Heidelberg

Tubingen

Toronto

Staff Party

This post is designed to make the Aussie teachers in Batemans Bay insanely jealous. While they struggle with mid year reports and freezing winter temperatures that dip below 20 degrees Celsius, I'd like them all to know that school's over in Canada and that we know how to celebrate summer and school holidays in style.

Our end of year staff party was hosted by Jordans's teacher, Diane, who lives in a beautiful home on Mask Island on Lake Kaminiskeg. (All Canadians live like this.) We waved the last bus away, put up the "School's Closed for the Summer" sign, locked the doors and raced to the party. We started with frozen mango daiquiris (an Aussie touch) and continued with hors d'oeuvres (really fancy ones – not frozen sausage rolls). Supper was Italian themed with a hint of Polish influence, in deference to the local ethnic heritage and was tastefully complemented with the finest of Canadian and imported beers, wines, Cognac et al.

Supper, as us Canadians refer to the evening meal, was preceded by a refreshing dip in the lake. Cocktails were taken by some on the 8 person inflatable island and much frolicking and frivolity was to be had. After supper it was back to the beach but no one entered the water on this occasion as all sensible school teachers know it’s inadvisable to do so immediately after a meal. Instead we enjoyed the ambiance that only a magnificent sunset over a lake on a private beach with wonderful company can provide.

Now, for the information of all those Aussie teachers raging with jealousy – please forward your hate mail through the usual channels. As for me, I’m off to Toronto to catch a Bluejays game, then off to Germany, then Croatia, then Vienna, Prague……..….
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you get the picture.

Finally, a quiet weekend in Barry's Bay

A quiet weekend was the plan after a month of weekend travel. Nic had a friend over Friday night and then went to Chris's place for Saturday night. I was invited for my first fishing expedition to the local lake by Adam from next door. We went bass hunting and Adam was successful with 5 fish before I managed to pull one in. With the sun going down over the lake, the bullfrogs croaking and the lonely loons calling mournfully at dusk it was a very memorable Canadian evening.

Saturday morning Ella was off to a friend's place while Nic, Chris, Jordie & I went to the Combermere markets before going the back way to Chris's place. We later joined them for a barbeque at their cottage on the lake. This was followed by several canoe trips on the lake. We took a couple of rods in our canoe and I managed to land my second bass for the weekend. We followed this up with a bonfire, marshmallows, spiderdogs and another Canadian campfire delicasy; S'mores.
http://www.canadianparents.com/recipe/campfire-smores

The kids went off to catch fireflies and we set off a few fireworks. We'd been here in the winter, ice fished, rode skidoos and four wheelers on the ice and had races down the road on toboggans. It was a remarkable transformation.

Sunday was planned to be a little quieter. I utilised my 'other special talent' and prepared frozen mango, strawberry and mixed berry daiquaris to share at our end of year staff party on the lake on Wednesday. We then collected Nic in the afternoon and went to the Shulist farm in Combermere. (Halinka is the Grade 3/4 teacher at school). The kids had a ball. They helped release speckled trout into the pond, played on the swings and trampoline and went to see the cows, pigs and chicks. I got to talk to a Canadian bloke who was into playing with rocks even more than myself. Paul built a beautiful house and had plenty left over for stock fencing and general landscaping. The farm was surrounded by lush green fields (we've had 3 dry days so far in June) and beautiful mountain vistas. If it wasn't for the Canadian black flies (and mozzies and deer flies and so on) I could easily settle in here.... until winter set in at least.
With a 'quiet' weekend such as this one it's no wonder people come from miles away to spend their weekends here.

Almost Finished School

1000 Islands (named after the salad dressing or visa versa)

Our last CLEE outing for this school year was to Gananoque and a tour around the 1800+ islands in this part of the St Lawrence River. There are various sets of criteria as to what qualifies a chunk of rock to be called an island and, as such, there are a number of estimations as to how many islands exist. At a minimum they need at least one tree and to be above water most of the year round. Most islands are privately owned. It seems also that as long as you own it you may build on it and some dwellings we saw appeared to have more house than island. It got me thinking, after the event, about how they get power, phone, TV, water, sewer and regular services like garbage removal, newspaper deliveries and even junkmail.

I've since found some of the answers on http://www.gananoque.com/history.html

It has quite a colourful history. It featured in a number of border skirmishes between the Americans and the Canadians (before hockey was invented as a means of sorting out their differences.)

It's also been home to innumerable wealthy, famous or notorious residents - unfortunately I do not have the bank balance to join their ranks but I do find the idea quite appealing.

Of all the millionaire's homes, none is more famous than the Boldt Castle built for the owner's beloved wife. If only I loved my wife enough to put such effort into a show of my undying love for her. The trade off, thankfully, is that my wife didn't drop dead in the middle of construction and is still around to appreciate my pitiful efforts. The Boldt story makes better reading.
http://www.boldtcastle.com/history.html

The day of the cruise wasn't spectacular - overcast and drizzly at times. Sunday,Father's Day over here, however turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and we got to see the islands in all their glory. Spent the day at Kingston perusing the town, having a horse drawn carriage ride and a nice Father's day lunch on a balcony over looking the river.