Cool Water-Warm Sand

How does one get warm after playing in the COOL water?

  
Have your mother bury you in the WARM sand, of course!
Photos from August 2010. Enjoy your Thursday!

Join the Party!

Good Morning Dear Friends!  Today is shopping day, so I am hurrying to say "hello" to all my new friends before I hit the road.
I want to invite all of you to join me for a really fun party Friday! It is taking place at "DebbiedoosBlogging and Blabbing". I apologize that I don't know how to directly connect you. But I know  that you are all so  much more tech savvy than me and  you will find your way!

It is a "magazine copycat party". You find a photo from a magazine and create your own "copycat" picture and submit it to share. Now doesn't that sound like fun! I have found many friends through Debbie's blog, so please hop on over there and have a visit! She also been featured in "Country Woman" magazine! So send your congrats her way also.
A beautiful day to all of you,

Dancing Bears

 If you've followed me from my beginning post, you know that I mentioned I would soon be developing an Etsy shop. Well, I must admit that I've been very, very self indulgent with my time. I've been spending (not wasting!) hour after blissful hour  visiting every single blog a person can humanly, mentally, and physically endure visiting in ones waking day!
 But, never fear! My dear husband was very quick to see the signs of my developing addiction and threatened to smash the computer and calmly and lovingly sat me down to discuss how unhealthy it is for me to be sitting in the same position at this computer all day. How I was missing the world just outside my very door. The birds chirping in the trees, the loons calling in the lake, the butterflies fluttering in the skies, the sweet bunnies hopping through the yard. Well, I think you get the idea, right?

Now my whole purpose for telling you this is that I am devoting my whole day  today to getting my Etsy shop set up and running. But, I want to leave you with this sweet story first though!

This is my oldest grandson, Javan. While he was here visiting last summer we would have him do a piano recital each evening for us. One of the songs he played every evening was "Bear Dance". He had no idea that practically every evening before he had arrived a bear had made it a habit of walking through our front yard eating the grass and grubbing under our stones. This is the gospel truth!  So he believed that like a rain dance brings the rain, his "Bear Dance" was bringing the bear! It was so........much fun. It is a memory that will stay with me forever and Javan too I hope. We also had my daughters two children visiting so they were caught up in it all the excitement!
So now I leave you with my evidence of Javan's "Dancing Bears"!

BLESSING,

The General Store Eatery

 If you're ever visiting in Des Moines Iowa you must go to the Valley Junction area. It boast over 150 shops and restaurants there.  Please be sure to wear your tennies though, because it will take a while to get through it all. But believe me, it is well worth it!
My favorite eating spot there is "The General Store Eatery". It offers a simple choice of sandwiches, salads and the yummiest desserts. The service is fast and the atmosphere seems to transport one back in time!

The very, very best part of the whole dining experience is sharing coveted time with my dear and precious daughter!

It's always hard to leave her and her little family to come back home. Where would we be today without the phone or e-mail? I can't imagine what it was like for mothers before there invention. Can you? Do any of you ladies have daughter living far away too?

Serene Sunday

 

Where is Summer?

Did someone say it was the first day of summer a few days ago? Where? Certainly not here I can tell you. I would even have settled for spring temperatures here  today and not complained one single bit!  I don't complain even if it doesn't  get out of the 70's  for the  whole summer  long here. After all, I am use to those temperatures having lived so many years here on the lake. But a high of 48 degrees today.  That I'm complaining about. This is Ontario after all, not the Yukon!

I thought I was done with this. But with the rainy dampness, I finally broke down and had hubby build a fire.

I wanted a close up view of the flame for you. So I started snapping away. Can you see my reflection at all in this? My first shot appeared as praying hands in the fire. I was actually spooked when I was taking it! Wouldn't you know when I imported it to the computer it turned out too dark to even see anything. I do hope this gives you somewhat of an idea of what it resembled though.
Just when I want to give myself a pat on the back because I've learned how to do something new with my blog, then another problem appears. Like the fact that my name is not moving to the bottom as I'm writing. What does this mean? What have I done now? Oh well, I'll just pretend it's not happening and continue on.
While it was raining I did manage to get two nice shots of "natures lace". I hope you enjoy them and enjoy your weekend too!

Dutch Dancers

Today Lysje and Falko are so happy they are dancing! Do you know why they are so very happy and dancing?  No? Well, then I must tell you why.  It is because we are going to town today. Yes, we are hitching up the horses and going to town today. Away from our "Little House in the Big Woods". Ma Kimberly is putting on her best shirt for the big day in town.

 
Pa Timothy is treating her to lunch here.

Then it's off to the library. On the way in Ma Kimberly sees this sweet little duckie drinking in the ditch, (did I happen to mention it's been raining for four days?), and gets a really good picture to bring home to show Lysje and Falko, who are faithfully watching over the house while Ma and Pa are in town shopping.

At Wal-Mart Ma picked up a few of these adorable, red shopping bags that she thought would make a cute gift for a drawing for her new blogging friends.

On the way home Pa stopped the wagon so Ma could get a shot of Ontario's lupine wildflowers that are growing prolific.

We've made it home. The horses are now bedded down. Pa is now bedded down. And now I can reveal the real reason Lysje and Falko are dancing.

Here it is. It is because Ma brought home "TIMMIES" for all. One for Lysje, one for Falko, and one for Ma. A big thanks to all at Tim Horton's who have made this special treat possible!!

And thanks to my dear friends for putting up with my silly, but mostly true story!
                                                         

Why Camp and Cottage Living?

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I said today I would explain the reason behind the title for my blog. It is really two fold. If you live in the northern regions of Canada you most likely say that you are "heading out to camp" for the weekend. My husband's relatives that have second homes in southern Canada always say they are "going to the cottage" for the weekend. I live in a cabin on Lake Superior, which is in northern Ontario, but not necessarily northern Canada. Hence, is my cabin a camp or a cottage? The second reason and my main reason for its  name is that I am in the beginning stages of developing  a business for camp and cottage home decor items. It is in it's early stages, very, very early stages. But I will share with you when I am ready to launch.

This is my rocky beach on the great lake. The water is quite shallow for a long distance so we have great fun playing around in it with the grand kids when they visit. We have a lot of bears and moose  here that we see often. I'll try not to bore you with too many pictures of them, but it is hard to resist! The wee babies are so cute right now. I have satellite Internet service, but no phone service. My mail box is five miles from the cabin, the General Store and our church are twenty five miles away. We go to the "city" once a week to shop, which is a forty minute drive from our place. We do have electricity though. And no, I do not have to use that outhouse I had a photo of in my first post! Once in a blue moon I do get  a wee bit aggravated at the inconvenience, but then I look out at the beauty surrounding me and decide it's well worth it.

The photo in the beginning of my post is from a favorite restaurant-The Voyageur.
Blessing to all,
 

Welcome to My Home!!!

  Thank you friends for checking out my first post at "Camp and Cottage Living". I hope you'll visit often and we can spend many pleasant days together. Three years ago I did not even know what a blog was. I read an article in a home decorating magazine featuring Penny at "The Comfort of Homes" blog. It was about her beautiful mosaics, of course. Penny's blog had links to other blogs. So naturally I got hooked!

Seasons on the Gitche Gumee