vacation 2012: part 6

Yesterday being Saturday, we all piled into one of the boats shortly after breakfast and headed in to town to do some shopping at the weekend farmers market.  Lots of people apparently had the same idea - the place was packed.  I picked up 4 or 5 zucchinis and then walked to the hardware store, where I bought a new tarp in anticipation of camping in Illinois in a few more days.  Shortly thereafter, the rest of the group wandered back to the center of town and we all came back to the camp.

Dr. Peddy prepares to fish

The afternoon was a quiet one.  I practiced the tuba a bit more while just about everyone else hung out on the dock and read.  At around 3:00, Cy and I hit the tennis court and played 10 games before we both got too hot to play more and headed for the lake.  The score when we stopped was 5-5.  This is not surprising.  So far, Cy and I have played on three days.  After the three sessions, our scores are deadlocked.  I won the first set, 7-6.  Cy won the second, 7-6.  And the third stands at 5 games each.  Maybe we'll finish the match today.  It is a beautiful day for tennis.

John and Marcia Ramsey came to Ulvik at around 5:00 for cocktails and conversation.  I let the older crowd do most of that.  It was my turn to cook, so I pretty much stayed in the kitchen and made chicken pot pie.  Not to pat myself on the back too awful much, but it was great.

Unfortunately, Karl developed a toothache at some point yesterday.  That, combined with the overzealous cocktail houring by many in the group, led to a mass exodus back to individual cabins shortly after dinner.  I took a dip in the lake, returned to the main cabin for a video call with Amy, then went back to the lake - and then to bed - at around 11:00.

Karl didn't feel much better today, so he and Diane hit the road for home this morning - a day or two earlier than planned.

Don and I putted around on the lake for an hour or so this morning - ostensibly so he could fish.  Everyone else has been on the dock all day.  As I mentioned, it is a gorgeous Ahmic day, with a nice breeze coming off the lake, spotty sunshine, and temps in the high 70s.

Perfection.

TWD

vacation 2012: part 5

There were plans made yesterday to visit Echo rock.  I've never been there.  Have heard a lot about it, but have never actually seen it.  So I was sort of looking forward to it.

At the last minute, however, the rest of the clan made the decision to go to Huntsville and buy groceries.  Yay.

Not a lot of Curling Clubs in Atlanta.....

Actually, it wasn't a bad trip.  For one thing, Diane let me drive her car - a new Subaru Outback.  Since the Outback is on my extremely short list of cars that I'm considering (to replace my aging and expensive Audi), I was really rather pleased to be able to drive one for an extended period and on a few different road types. It drove really well and remains at the top of my list.  On the highway - with the A/C at max - it cruised along at about 30 MPG, and it did a great job smoothing out the bumps when I took an alternate way home along the (dirt and gravel) Midlothian Road.  Had to brake hard twice when I got on the Nippissing Road - once for a quail (which was wholly unimpressed with the car's horn) and again when the Thompson Road driveway suddenly appeared on my left before I was ready for it.

I'm a bit baffled why it doesn't have a temperature gauge (it has, instead, a needle that swings wildly and is supposed to tell you how economically you're driving); but other than that, it's a nice car.  Now I just have to decide when I'm actually going to commit myself to 3-5 more years of car payments.

While in Huntsville, we ate at a river on the docks (I believe the restaurant is called "On the Docks").  I had a burger, served to me by a young woman who looks exactly like the Olson twins.  

Upon our return to Camp Ulvik, we immediately hopped into quiet mode.  For me, that meant practicing the big horn for a couple of hours.  I read a number of different etudes from my Arban's Cornet Method - nearly broke my fingers (and my chops) on variations of Yankee Doodle, Blue Bells of Scotland, and America.  Fun pieces all, though.  I might try to concentrate on one of more of them today.

Dinner last night was prepared by Diane and Don and consisted of flank steak, baked beans, and salad.  Great stuff.  

Nellie the amazing wonder puppy

The after-dinner gaming hour turned into an extended bullshit session - I played with the dog and listened to my iPod - until everyone agreed that bed sounded really good at around 10:30.  That being the case, I fell into the lake a few times, took some pictures of Indian Point (it's really not getting dark here at all this year....at least not before midnight), splurged on a cell phone call to Amy, and finally drifted off to sleep listening to the water slapping against the boats downstairs.

What a great way to fall asleep.

TWD

vacation 2012: part 4

Karl and Diane Neuse arrived a little before dinner last night, which was good because it was Karl's job to make dinner.

Ahmic Lake

He didn't, of course.  Instead, Cy baked a pork roast and some green beans - good stuff.

I spent a couple of hours practicing the big horn in the boathouse yesterday - chops got sore, but the sound is beginning to come back.  One more week to get things in order....

Not much to report from last night.  All of us tottered off to our beds not long after dinner - around 9:30, I suppose.  I slept like a rock and woke up at 6:30.  Took a bath in the lake and started the day.

This morning, I went exploring to the west of Magnetawan.  Basically, I followed route 520 for an hour or so.  Found the Whitestone Cemetery and a few lots for sale in Whitestone on the shore of a tiny little lake - more likely a pond.  Definitely not Whitestone Lake, at any rate.

Just returned to Ulvik about 45 minutes ago and am writing this while I wait for the kitchen to clear out so I can make a couple sandwiches.  After scarfing them, I'll probably take a quick swim and hit the horn some more.

vacation 2012: part 3

I woke up at 6:15 this morning, and blinked.

When I next awoke, it was 8:30.

Yesterday was a lazy day for the most part.  In the morning, I made plans to go to Huntsville to pick up, among other things, a micro SD card for my GPS unit.  I believe I mentioned earlier that I needed to load maps of Canada on the thing.  After purchasing the maps, however, I learned that I didn't have enough space on the device to load them.  Hence the need for the SD card.

I wrote a blog entry two or three years ago in which I confessed to having a mental block when it comes to Huntsville, Ontario.  Somewhere in the darkest recesses of my brain, I have stored away a vital piece of information about that city; and that piece of information is wrong.  Huntsville, you see, is SOUTH of Magnetawan, but I seem to be convinced that it lies to the NORTH.  For that reason, I will turn in the wrong direction, either going to or coming from Huntsville, about 75% of the time.  Yesterday, therefore, I started up a mantra, which I repeated to myself all the way along the road between Magnetawan and Burk's Falls.  This is a trip of probably 10 miles, and it is the easiest way to get to Canada 11, which is the highway between Burk's Falls and Huntsville.  The phrase that I kept repeating to myself during this trip was as follows:

When you get to Burk's Falls, head south on Highway 11.

 It should, therefore, come as no surprise to to anyone that I got to Burk's Falls and promptly turned north on highway 11.

Once again, I'm sharing the boathouse with a nest
full of soon-to-be baby birds!

To my credit, I realized my mistake almost immediately (like, within a mile or two), but there are very few places on 11 where one can turn around; so I decided that I'd just go to North Bay, Ontario (about 60 miles north), which - like Huntsville - has a Wal-Mart (and therefore would have a micro SD card).  So I drove to North Bay, which is a nice little city and used to be one of the main stops on the road between Montreal and Vancouver.  It lies on the shores of Lake Nippissing and is a great vacation destination should you ever wish to travel north in Ontario.

It also appeared to be closed yesterday.  The whole town had taken the day off as far as I could tell.  And the Wal-Mart looked as if it had been closed for a month.

So I got turned around and headed south on highway 11 - all the way back to Burk's Falls and then another 40 miles or so to Huntsville, where I went to the Wal-Mart as originally envisioned and picked up my SD card.

Canada maps have now been loaded onto the GPS....and I only had to go 120 miles out of my way to get it done.

After getting back to the camp, I sweet-talked Cy into playing a few games of tennis with me.  As it was rather warm on the court (temps were in the mid-80's yesterday), we only played 7 games and gave up when I had a 4-3 lead.  We finished the set this morning (I took it, 7-5), but Cy got her revenge and won a second set (also 7-5).  I guess we'll go for the tie-breaker tomorrow.

Got back to my boathouse after this morning's tennis and fell in the lake for a few minutes before practicing the tuba for 40 minutes or so.  After that, Don and I capped the chimneys on the main cabin.

Most of the clan sat on the dock for quiet time today.  I checked my work email and uploaded a bunch of photos to both Facebook and the SmugMug gallery mentioned a few days ago.

Think I'm going to go take a walk and then fall in the lake.

Dinner last night, cooked by Don Peddy, consisted of cheeseburgers and some potato salad (made by Julie Peddy).  As always, the food is great.

Karl and Diane Neuse are scheduled to arrive sometime tonight.  Looking forward to catching up with them!

TWD

vacation 2012: part 2

It is a gorgeous morning on Ahmic Lake.

I woke up in my boathouse retreat about 10 minutes ago after nearly 8 hours of sleep and am listening to a few birds as I type this.  Other than those avian noisemakers, it is virtually silent.  The wind hasn't started up yet this morning, so I don't even hear any waves slapping against the dock or pushing the boats around downstairs.  This won't last long, I'm sure - there's certain to be a boat or two cruising by before I'm long into this narrative.  I can live with that.

Life on the Magnetawan River

I arrived at Camp Ulvik at about 8:00 Saturday night after a really nice drive from Cornwall, VT.  The trip began somewhat inauspiciously when I discovered, in Shoreham, that the updates that I'd applied to my GPS unit last week had completely wiped out all Canadian data and I was unable to get directions to Magnetawan.  This isn't nearly as bad as it sounds - I was making the trip before GPS existed, after all - but if the weather hadn't been perfect all day on Saturday then I might have been a bit stressed.  As it happened, however, I managed to find my way to Cornwall, Ontario; and then I used a method that I'd employed once in the 1990s to get here: I headed west until I saw signs to towns or landmarks that jogged my memory.  Kingston, Ottawa, Algonquin, Huntsville, etc.

I was met at the camp by Cy, "T", Don & Julie Peddy, and the Peddy's new puppy, Nellie.  Dinner was barbecued ribs, cole slaw and mashed potatoes, and all of us hit the sack fairly early.

Yesterday morning was devoted mainly to getting the camp connected to the internet.  Whoever closed things up last September hadn't stored the DSL modem and routers in their normal spot in the basement; and I tried unsuccessfully to connect with an older modem for about an hour before, mainly out of frustration, I had an inspiration and checked an upstairs closet in the farmhouse and found the missing equipment.  Once that was recovered, it was a short business to get things up and running.

One of the floats in the Magnetawan Canada Day Parade

After having a crumpet for breakfast, I joined the rest of the gang for a trip into town to catch Magnetawan's Canada Day Parade.  It was, by necessity in a town of 300, rather short; but it had a patriotic charm that reminded me of July 4th celebrations from my days in Shoreham in the 1970's.  Bunting, flags, old cars, kids on bicycles, dogs decked out in flags...all in all, a very pleasant diversion.

After the parade, there was a cake cutting (happy 145th birthday, Canada!) it the town center/library/hockey rink, and 60 or 70 people broke into "Oh, Canada" seemingly spontaneously.  It sounded great.

As do I.

I walked the two and a half miles back to the camp and the remainder of the day was a typical Ahmic afternoon.  Had a nap, followed by a great dinner ("T" grilled some chicken breasts and Julie pitched in with a salad), and then the 5 of us played Oh Hell until 11:00 or so.

Managed to get Amy on a video call at about 11:30 - sadly, she will not be able to visit next week (a tenuous plan that had been formed proved to be too impractical), but we had a nice talk before I toddled off to take a few shots of the moon and hit the sack.

The high temperature yesterday, by the way, was probably about 85.  I'm told that it hit 106 in Atlanta and 111 in other parts of Georgia.  I'm quite happy to be where I am, deer flies and all.

Laptop battery running low, and I'm short on time.  Later, all.

TWD