May 25/26th - A Nice weekend to get some fishing in - NOT

Yes spring is here - the gnome is out!!!  

It was time to spend getting the garden ready for planting. That means weeding, raking, trimming...well, you know the routine I'm sure!  I hung up another couple of birdhouses that I had found at Homesense, as well as a little bird bath.  I learned how to use the riding lawn mower while Paul got into whipper snipping mode.  Saturday, the sky was sort of threatening and sure enough late in the day we ended up getting some showers.  We made a short trip into town to get a few groceries, movies and look at barley straw for the pond.  We had been told that it is a remedy for the algae problem we have in the pond beside the cottage.  

We found out that a bag of barley straw pellets was about $24.99, and was appropriate for a small ornamental 'city' pond.  There was also another product there that was approximately $28.00 for the amount for an application for a pond of our size.  It is not harmful to fish, but it turns the water blue!  Apparently, the coloring filters the rays of the sun (which help algae to grow).  The store clerk cautioned us though, that if the water is running/flowing, the product would just wash out down the creek.  We agreed with him that this product might be better for a later summer application when the water is a lot more still.

When we asked the Home Hardware clerk about where to purchase barley straw - his only thought was a farm on Concession 2, north of the turn off for North Line.  He said "just drop in and ask the farmer".  I said "will he come out with his shotgun?" The background to my remark is of course that this is the farm that has all the big painted signs proclaiming "government get off our land" and other such sayings!! 

When we left the store it was pretty close to dinner time so Paul decided that we couldn't just drop in at the farm that evening, and Sunday wouldn't be appropriate either. So...no solution again.

We went for a walk with the dogs when we got back and were amazed again at the vegetation that had just grown so much because of all of the cool, wet weather.

We found 2 comparison pictures, the first is the walkway to the fishing put in, probably in February/March:
 

This next one is the pathway now (just a little to the right):
 

I think this is why fiddle heads are such a delicacy.  One week there is no sign of them and within the next 2 weeks the ferns are unfurled!

That evening we had delicious steaks (not premium beef) that I had from our freezer at home.

The next day, we were planning to go fishing.  Paul got up with the dogs as usual, but by the time I got up he was going back to bed complaining of a headache and bad stomach.  I though maybe it was just that he had been drinking coffee on an empty stomach and tried to get him to eat some toast - but he was having none of that!

Well whatever he had, it really knocked him for a loop.  He was in bed for the whole day, kept trying to get up but every time after a few minutes would end up in bed again.  He slept a lot of the time.  Not sure where he picked up the bug, he thought it was something he ate but I had exactly the same things (but a different steak).

So the dogs and I had a pretty quiet day - lots of reading, a bit more clean up outside and a couple of walks, mostly taking more flower pictures!!  I found a couple of interesting flowers but I had no idea what they were. I have since discovered the name of the flower below is a "Wood Betony".  As far as  the other picture below - I have no idea - if you know, let me know!  It looked sort of like a dandelion going to seed but the stem is much different.

 

Wood Betony

Mystery Flower

 

So, that was about it for the weekend. It was touch and go whether Paul could make the drive home but by the time I got everything cleaned up (OMG lots of work) he was well enough to be a passenger.  Needless to say I was very tired when I got home that night!!

May Two Four! - Well OK really 17, 18, 19, 2013

How nice that our usual May long weekend cohorts were able to head to the cottage this weekend!!!  They have been navigating a lot of family health trials, so it was touch and go!  

Tammy and Don arrived Saturday afternoon - without children!! and we were without children!! Wow - that's a first!  It was a beautiful day, so we paid homage by sitting on the front deck and enjoying some cocktails....just getting updated.

Tammy and I headed into Varney to Premium beef, we wanted to get some fresh steaks for the evening's meal.  We also picked up some nice, thick sliced pea-meal Bacon for the morning.

That evening we played Euchre, partners Don and I and Paul and Tammy, and Don and I were pretty hot.  Which is saying a lot since last time we played we had a dismal showing!!  We finished in a tie but we were all too tired to continue so we called it a night!

Sunday morning started off as all good cottage mornings start off - sunshine, coffee, reading!

Luckily for me, Tammy remembered to bring some "gossip rags" pseudo celebrity magazines, another must have for cottage long weekends!

 After snacking on fruit to hold us over, Paul and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go fishing.  We didn't have much time to fish as we had plans to go out to a late lunch.  We asked Tammy to walk  the dogs down to the put in point with us - we had never seen Sadie go into the water as deep as she did trying to follow us into the river.  Tammy eventually manged to persuade the dogs that they had to come back to the porch with her and we made our way down the river.

First fish of the season for me!

I think the net's just really big!! Speckled/Brown Trout

Paul was unfortunately unsuccessful that day but I actually caught a small catfish as well - which Paul said is quite unusual in the river.  Of course we practice "catch and release"!

We headed back to the cottage and got ready to head to our lunch at Munshaw's Bistro, in Flesherton http://www.munshawsbistro.com/.  This was the restaurant recommended to us by Emily's boyfriend's dad.

 

Happily, the restaurant was everything that we had heard, small menu but fabulous food!!  Of course, the selection from the dinner menu is larger and it looked to be a really great wine list.  It's quite small inside so reservations are recommended (as I was also told by the chef, Paul Lavender, when I spoke to him via email).  

Don had a jerk pork dish, Paul had trout, Tammy had grilled chicken salad and I had trout cakes - Paul and I also split a beet, walnut and goat cheese salad.  Tammy, Paul and I had craft beers from Neustadt brewery and Don had wine.  Everything was delicious!!

We were able to have quite a conversation with our waitress, who turned out to be the owners daughter, and a show jumper.  This brought the owner into the conversation, Paul Lavender (the chef), who told us that he and his wife hailed from Windsor.  This in turn started a side bar between him and Don about all the "hotspots" in Windsor, since Tammy and Don lived outside of Detroit at one time.  Another interesting thing that we found out was that they are part owners of a sustainable trout farm in the area, which explains why there is so much fresh trout on the menu!

As we were finishing off our tea's, we overheard Chef Paul talking to another table (regulars we assumed) about going to the east coast and a Chowder House there.  On our way out I asked him, where he was talking about going on the East coast and he admitted that he and his wife had bought a chowder house in PEI, which had been a lifelong dream of his!  He would be closing the Flesherton restaurant for the month of July and August and will be going out to get the other restaurant going in Belfast, PEI.

The website is http://www.chowderhousepei.com/ it looks amazing!! I swear it will make you want to head East!!

Since our visit there we had passed on this info to some friends who have a vacation property around Lake Eugenia and they were shocked and disappointed that Munshaw's would be closing for the summer months!!  We will definitely go back there in September!

After we returned to the cottage, everyone felt pretty sleepy!  After more sitting on the front porch, Tammy and I decided we would go on a little walk with the dogs to see some burgundy coloured flowers she had spotted on an earlier walk.

Red Trilliums

Sure enough, when we finally found them again, they were red Trilliums which are actually quite rare.  If was funny - we found about 3 of them but that was it, compared to regular  Trillium which as you can see below, usually are found in a group.

Tammy and I also found a couple of other interesting spring flowers - 

Nodding Trilliums

Jack-In-the-Pulpit

Sunday evening we got into the cards once again and had a really tight game, I think Paul and Tammy really thought they could outplay us but May 2013 turned out to be our year!

Monday morning was another lovely morning.  We had a filling late breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and pea-meal bacon. 

OK maybe not exactly like this - but just as tasty!

It is so nice to be able to eat outside again! 


Just before noon, our guests headed out.  We started doing some yard maintenance and cleaning up but decided that we should go around to Baseline Rd. and hike through to the big pond.  We wanted to mount the game camera over by the pond and also take a look at what had happened over there from the flood in March.  We had not been over since before then.

I think we were both a little anxious - since its nice to keep an eye on our property.  It seemed that everything looked pretty good, although more of my "No Trespassing or Hunting" signs had gone missing.  We were pretty sure that there were tire marks from an ATV heading down the shared lane - but luckily none that we could see on the property.
We were happy to see that the pond was quite full and we could see some nice size fish swimming in the water.  It was quite obvious though that the dock was in sad need of some major repair - add it to the list!!

We got the camera mounted facing out to the pond so we are hoping for some great wildlife shots.  We headed back when the mosquito's decided to come out.  It was a good workout for both man and beast.  We remember to take a picture of a funny structure that we found in a clearing about half way to the pond.  This structure has been there for as long as we owned the property.




















It seems to be the crude foundation of a building.  Not sure if it is from the previous owners or their kids - interesting though - it has never changed since we have been there.

Before we headed home we enjoying another delicious meal - premium beef had a new sausage - pork with cranberry - we tried.

Check out Premium Beef - the best meat around!

Well another successful May Long Weekend with the Williamson's! 

Mother's Day - May 10,11,12, 2013 Noah's Ark - I mean Inn!

In a bit of a different twist this weekend, Paul went up to the property on Friday afternoon.  He was supposed to be canoeing with a friend, but unfortunately, the friends' daughter ended up in the hospital with some health problems so the canoeing didn't happen.

Paul ended up spending a cold and rainy evening doing not much of anything.

Gordon and I drove up on Saturday, late in the morning.  Gord had attended his Grad party the night before but still managed to be ready about 11:30am.  Both sets of parents, Kempe's and Ward's, were supposed to meet us at the property at about 4:00pm.  Emily was working...ahhh the life of a waitress!

Not surprisingly...Gord and I arrived "just" before everyone else.  It was a little cool and cloudy - not exactly nice weather for the meal that I had planned which was Potato salad, Bean salad, Coleslaw and BBQ chicken.  Mom K brought the appetizers which we ate not too long after everyone arrived.  We went on a walk to check out the sights, lots of spring flowers up and lots of muddy spots.

After dinner - which was more suited to a nice hot sunny day - we settled down for a friendly game of Rummoli - in which I sneaked out a win over my dad.  We all settled down fairly early (before midnight anyway!).  Mom & Dad K in the guest bedroom, Mom & Dad W in Gord's bedroom on the futon.

The next morning was cool and rainy.  Brunch was scheduled in Neustadt at 11:30  so we snacked on a plate of cut up fruit to ward off any pre-brunch hunger pains.

More about Neustadt - Grey county

We set off in 2 vehicles, Mom and Dad K and Paul and I in one, and Gordon driving Mom and Dad W's truck.  We drove and drove - it seemed like a much longer time than previously when we visited the Neustadt brewery.  The weather was not too good - cold rainy, some flurries, then rain again.  Finally we made it to our destination Noah's Inn.

Noah's Inn - Neustadt, Ontario

Due to the fact that I had scheduled our Brunch late in the week (I was actually waiting to hear from another spot in Flesherton called Munshaw's Bistro - more on that later...)  we were shown to a large table in the bar area NOT in the main dining room.  I wasn't actually too happy with the situation because we were right beside the front hall where people were entering the building.  Every time the door opened, the cold wind came right into the room and chilled everyone.  We asked them to turn up the gas fireplace, which they did, and that helped the overall chill of the room but not the door opening breeze.
I was also surprised that the brunch was a la carte, I was expecting a long brunch buffet table.
I ordered Eggs Florentine, Paul's mom ordered Quiche, my mom ordered Salmon, Gord ordered French Toast, and all three "big" guys (dad's and Paul) ordered "Rosti" which is a traditional Swiss dish of shredded potatoes and spices.   Some of us also ordered the sweet potato and ginger soup to start and it was very thick and gingery - almost a meal in itself.
It took a very, very long time for our meals to come - they had a new cook and he was making sure everything was good, but it took a long(!!!) time.

During the long interlude of waiting for our meal, we had a nice conversation with the owner (I think Michael?) regarding the history of the Inn and his family.  He also has a very informative booklet made up which we perused, including old bills of sale and delivery notices for the Inn dating many years back.

Everyone was very pleased with their meals, everything was certainly filling and when it came time for dessert we could only order 2 items and pass them around!  One was a pear 
and chocolate tart, and the other was chocolate raspberry cheesecake.  Both very, very rich and sweet. Thank heavens those sharing only got a few bites of each.

Here is our group after brunch, note the terrible weather and winter coats!!

  

We then headed back to the cottage, to continue the Mother's Day celebrations.
Luckily we had all arrived back when the wet snow started, and continued and continued... and got heavier and heavier...

We were quite fascinated with the birds that seemed to realize that winter was upon us again - they were lined up at the feeder!

Gold Finches

Rose Breasted Grosbeaks

Blue Jays

Grosbeak Couple

Rose Breasted Grosbeaks

We actually saw 8 gold finches around the feeder at once.  Paul's mom and I actually went out with a tin pan of seed, so that they would have 2 feeders, but they never went near the pan of seed.

We presented the mothers with cards and gifts.  I had made another trip to Eckhardts Floral Treasures in Durham Check it out - they have the most beautiful things!  Just before we got to the cottage, Gordon took me to the store on Main street as I knew what I wanted to pick out.  I got them both beautiful hand blown glass bird feeders/baths that are on a stand that stick into the ground - about 3 to 4 feet high.  Mother and I had admired them last year when we were in the store, and I kept them in my mind for future gift giving!

After the presentation, Paul insisted that he was going fishing and donned all his gear, even though by this time it was snowing quite a bit.  He was gone for about 1 1/2 hours and he did admit that when he got back he just about was too cold to do anything - here are some pictures he managed to snap on the way back - note the glove fingertips on the side!!

Starting to fish - note the line between the snowflake

The path on the way back

As it got more snow covered we started getting worried about getting home - especially about the parents getting home!!  We decided to start our dinner right away - I had planned a meal of lasagna (see recipe on the Recipe pages), garlic bread and Ceasar salad with a blueberry pie.  Yes way too much food as usual!!!

Dinner was delicious (Donna's lasagna is always a winner!) and everybody got busy getting cleaned up and ready to head for home.  Both sets of parents left at about 6:00pm and Kempe's got home with no problems.  It was pretty precarious for us driving (we of course left later) till about Fergus - then it was just wet.

My mom and dad encountered a big problem on Hwy 11.  A van flipped over onto its roof right in front of them.  Visibility was really bad as were the slippery road conditions!  They pulled over and waited until the first responders got there as there was no way they could get out and cross the highway in the blinding snow.

My mother texted me when they got home and I guess they were pretty shaken up.

Thank heavens we all got home safely on Mother's Day!!