Classics.

Winter is coming! The boys are happy to get their 'toys' out of storage! This is one of the classic sleds, a true workhorse, that helps keep our ski trails groomed. (oh, and Brian? he's pretty classic too...) #northmuskoka#bondivillage #wintersports #getoutside #offthecouchandintotheworld

Busy Beavers

At this time of year, beavers are working hard to ensure they have their winter pantry well stocked. Once the lakes freeze over, they have to rely on the branches they have stockpiled on the bottom of the lake near their house to feed them. The amount and quality of the food will determine whether the colony -- usually a pair and three to five kits -- will survive the winter. These caches can range up to a full cord of wood (4' X 4' X 8', for a standard cord, for those of you who don't chop and stack often enough to know these things) Since winter is drawing closer, the beavers are in over-drive ensuring they have their winter sorted, and it's a good time of year to see them at work. Dams have to be plugged and strengthened, lodges need to be windproof and solid, and that food pile... November really is the basis for that expression "busy as a beaver." Thanks to Gerry Webb for this wonderful photo of a beaver heading for his 'root cellar' in Algonquin Park this week. #beavers#wildlife #muskoka #bondivillageresort #explorersedge

Skating Star!

Rachel, 7, is one of our great Bondi Kids.

Here she is in her first Senior Bronze skating test and also in her SOLO.

Maybe she'll come visit us in the winter, and show us this in person on our outdoor rink!

A Look Back at August

last August, Taffy and her good friend Margaret Unger

Haloed Moon

"Halos around the sun or moon happen when high, thin cirrus clouds are drifting high above your head. Tiny ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere cause the halos. They do this by refracting and reflecting the light. Lunar halos are signs that storms are nearby." This was the super moon last night. Photo credit to my good friend Christina Handley, who takes some of the best photos on the planet, I truly do swear.

They Work Together

Working even when playing. Getting all 20 k of trails ready doesn't happen on its own! The dynamic duo head out on trail patrol

The view from the roof

Checking the cottage roofs before winter affords us some pretty nice views! The deer even stopped by to admire.

Low Water equals Big Beach

Low water. Lake levels are brought down this time of year to ensure trout spawn at a deeper level. That keeps the eggs from freezing over the winter as water levels are taken down a second time to help accept the massive input of water that comes with sting thaw this gives a glimpse of the way the beach was in years gone by

Here Comes the November Moon

my friend Jacquie took this photo of the super moon rising over Whiskey Bay, Lake of Bays.

Push Me Pull You, Dr. Doolittle?

deer, going both directions?

Never Forget. It Seems more important now than ever

Nancy Tapley added 3 new photos.

November 11 at 9:33am · 

I was greatly honoured to represent the Township of Lake of Bays at the Remembrance Day service in Dwight. It is not really possible to adequately thank those who have served and sacrificed to build the country we live in today, and that two minutes of silence is indeed a 'pittance of time'. Here it is more a Remebrance Week than a Remembrance Day, as the Legion presents services at the various township cenotaphs -- Dwight was last Saturday, Baysville last Sunday, Huntsville is today. That's a good thing, because it helps to keep the importance and the 'remembering' front of mind. I have been asked for a copy of my words that day, so here it is...

On a day when we are wearing poppies, and listening to the words of a poem with poppies blowing, there are also poppies, falling… In Ottawa every evening you can watch the light show on Parliament Hill. Right now, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion, the display every evening, is 117,000 poppies cascading down the Peace Tower and across the Centre Block. One for every fallen Canadian soldier. It is a beautiful and moving display, enhanced by two video screens running a photo montage of veterans who served and sacrificed.
Poppies have come to symbolize the huge human cost of war. Written on the battlefield of Ypres, itself one of the darkest of dark battles. Lt. Col. John McRae wrote the poem we all now know following the death of his good friend. He ripped the poem from his notebook, threw it away. His friend Sgt. Major Allinson picked it up. And it has become probably the best-known war poem.
Poppies, yes… but there are other pictures in that poem. War is a dark, dark place, nothing to glorify. On the battlefield, it was all death, destruction, darkness, but there were larks, singing above the guns below. There were larks – in Peacetime, you can hear the birdsong, and see the beauty in the world. It is a reminder, in that darkest of dark places, that war is not “all” – that there is another world, a better world, a world where larks still bravely singing fly.
Sometimes it is necessary to fight, to march to war, to make the sacrifices. Sometimes there are better solutions, and we should be vigilant that hatred, divisiveness, vilification don’t lead us to put down that other incredible image – the torch, that lights the darkness.
Ours is a small world. The 100 People on Earth Project tells us just how small. There are seven BILLION (with a b) people on the planet. Half don’t live with proper sanitation. 1/3 don’t have safe water. Only 2/3rds have a basic education – 20% cannot read nor write. There are still plenty of places out there that could use a light shining.
In fact, if you have a fridge with food in it, a closet with clothes in it, a bed to sleep in, and any kind of roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the people of the world.
Fewer than one in ten have anything approaching the rights and freedoms that we so often take for granted every single day. One in ten… This didn’t happen by chance, this society, this country we enjoy today. It happened through the work and vision of those who came before. Those liberties were hard fought, and hard won, on the bloodiest battlefields of two great World Wars, and wars that came more recently. Wars that demanded sacrifices beyond our understanding. We are not yet a world where larks can sing.

Our rights, our freedom, have been defended through a democratic system that allows for a peaceful and regulated exchange of power and policy. The right to these freedoms, that is what these veterans we remember today fought for, died for. A place to unite, not divide; embrace co-operation not separation or conflict; respect our past and welcome for our future -- because, in Diefenbaker’s words, “I am a Canadian. Free to speak without fear; free to worship in my own way; free to stand for what I think is right; free to oppose what I believe is wrong; fee to chose those shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom we must uphold for ourselves and all mankind.
Never forget that. Never take any of that for granted. Pick up that torch, and keep the light shining forward into the darkness.
And above all, be grateful. Be grateful for the sacrifice and struggle of all who served, all who fought for our country; be grateful that in our lifetime we have never faced war on our Canadian soil. Be grateful that we are among the one in ten who enjoy the result of these hard-fought battles. Be grateful that we have the right to freely chose what to be.
Be careful with those choices.
Choose to be grateful. Chose to be vigilant; choose to be humble, choose to be wise; choose to be thankful. Choose to be kind.

A quiet evening on Nov. 10th

checking the levels

So much work goes on 'behind the scenes' every year at this time. Longside got all new siding... Longside and Farside have new septic and tile beds... And just yesterday, Wheelhouse got a new deck. Of course, without assistance from Indigo, the Supervisor, David would have been unable to tell if the decking was level...

Jim, it was a honour to know you

Today is Jim Hadden's birthday. He's not here to celebrate. He's gone fishing, over that distant bridge to far away oceans.  We have lost some very good people this year. Jim was one of them, without question.

A very long time member of the Bondi family, Jim passed away Sept. 1st, at the age of 63. That number sounds younger every year.   With his passing we lost a devoted Dad, big brother and kind hearted friend.

with the whole family, 2011 at Bondi

Jim, his beloved son Corey, and partner Alicia, on a boat, of course.

 He lived his life with a passion for boating, fishing and a true care for others.  Jim leaves the pride and joy of his life, son Corey, partner Alicia and "Tankster" his four-legged pal. 

A key member of the Hadden and Williams families, we mourn his passing along with his large family, who have been staying with us for almost sixty years. Our thoughts today are with his sisters Susan Hadden-Ion (Jim) and Carolyn Hadden (Colin), and stepbrothers of the late Dave Williams (Carol), Rob Williams (Sherry), Jennifer McCann, Jeff Williams (Rhonda), Stuart Williams (Melandro), and Alice Williams (Bryan).   Mostly, though we remember him as part of our Bondi family, here, with his family, and his fishing boat.

Quietly devoted, Jim left a positive impact as a former board member of Windsor Seniors Centre, teaching Sunday school and to his friends Cam, Jeff and Carol and the Trillium Gift of Life. Jim was a proud part of the Insurance-Investment Business in Windsor for over 40 years

 If you so desire to honour Jim's memory, the family request a random act of kindness or donations to the Windsor Police Association - Fishing Derby. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/windsorstar/obituary.aspx?pid=181286124#sthash.81B5c9bz.dpuf

Sally the Chilly Salamander

there is always a reason, and always a gift. Oct. 29th,  I chose to walk up the road into the cross country field today, rather than go with the horses up and over the hill. And on the way, I found this little guy. On the road. So cold he couldn't move. While they aren't uncommon, they are still rare to find. He warmed up in my hands, and then went off happily into the leaf litter away from the road. Spotted salamanders are the cutest.

Come the Gold

First come the blazing reds, then they burn down into the embers of orange and golds and finally comes the yellows of the tamaracks, holding their own autumn glory against the deep dark green... Next will come the whites, the blues, the lavenders of the snow against the evergreen hills, and the black branches... You just have to look to see the beauty all around. Thanks to Robin Tapley for this photo, taken in Algonquin Park.

Whooo had fun on Hallowe'en?

hoping everyone had a safe and fun Hallowe'en... This owl didn't hoot, but the barred owls on the hills sure did, and this week Megan and David both saw the barred owl -- a really big one, sitting right by the roadside. Whooooo better to chat up the evening than an owl???