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.

Thunder Beach - Georgian Bay

We were so lucky to get a superb, summer weekend for our stay with the DiNucci family (who were in Batemans Bay in 2006) in their family's cottage at Thunder Beach on the Georgian Bay. It was hot and humid and sunny except for a spectacular thunder storm Friday evening. The drive down was lovely too as the lush green of the countryside at the moment is a sharp contrast to the whiteness of the winter months. We also got to see two moose grazing on the side of the road as we passed through Algonquin Provincial Park.

The cottage was situated right on the lake front with a sandy beach out the back and a spring fed, man made pond at the front. It was a lovely modern and very comfortable cottage, and large enough to accomodate both our families with no trouble at all.

The kids had a ball- playing with Jameson and Maia- on the ATV's, basking in the outdoor spa (sorry - hot tub), climbing over rocks, playing on the raft in the pond or catching frogs and minnows.

Poor Jordan unfortunately came out with Chicken Pox on the Saturday morning and had a few moments of misery. But a little medication and a lot of distraction in the way of so many fun things to do meant he still managed to enjoy himself.
We adults had a lovely relaxing weekend with fine food, company, weather, and location. Such an enjoyable weekend and very hard to leave!

Ivan got to build his first substantial inukshuk (not the last I suspect.)

Saturday evening we were treated to a magnificent sunset over the water. As ever, we wanted to share this beautiful moment with the kids. They, as ever, barely glanced up before continuing their games inside with their friends.

Niagara Falls

Yet another CLEE weekend away and finally a trip to Niagara Falls. It was organised by Kathy Main (who was in Batemans Bay in 2002) and her wonderful assistants. We stayed with another kind Canadian family, Christene and Mark, who were in Lismore in 2006. We had pizza and a chat on the Friday night after arriving, while the kids got acquainted and Nic got his fill of their Wii games.

We met up with the other teachers on Saturday morning and went up the Skylon Tower where we could view the falls from above and see the Niagara River that feeds them. You could also see the surrounding district, though visibility wasn't great as it was quite overcast. I’m certainly getting over my fear of heights with all these towers we're going up!
We then went to the nearby IMAX theatre to view a movie… "Niagara- Miracles, Myths and Magic." This was great and had re-enactments of people going over the falls and surviving amongst other things, all on a screen 6 stories high. On the way out there was a display of real and replicated contraptions that people had used to go over the falls. No wonder a lot of them died! Should have seen them. When we got out of the movie the day had cleared up somewhat and we had a nice walk down to a restaurant for lunch, and got to view the falls along the way. I was totally blown away by the falls - just amazing.

After lunch it was time for a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist- which takes you right up to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. I was a little hesitant about this after seeing how close they get to the falls from the Skylon Tower. It didn't help one little bit when the skies opened up into a huge thunderstorm, complete with pouring rain, thunder and lightning, the moment we boarded the boat. Despite the raincoats they gave us, we all got totally drenched and weren't able to take too many photos of the event for fear of ruining our cameras. The experience was absolutely awesome though and the magnitude of the falls at the base was incredible. I was pretty pleased when we got safely back onto not-so-dry ground though, as were poor Jordan and Ella!!!

The rain persisted for a while but we continued with our sightseeing as we couldn't get any wetter than we were. We strolled up to the area where you can see the falls from the top cascading down and see the Maid of the Mist below. It's amazing, as you are so close to the water and can see the strength of the current.

We then moved on to the Pillitteri winery, a boutique winery in the Niagara-on-the-Lake district for a winery tour and tastings. There are lots of wineries in this area. I think Pillitteri was the first one to make ice wine in Canada. Ice wine is a sweet dessert style wine that is made using frozen grapes harvested off the vines at night at -8C so they don't defrost. It's pretty expensive and an acquired taste I think, but worth a taste.

On to a restaurant for dinner where a lot of the Canadian hosts met up with us as well.
From here some of the teachers went on to the casino or to see the falls illuminated but we felt the kids had had a big enough day!

Sunday morning Christene and Mark took us to the Niagara Glen pavilion where we joined everyone for a picnic breakfast in the botanic gardens and on the edge of the Niagara gorge. After a yummy brekky we had a walk down the gorge to see the whirlpool rapids of the Niagara River. Then we had a talk by an aboriginal wood carver who has an exhibition of totem poles in the park. He was very clever and created a huge variety of carvings of traditional and contemporary subjects. To Jordan's delight he'd also created a mini golf course!

A picnic lunch at the same pavilion and everyone said their goodbyes until the next CLEE event, before going our separate ways.

We were so close to the US border so decided to go over for a quick shop as Nic's shoes had totally fallen apart from being wet all day. There are brand name outlet shops a few km over the border. Oh, for some more time there, but alas we had a 6 hour drive home so did some speed shopping as usual and set off for the long journey home. Had a little hiccup on the way home during a stop for dinner when the kids accidentally locked the keys in the car! Fortunately the CAA were very prompt and skillful and managed to get them out in no time …and complimentary to boot.

Needless to say we had some tired campers Monday morning after such a big weekend, but it sure was a fantastic one.