Opening up the Cottage

I love our weekends at the cottage.
And even though we don't usually go up there in the winter anymore, when we go back up in the spring, its like we have never left.

I know how truly lucky and blessed we are to live in such a beautiful country and to have a place like this to escape the every day.

Last year my daughter's and I painted some rocks and decided to place them along our walking trails.
Now our walking trails are not cleared or managed, they are just there from us and a few others either walking on them or driving quads on them.
I decided to go for a walk last weekend to see if I could find them after the cold snow covered winter.

The only one I had seen was this one my daughter Ashley had painted.
I did notice that someone had done a bit of chainsawing along the trail, as there were some fallen trees from over the winter.
So maybe they are under the underbrush or fallen leaves...or maybe someone saw them and liked them so much that they took them home for their own garden...I hope it's the later.


Isn't this the cutest pillow?!?
My daughter purchased it for her bed at the cottage....I may need to make one for myself, teehee.

Last year on my birthday week out at camp, my daughter and I decided to make a flower garden out of this eye sore, lol.
It looks a little worse for wear as nothing has really come up yet.
But look at all of the fallen leaves I raked out of here.
Pretty bad when you have more debris in your flower garden than plants, teehee.

It was actually really hot at the cottage last weekend.
Getting the cottage up and ready for the season and getting the water running is a lot of work, and we like to do it all in one weekend if not all in one day.
So it was nice to soak my feet in the cool water for a bit while Wayne dropped the legs of the smaller part of the dock into the lake.

I received this fairy door from my daughter's last year for my birthday and started to make a fairy garden.
I am excited to add to it this year!!

We get a family of loons in our little lake every year and every year we are waiting in anticipation on if they will have babies or if the eagle will get them :(
Last year was the first year in a long time that their babies survived and they had 2 of them!!
So I was very shocked to see a swan on our lake when we got up there!!!
It was just enjoying the lake and stayed out there all day and night.
I was also happy to see the loon out on the lake as well.

But with the joys of the lake also comes the mosquitoes, lol
Look this is my 1st one of the year...many more to come I'm sure.

What is your favourite activity to do in the summer?
I love to craft as always, but also love to trail ride on my quad at the cottage.

Tracy 💗💗💗

Opening up the Camp/Cottage

 Camp Season is upon us!!

Wayne and I spent the weekend at our cottage.
It rained almost the whole 2 hour drive out there, but cleared up when we reached camp, which was nice to unpack without getting soaked :)
Wayne worked most of the weekend to get our water turned on, but ended up we had a small hole in one of the pump check valve.
We did get enough water to fill up the sauna and fill up a few buckets though.

First thing I did once Wayne put the battery in the quad was go for a ride of course :)
I love to ride!!

It actually hailed before heading home.
Then we got rain...lots of rain.

As much as I love my Home away from Home, I am going to miss my Friday Night Scrapbooking I have with my friends.
I am hoping to have them one day during the week in the afternoon...sad thing is, most of my friends still work, so won't be able to make it.
They all need to retire, lol.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)

Tracy :)

My Day in Photos….Cottage Edition

Look who is visiting us up at camp this weekend…Oscar :)

Oscar is Ashley and Tyler's new puppy…isn't he a cutie.
I think we wore him out with all of the walking we did today and his first time swimming.

I had to quickly make a card.

Ashley and Tyler wanted to give Blake a Thank you gift for helping with the wedding and for checking on Oscar in the afternoons when they were on their honeymoon.
Ashley asked me if I could make a card, and was surprised that I don't have card making supplies up at camp.
But I did find a 6x3 piece of card stock and I had my sticker binder with me…so I made it work, teehee.

Wayne and I ran to Ignace this morning.
He needed to get gas for the quads and propane for the BBQ.
Then the girls gave us a small grocery list.

I saw this van with all these bicycles on it at the motel.
I wonder where they were heading.

Wayne and I were going to have breakfast in Ignace at the restaurant, but it looked to be closed for renovations.
So I ran into the Robin's and picked us up each a breakfast sandwich and a juice.
Not the breakfast I was expecting…but it was good.

As Wayne was getting gas and propane, I ran across the highway to get a few pictures of this plane.
I stated on the info plaque that is was made from 3 different planes.

I like the grocery store in Ignace as they have a stationary section….who doesn't love a stationary section :)
I enjoy crafting in the evening in the living room, but don't like to turn on the big overhead light.
So I thought this little lamp was perfect for me when I journal or colour at night.
The only draw back is it has to be hooked up to my laptop…then I realized, I sit right beside my laptop when I do this, so I went back and picked it up.
It also has a tiny fan…which I will propably never use.

Oscar enjoyed chewing and fetching sticks…the bigger, the better, lol.

Tyler, Blake and Ashley made Nacho's for lunch…yumm.

Wayne and I went for a quad ride and I had to stop for this family of partridge having a dust bath.
They did not want to move….after waiting for quite a while, I slowly started to inch up on them.
They still didn't want to move…but when I finally got really really close, they flew into the tree beside me…Sorry little guys for disturbing you.

Oscar enjoyed many walks/runs, a few swims in the lake and lots of playing with sticks and balls.
We really tuckered him out.
He is actually sleeping by my feet right now :)

Oh yes and we picked up these yummy treats…we actually picked up 2 packages…one for the kids and one package for Wayne and I (oink oink)
I really need to get back to healthy eating again…Monday, yes on Monday ;)

Oscar even met a new friend today.
Sonja, one of our camp neighbours, brought over her little puppy, Lucinda.
Lucinda was actually more interested in chasing the chipmunks than playing with Oscar.
Oscar was very good with her.

Sauna time…I hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)
I tried to get a photo of the red moon tonight…but it looks yellow in my photos :(

Tracy :)

My Day in Photos….cottage edition

Another beautiful day at the cottage….but then again any day here is a beautiful day :)
We started our day with a very long quad ride.

Checked out some new roads and trails…..we did this last weekend as well.
There are so many bush roads and old logging trails..it is easy to get lost, if you're not careful.

Wayne has been in this area before…he said you used to be able to drive on the culvert pipes, which were covered with dirt, but the water washed them away…you can see a bit of one at the edge of the photo.

Here is Wayne's RZR and my quad is behind his.
We got off and did a bit of walking around to enjoy the view of the water.

Wayne cut some brush on one of our regular trails.
I rode along with him, and then got out and did a walk.
These Moccasin  Flowers are kind of sparse, so when Joy (my FIL's wife) or I see one, we get a bit excited.

Beauty is all around you here.
Even in the middle of the forest there is beauty, amongst dead fallen trees, beautiful flowers grow.

I saw this mushroom and was surprised on how big it was.
Look at those tiny bites eaten from it :)

When I saw this mushroom, I had a chuckle, as I can just picture a little field mouse sitting on top of the mushroom, nibbling on it, teehee.

Then it was back on the quads for another ride :)
I can not believe how close I got to this bunny.
I also saw a partridge and its babies crossing one of the trails in front of us.
Another bunny actually ran beside my quad as I was driving….too funny.

Here is another old logging trail/road we rode on.
I understand logging and why it is done….but what I don't understand is the waste.
These piles (and they are all over, on many roads) are the waste or the trees that didn't make the cut.
It just makes me sad that these can't be used.

Another wonderful, fun and relaxing time at the cottage….time for a sauna now ;)
Hope you all had a very creative and relaxing day :)

Tracy :)

Very Creative Weekend

Who wants to help me unpack?!

I had a wonderful (extra) long weekend with my friend/SIL, Sharon at her camp.
Every May long weekend my 3 daughters and I go to her camp for a weekend of creating.
Not only did I make a few 6 scrapbook layouts, a whole mini album, figured out the spacing for my 5 yr journal and caught up on decorating my fauxbonichi…I also started a couple Pocket letters.
In between all this creating, my girls and I also went for quite a few nice walks :)

We had a wonderful time.
My daughters even did a couple of photo shoots….perfect, more photos for me to scrapbook :)

Now…..about helping me with my unpacking….any takers ;)

I hope you all had a very Creative Day :)
Thank you Sharon, for the great weekend and opening your camp to us.

Tracy :)

Looking Forward to Next Weekend

Thought I would share an evening photo of the lake.
So beautiful. I love the reflection of the trees on the water.

I guess we must have been in a rush to close up the cottage last year, as these were sitting on the counter when we arrived Friday night.
They were dry by the way, teehee.

The water was really cold.
I just put my tootsies in. Wayne's dad told us that there was still ice on the lake last weekend.
I saw this crayfish in the water. I think he was hiding, as the otter may be around ;)
This crayfish, was huge!

Enjoyed Wayne's delicious burger for lunch..mind you I think I only ate about half of it.

Wayne wasn't feeling well all weekend.
We didn't get as much completed as we usually do, but I had to keep reminding him that we have all summer and to take it easy.
Wayne suffers from allergies and asthma. And he was really suffering this weekend. He even had a fever last night.
So we came home early and he has been resting on the couch….poor guy.

I have to mention that I am pretty proud of myself.
I am kicking my Coca-Cola habit again…but I am allowing myself to have 2 pop during the weekends.
But I didn't have a pop all weekend.
I haven't enjoyed a nice cold can of Coke since last Tuesday.
I am not giving it up all together, as I love it so much.
Go Me!

I hope you all had a very creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)