Lucky!

 Clara found a four leaf clover in our lawn yesterday.




Now, that is not totally unknown, although David points out that HE has never found one.





Clover cottage got its name because when we were clearing the site, Rosemary found a four leaf clover right in the middle of what is now the living room.

Clara is not only lucky, she has excellent powers of observation!   We hope that luck rubs off on all of us!

Summer is On the Way!

 Now is the time, as Winter starts to lose its grip, to turn thoughts towards the Summer.

And where better to spend that than in Muskoka?

And who better to spend that with than Family???

If you have a crowd, we have the place.

We have some vacancies this summer in our big LODGE unit that can easily accommodate from ten to eighteen people.  Plenty of room to get together (and often just as important, plenty of room to get apart!)  Six bedrooms upstairs, four with private bathrooms, two that share an ensuite; another bedroom on the main floor, with two washrooms, library with a piano, big lounge and a dining room (both facing to the lake) and a roomy well equipped kitchen, and in the basement a rec room with ping pong, tv, foosball and pool table -- there is always something to do here! 

June 27 to 4; July 11 to 18 and August 22 to 29 are all available this summer.

The Lake is the big draw, of course, with a shallow sandy beach ideal for all ages, plenty of water toys and canoes, kayaks, paddleboats...  Add in our hiking trails, frisbee golf course, Nature Program of Dark Skies and Wolf Howls...  

We were designed for families!

Not quite so many people as that? We have smaller cottages, two, three and four bedroom also available, scattered throughout the summer season.

We've got you Summer, just waiting for you.  Give us a call.

Savouring Spring

 Spring... so close you can almost taste it...


At least that seems to be the opinion of our deer.


This photo just makes me smile.




They were gathered on the lawn in front of Sunflower cottage this evening, when we came home from the Lion's Club Fund Raising Dinner for the Cancer Society -- which by the way, is where you should have been. What a great meal, what great people, what a great time. 





The deer are little annoyed that their stretch of lawn seems to have vanished back under the snow, but they have made it through the hard times of the winter.   There is forage for them, they can root down through the little snow that is left and find something to nibble. Buds are swelling on the trees, little powerful packets of protein.  Water is open and running and easy to find if you need a drink.

Oh... and if all else fails, you can raid the bird feeders.  The jays are notorious at sharing the seeds by flinging it about.

Who's Paws these Are, I think I know!

 These are definitely NOT Taffy's toes.

Last night, not only did we have a spate of Northern Lights (after it stopped already with the sleet and rain), but the wolves were up in the back field happily howling.

A Light Show AND a Concert. Does it get any better than that?


Today Brian, Mike and Dave saddled up the snowmobiles again -- they put them all away last week, but one must roll with the weather punches.


 Conditions were decent enough for the sleds to tour the ski trails, with all the needed equipment in tow, so the BMD could clear any fallen trees, open up tight spots and generally improve the trails.  Much easier than walking and carrying the chainsaw!

While they were out and about, Mike found these lovely tracks.  Now this is a big wolf. Check out both the comparison with Mike's hand, and the length of the stride!



I suppose you could say that the Musicians 'autographed' our program for the Wolf Song...

Check out the length of the stride -
and that is not a wolf running, either,
just taking a leisurely stroll!

Making Friends

 Mardy took these pictures while he was sitting in a deck chair at his cottage.f



The guests on the right side were part of the Brodey Family Reunion...


The guests on the left side were the neighbours, just dropping by to borrow a bite of lunch.


Absent from this photo is the little spotted fawn, who was out on the lawn this week.

Also absent, the big buck with his antlers in velvet, who is more shy about being seen in public than the does seem to be.

What lovely memories get created here at Bondi Village, and how wonderful for these youngsters to be so close to wildlife...

First Bonfire Night

 A super addition to this summer's cookouts is our summer staffer, Natalie.  She brought her guitar to the party, and found an enchanted audience, including Ella.







We predict she will have collected quite a fan club by summer's end!

 Kyle grew "a bit" since last summer.  Now he is almost as tall as Sue...  (although Sue may have just a tetch of catching up!)













Jake and Dylan really got into the toasting of marshmallows.  They even gave Dad Chris some helpful pointers on the art.

Gotcha!

The song is described as pure, liquid, whistling.  We've been hearing it over and over again, all weekend.  Not that we mind, it is a beautiful sound.  The frustration arose because we couldn't spot the Oriole, who likes to stay very high up in the tree tops.

One of our guests, Peter, saw him by the lake, but nobody had a camera in hand at the time.  It is quite possible that we have two of them -- two pairs that is. Unless the oriole is a super fast flier, and able to get from the big Norway maple at my house to up past the shuffleboard courts and back without being seen in a matter of a few seconds. We have our fingers crossed. One cannot have too many Baltimore orioles around.  Up in the office we have this oriole nest on display.  It is an incredible bit of engineering, a deep woven basket. This one was built in the big cherry tree by Wheelhouse cottage.

Given that the bird can be tricky to spot, I was delighted this morning when he came out on a branch to show off.  He even let me photograph him in mid-song.

, My little Cannon Powershot did a good job of getting the photo, all things considered.  I am however, consumed by envy by the quality of the last picture on this post. It's not mine, it was taken from a birding website. But it is too good not to share.  Like the song of our oriole.

Enjoy.

Reflections on the Season

A sunrise walk along the shoreline netted some impressive reflections, and this bright splash of colour at the main dock.

The ice is almost out. It keeps shifting now -- pushed into both corners of the bay, sliding closer to shore and joining up in the middle, drifting back towards the island and splitting into sections again.  If we do get the rain, the ice will be gone, snap, just like that.

This shot, looking along the shore beyond Springside, was ice free in the morning, piled full of ice by afternoon and clear again by evening.  It's fascinating to watch the ice move.

I liked the reflections made by the old willow in front of my house.

And I liked the sun, peeking over the hill behind Anchor cottage, and the reflections that came with that, as well.  For most of the day, the lake surface was a mirror.  Beautiful.

Spring has Sprung Back

Today was hot and sunny. So hot and so sunny that I gave the horses their first bath of the season. Now they are clean and shiny. At least until tomorrow when they go out to roll in the mud again.

The snow that fell Tuesday melted fast.  The ice is moving away from the shore. That's good news for me -- on Monday it was in very close to shore, and puppy Taffy climbed up onto it to chase the ducks.  Once up there, she was scared to jump in to come back to shore, so kept running on the ice. Which is pretty rotten.  I had visions of making like an icebreaker in my trusty canoe to get out to rescue her, but luckily all ended well, and Taffy learned some valuable lessons about ice and cold water.

Once the ice is gone, the land warms up pretty quickly.  Thoughts turn to summer, when we'll all want to be IN that lake.  If you haven't booked your summer cottage with us yet, now is the time!  After all, one of these deck chairs probably has your name on it...

Summer's Coming!

We've still got the best Winter in the province, and March is one of the very best months to come out and play with the snow.

But folks thoughts are now starting to turn towards their summer vacations. We still have vacancies, scattered throughout the summer months, in our three and four bedroom cottages, and we'd love to add you to our Bondi Family.

Summer in Muskoka, Summer at Bondi... there's nowhere better.