2015 Festival of The Maples

We'd been down to Crow Lake a couple of times in recent weeks, including overnight on the 12th, but we both took this past Monday off and planned on making a long weekend out of it. We couldn't wait to get at it so come Friday afternoon, we packed up the car and bolted ASAP.

The last weekend of April has become our target opening date. The Festival of The Maples takes place in Perth that weekend and we want in. Even if we don't have running water yet by then (though we did this year), we've figured out how to manage without it so it would take a biblical event to stop us now.

That said...We had some concerns about our boy at right. George HATES kids. To be more specific, he appears to hate toddlers. No idea why (but one can speculate).

We debated whether to leave him behind and risk that he would not react well to that, or to take him to the festival and risk that he's difficult to control around a crowd.

We took a leap of faith and brought him. And he was pretty great. He only showed aggression towards one kid but Christine was on top of it. Aside from that one brief moment, we kept to the sidewalks rather than walking down the road with the rest of crowd and that worked just fine. Good boy, George!

A few shots from the event below.

Well...At least blogs are free...

Long story short, we went to the Cottage and Backyard Show this past weekend and dropped a lot of coin. We bought a frame dock, something we'd been planning on doing for the better part of a year so it's not as though we didn't anticipate it. But we're committed now!

It was actually pretty simple and the lady we're working with at Fendock is quite helpful. We have to settle on a delivery date and determine when we're going to attempt to build the thing, but progress is being made on that front, finally.

Otherwise, the C&B Show (as crazy-cool people call it) was uneventful. We gained a little knowledge and a couple of resources, brought home a bundle of flyers and business cards again...

Oh, and bought this little lady.  I've named her Bjork.

Eh. You know when you've known someone for decades? I was walking a bit ahead of Christine at the show so I saw a number of these displayed a split second before she did. There was no question as to what would come next.

Me: "Ah, jeez...Christine is totally going to want..."
Christine: "Oh my God! Those are awesome!!"

We're supposed to have a "no-clutter" rule but it gets broken a fair bit. Christine loved it on sight and it felt like the kind of situation where if we didn't buy it, we might have regretted it. We haven't really put own decorative stamp in that room yet anyway (replacing floorboard and carpeting doesn't count) so Bjork accomplishes that.

There's another small addition to that room: We saw lantern-shaped, battery-powered lights sold on the cheap (and built accordingly, I might add) at Rona that we thought might be appropriate. So we bought a couple, one red and one white. The Sun Room does not have a light source of any kind so while these don't cast a great glow, it can serve as something of a night light at worst.

That floor is looking a wee bit better than when it was last seen on here, eh? The rotted segments and the plywood strip that had been removed (see January 13th) have all been replaced, fastened, etc. Just in time for some wicked spring rains, no doubt. Bring it, Mother Nature!

Maple maple maple maple maple!

After missing it by hours last year, I was determined to attend the Festival of the Maples in Perth this past weekend.  And we made it!  Turns out that they have shuttle buses from Ottawa and I could have been going for years and years, but...that doesn't matter!  I made it THIS year!

Christine had vacation to burn.  I took last Friday and Monday off so that we could head up and start opening the cottage.  Beds are made, boards are off the windows, and the living room floor reno is started.  We didn't have running water yet but got by regardless.  That first "man-made" flush takes quite a leap of faith, I can assure you.

The weather was the opposite of great but there was still a pretty hopping crowd.  If I recall correctly, I read that over 20,000 people attended last year. We arrived early and there were already a fair amount of people milling about.  By the time we left, it was getting difficult to walk down the street.

It actually took a while to find anything "maple".  There were plenty of displays for various organization and businesses but it wasn't until a little further in that the maple goodies started to appear.

Pretty much the standard stuff, mind you.  Fudge, taffy, butter, syrup...Compared to what Chris brought back from Nova Scotia last year (sparkling wine, white chocolate), the lack of variety was a little disappointing.

Until I came across...maple soap!  Genius!  It can be breakfast AND part of your morning shower!  You can go to work smelling like a stack of pancakes!  Who doesn't like the smell of pancakes?  Am I right, people?

I pointed this out to the gentleman at the booth and he said he'd steal the idea for promotional purposes.  Sure, just think of me when you're a billionaire.  Additional tip: Do the breakfast part first.

Some more sights below.

I don't know what the hell these things are.

Potato Spirals!  Apparently a favourite of the Perth PD!

I think I'm bothering the guy on the far left.

We weren't there very long but it was a nice time and I think it's going to be a regular occurrence for us from here on in.

Look Up.

It has been an absolutely brutal winter in Ottawa.  We got a bunch of snow early, and once that finally stopped, the temperature dropped drastically.  It feels like it's been -24 or worse for weeks, largely because it has.

For that reason, we've only been to Crow Lake once since closing down, and we were there for all of 15 minutes.  That was long enough to recover the key we'd left for the plumber, make sure everything was where it should be, and for Christine to belly flop into the snow on the deck by the front door. Footing was pretty tricky because of an ice crust that had built up.  We've had at least one visitor of some kind though...

So in the meantime I'm making additions to this little cyber-place.  New pages have been added across the top, under the banner. They don't drop down with every new post so they're always easy to access.

They should be pretty self-explanatory, even if they're not yet complete. I know that by the time I'm done writing the Instructions page, coming to Crow Lake will seem like it requires a university course to manage, but it looks worse than it is.  Just live with the "yellow = mellow" rule and we'll be relatively pleased.

There are a lot of Projects listed, most of which feel like something we want to do sooner rather than later, but on the flip side it's nice to see how much has been accomplished to this point.

And most of those projects are "one and done" anyway. Replacing floors, for example, isn't something we should have to do every other year.  Most of them should get taken care of in short order, then we can just worry about, you know...paying for the place.  But more importantly, enjoying it.

The Calendar of Events is the one page I want to avoid neglecting.  When the brochures listing the various events in Sharbot Lake, Westport, and all around are available, I will copy from them liberally.  I (or we) will not attend every single event listed, but at least we'll have a quick reference guide.  Last year, I literally missed the maple festival by about two hours.  That's not going to happen again.  April 26th, bee-atch!

And the Blues On The Rideau series of shows is something I'd like to do at least once a year (perhaps around the start and end of the season).  I believe a certain portion of proceeds are directed to charity, making it all the more motivating.  The poster below is specific to the 2013 acoustic shows, but they also host events on weekends.

Those pages will be filled out over the next few weeks and I have a couple more to build.  I'll keep updating them regularly so if you're in a position to visit, keep an eye open towards them.

Cottage and Backyard Show

First things first, I'm not convinced that "backyard" is really only one word.  I think it's one of those deals where so many people got it wrong anyway that it just became accepted, like "fishes".

So we dropped by this little event today.  We figured we should since, after we finally got the keys to CFB Crow Lake last year, we were shown the secret handshake you need for them to let you into these (Well that, and $12).  May as well use it, even if the guy who took our ticket seemed unprepared for it and thoroughly confused. Don't they train these people?

In any event, here's the resulting pile of fliers.  To give perspective, they are displayed next to a sleeping sausage.

My oh my, how it all adds up! We'd frequently chat about a few things we want to do, but you know...never all of them at once.  There's little project duplication in this pile, so it's a good visual checklist.  Winterising, solar panels, roofing...

On the flip side, some of it arguably falls more into the "want" than "need" category.  For example, perhaps a "tiki hut paradise" is not a true necessity.  But who's to say?

I understand that the 6/49 payout is 55 million so with a little luck, we might be able to work our way through about three quarters of them.