to learn more about the performers in spring’s symphony.

Western chorus frog

Spring peepers

 

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Imagine your dream home

Girl looking up lakeThere’s a vacant lot up the road. It faces west, has a clearing with a charming apple tree and is surrounded by beautiful pines. It would be the perfect spot to build your dream home.

We’ve never built before and probably never will, but it’s fun to imagine…

…a quaint Cape Cod style house with a large wrap-around deck with a screened in porch to enjoy bug-free summer nights…

…beautiful English style perennial gardens, a hot tub on the back deck and a swim-up bar at the lake…

…a games room with a pool table, ping pong table, air hockey and shuffleboard…

…two bathrooms, and a bedroom with a walk-in closet…

I think that’s reasonable, don’t you? Grace on the other hand has a different dream: to build a tiny house that she’d leave on our property, but that would be on wheels so she could move if she got tired of us (our kids clearly watch too much HGTV). Clare’s dream home would have a hockey rink.

Actually, I don’t have to imagine my dream home. I’ve found it. There’s a cottage on Sydenham Lake that is absolutely stunning. I’d be happy to live in their garage.

cottage on lake
My dream house on Sydenham Lake

This week’s #HappyAct is to imagine your dream home. What would yours look like? Leave a comment, and have fun dreaming.

 

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A bagpiper walks into a blog

Man in kiltSpecial guest blog by David Swinton.

Ok, I’ll admit it. When my wife started this blog, I rolled my eyes and said ‘God Help Us’. Why would any person feel she is in a position to tell others how to be happier?

For a while, I even nicknamed it the ‘Crappy Act’. But personally deep down, I knew that there was no one better qualified to accomplish this mission. I have known my wife for almost 35 years. To this day, she continues to amaze me with her positive, energetic look at life. You might not always agree with her take on happiness (what the heck is an Easter Chicken anyway) but you loyal readers still come week after week to expand your happiness quotient.

When she asked me to fill in for her this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to say. After my Mom died over a year ago, I spent a lot of nights asking myself why should someone so giving of herself be taken in such a cruel manner. As with all tragic events, I started to question my own existence and where I fit into this continually evolving saga we call life. As my thoughts drifted more and more, I realized how complicated my own life had become. Between work, hockey practices, 4-H, bagpipes and the general pace of the world these days, I felt myself struggling to stay engaged. What kind of life is that? You only get one shot at it, folks.

So, in response to this, I have decided to focus at least a half hour each day to the appreciation of the simplest things in my life. One day, it might be the cardinal that has mysteriously appeared after my mother (an avid birder) died. The next day it might be the sound of wind whistling through the large pines around the house. One night I might watch a flying squirrel drift into the feeder from the darkness of the forest. The next, read a good book in a quiet corner boiling maple syrup. Laugh with your child as she pranks you for April Fools or savour a cold Corona at 10 in the morning on a hot day. Kneel down while your 9 year old shows you how intricate insect galleries under pieces of bark from a dead tree can be. Explain to her that the simplest of organisms created something this beautiful.

Your assignment this week? Put the world away for a half hour, slow down and take the time to glean a moment of pure joy from your world. And next week, enjoy while someone with actual writing talent takes back this blog.

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Toast your buns

Mother and daughter in car
Grace and I fighting over the heated car seats

Minus 27 degrees Celcius. The deep freeze is finally here. The consensus on Facebook yesterday seemed to be the best way to beat the cold was to stay inside.

Not us. We spent three hours down at the lake yesterday, clearing off the rink, skating, skiing and even having a hot dog cookout. After warming up inside, we headed out again, this time in the car to Westport for a church spaghetti supper.

I don’t consider myself high maintenance. I don’t own a Coach purse or Gucci wallet. I drive a 10-year old Honda and I’m just as happy with a simple pasta supper at home or at the church in Westport than getting dressed up and going out to a fancy restaurant.

But there is one luxury I have come to appreciate, especially in the dead of winter–heated car seats.

Whenever we venture out on a cold day, the girls and I race to Dave’s car and fight over the front seat. The victor hops in the passenger side and cranks the dial to 24 or 25 and waits for the warmth of the seat to make their tush tingle. It’s luxury, pure luxury on a cold winter’s day.

Clare usually wins, because she “claims” she gets car sickness in the back seat of Dave’s car. Grace and I think it’s a sinister ruse. Trust me, it’s hard to be sympathetic when the little minx blurts out “My buttocks are burning!”

Happiness isn’t a warm puppy when it’s minus 27 outside. Happiness is a heated car seat.

This week’s #HappyAct is to fight for the front seat, or find something to keep your buns toasty warm. And if one of your kids claims they feel car sick, be heartless. Race as fast as you can to claim the front seat–no butts about it.

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Find your happy place

saying about happinessA couple of week’s ago, I posted this image on Facebook.

All my life I’ve lived by water. Growing up in Port Credit, I lived by the Credit River and Lake Ontario. I’d spend my summers swimming in the Credit or at one of the many beaches along the lake. (Sadly, the beaches are often closed now due to high eColi readings and only a crazy person would swim in the Credit River anymore).

In Ottawa, when I was studying my Masters degree at Carleton University, I lived by the canal and not far from the Ottawa River. I biked in the summers along the river and canal, and skated to school and downtown in the winter on the world’s longest skating rink.

When Dave and I decided to get out of Toronto, we targeted five areas. The area north of Kingston, with its honeycomb of lakes was at the top of our list, and today I live on a lake and work at an office where I can see Lake Ontario from our offices.

There’s a scene in Happy Gilmour, where Happy’s golf coach tells him to go to his happy place.

This week’s #HappyAct is to find your happy place. Mine is water. What’s yours?

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Rise and shine

Lake in the morningI’m not a morning person. Most Saturday and Sunday mornings, you’ll find me drinking coffee and reading the papers. But in the summer, when the sun is sparkling on the lake, I’ll get up early, fill a thermos with coffee and head down to the water to watch the lake come to life.

I wiped the morning dew from the deck chairs and drank my Cooke’s coffee. A lone painted turtle poked his head above the water. Across the lake, the loons were in the midst of early morning take-off practice.

Did I mention that our loons had twins this year? We’ve named this year’s offspring Leo and Lana and they’ve grown big and strong. Today was the day their parents decided to start flight training.

Loons are lousy flyers. I have no idea how they make it to the Gulf of Mexico each winter. They skim across the lake, their wings laboriously slapping the water. Just when you think they’re never going to make it, like a 300 lb man being dragged behind a boat on waterskis, they eventually rise out of the water and you hear the flap, flap, flap of their wings as they circle overhead.

Loon and babies

The other night, Dave and I were out fishing, and we watched as one of our loons botched a landing. He was careening in from the air, trying to level out as he got close to the water, tipping his wings right, then left and hit the water so hard it’s a wonder he didn’t lose a leg. Another time, I swear I almost got hit by one. We were in the canoe and off in the distance ahead, a loon was starting to take off. He must have misjudged the distance between him and our canoe, because he kept coming closer and closer until he lifted off just metres before our boat. He was so close I literally ducked.

I wanted to go see our loon family, so I rolled over the kayak and pushed off from shore. I always check my kayak before I start paddling in case there are any bugs, frogs or other creatures in it. Half way across the lake I realized I had a stowaway– a little garter snake who was slithering up beside my seat. He was a well behaved passenger and just curled up in front of my kayak for the rest of the trip.

Garter snake in kayak
My stowaway

I saw a green heron, a family of five turtles on the rock down from our dock while I was swimming and lots of fish. It was a good morning–well worth rising early for.

This week’s #HappyAct is to rise and shine and see what adventures await. There’s only a few weeks of summer left. Make the most of every sun-kissed minute.

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Watch a baby grow–read about our loons

Loon family
Our loon family

I was kayaking in our back lake last Sunday. It was a bit of a challenge to even get into the lake because the beavers had dammed up the channel, but I made it in, and was rewarded to discover our two loons with a brand new baby.

We had given up hope there would be a baby this year. I had taken pictures of the mother on her nest and the egg about a month ago, but when no baby appeared, we assumed the egg had been eaten by a snapping turtle or pike.

Each day this past week has brought a new wonder as we’ve watched “Wheezy” (short for Louise) grow. She started out staying very close to her mother, often riding on her back , then learning how to dive.

The other day she was in the middle of the lake by herself. The mama and papa loon were closer to our dock. You could tell they were worried and trying to find her. She’d give a little hoot, and they’d answer with a full call, dipping their heads under water to try to hear her better and locate her. The parents started swimming quickly toward her and the family was reunited. Last night, I watched as the dad fished and fed the baby his catch.

There is nothing more life affirming than witnessing the miracle of life. It represents everything that is good in this world–innocence, trust, love, optimism, and endless possibility. We experienced this same feeling a few weeks ago on vacation when we watched a newborn foal find his legs during our week-long visit.

Fast forward to two nights ago. I was walking across the soccer field. My two girls were walking and talking in front of me. I was suddenly struck by what beautiful, spirited people they had become. In that moment I was so proud. It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to watch them grow. I look forward to the next ten years to see the young women they become.

This week’s #HappyAct is to watch a baby grow. Witness the miracle of life and be thankful that each day is a gift. I have two more births to look forward to. Our neighbours are expecting a baby this fall and we are looking forward to welcoming their little one into the world and watch him grow. And Dave’s almost finished building the chicken coop—time to get baby chicks!

Adult loon ruffling its feathers
The papa loon warns us we are getting too close
Baby loon on her mother's back
Wheezy getting a ride on her mother’s back
Loon egg
The egg is a mottled brown, about the size of a grapefruit