"Gloriously Fun-Related," says Macleans Magazine!

It isn't every day that a little resort blog in North Muskoka gets an honourable mention in one of Canada's premiere magazines.

Nick Kohler, from Macleans Magazine, dropped by prior to the G8. He toured the resort, commented that he'd really like to come and bring his dad for a vacation (we're still waiting for his call, but we're pretty confident...), went flying with Brian to photograph some of the G8 preparations and to swap some of the G8 Facts and Fables that were flying about.

He was nice enough to mention us in the magazine, quoting my rather grumpy comment that while we were happy to have the G8 here, renting accommodation, we were pretty sure the G8 wouldn't be coming back... (although we hope that individuals who were here for the occasion will!)

Brian's comment was that he could pretty much say anything, provided he managed to mention Bondi Village Resort in the process...

But Nick, bless his little fountain pen, went farther... he gave our Bondi Resort Blog a mention, all on its own in the on-line edition of Macleans. He described it as "gloriously fun-related."

We're thrilled. Our blog has been nominated for e-tourism awards, and been nominated twice for the Best Canadian Blog awards, but it's really super cool to get a thumbs up from a magazine with Maclean's prestige.

One of the lovely spin-offs from this was an email in my inbox, from a long ago best friend and Bondi guest, whom I have not heard from in years. We grew up together for two weeks every summer for more years than I can recall. We got in trouble, we got creative, we just hung out, and in the other 50 weeks of the year we were pen-pals. Life moves folks apart sometimes. Marg lives on the West Coast now, with her family and four gorgeous grandchildren, and in our busy-ness we seldom managed to touch base, but when she found the Blog, she came back with a lengthy email, and got us back in touch. It was like we'd never been away. It was wonderful. She writes, book reviews, and books, and poetry and pretty much anything with words. That's something we both did, when we were kids at Bondi hanging out. We wrote stories, and poems and plays. We rode horses and wrote about that... In her email, she wrote; " Anyway, I do think of you and your busy life and your horses and the wildlife and the smell of that place, heavenly. The path down to the lake from Springside, my excitement at seeing the dock and the frog pond and all the treasures I remembered from the year before. Bondi was heaven. And it looks like it still is."

Margaret is still writing... She's well published now, and you can find her first novel Better than Life in bookstores and libraries.

And while I've followed her career from quite a distance, it's been great to get her a little closer, through the Blog, and email. That little nudge, seeing our Blog mentioned in Maclean's, was all it took.

So, thanks very much, Nick, for the shout-out. We appreciate it. See you here soon...

And Margaret, isn't it about time you brought the grandkids to visit Ontario?