Bondi Resort Blog

Come on into our Blog for a look at the wonderful world we've got to share! With over 240 hectares (600 acres) of wilderness woodlands surrounding the resort, just ten minutes from Algonquin Park, we feature over 400 metres (1200’) of waterfront and beach; boat rentals; summer hiking trails winding through fields and woods; 20 km. of groomed cross country ski trails and snowshoeing in winter; access to nearby snowmobile trails for sledders, and a toboggan hill for the young at heart.
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Thursday, June 26, 2014

circle the date

If you are here this Saturday, June 28th, your day is action packed.  There is a community BBQ and Dessert Auction, long with a bunch of great stuff happening at the Dwight Beach, from 11 to 2 p.m.  Featuring music with acclaimed young local talent Tobin Spring, and a Treasure hunt for the kids, this is going to be a great place to stop for lunch.

And then, rest up, because Dorset is hosting the Canada Day fireworks over Trading Bay at dusk.  Admission for that is by Donation, and it is a fabulous show!

So that takes care of this weekend... 

Next weekend, get your tickets for a superbly entertaining play that is being hosted by the Friends of the Library -- in Baysville on Friday, and in Dwight on Saturday.  Love, Loss and What I Wore will have you gasping with laughter. It's not just a show for the gals, either -- the guys will appreciate this one too, and both sexes will recognize those they know and love on the stage.    tickets are only $15, and are available at both Libraries.


(and we can't help but brag -- fabulous Bondi-family member Deborah Mitchell is one of the stars of the show!)



Beautiful Blues


 Our bluebirds are among the most beautiful of the planet's creatures, but they are notoriously hard to catch on film!
 Patience was rewarded today. The bluebirds have babies in the nest, so they are constantly coming and going. It's the best time to get a good look at them, since they seem to be quite camera shy.





This one was pretty pleased with himself, having scooped a huge juicy caterpillar for dinner.












Not a great photo, but it does catch the glorious blue of the wings...



Admirable Admirals

 I have never really understood why it is called a White Admiral (as opposed to a Black Admiral...) but that's the way it goes...


There are a lot of them about right now, and they are spectacular.

And, to make my happy day complete, Monarch Butterfly Number Two flitted past me today at the garden.

Fish O'Clock

Dave and Mike admire the big (and we do mean big) bass hanging out under the dock.


Leave him be. He's got babies to look after!   Bass nest, and the male stays with the hatchlings until they are quite a good size, so taking this Daddy would endanger the little ones.  Look and admire...

You can see how high the water is right now, though -- we've had some good falls of rain!

Ready, Set, SUMMER

 Never a dull moment!   Dave got busy shortly after checking into the cottage getting the ski tube inflated (with help from the cottage vaccuum cleaner and assistance from one of the boys, and a little bit of supervision from Taffy).


Down at the lake, more of the kids were waiting for the action to get started!







Meanwhile, our Dave, of the BMD, had Chris and Tanner out on our tube. Yes, there really is another head in there... although Chris is almost invisible on the left side!!


 Tubing can be a ton of fun.  



But then, so can swimming, and jumping on -- and off -- the water trampoline. Tanner shows his style here!

Four Hungry Mouths

Three cheers! (well, Four Cheers!)  Our barn swallows have successfully hatched all four of their eggs, and are now very busy in the stable ferrying in food for the hungry little darlings!

Banking on Seeds


 What a great idea from the Dwight Public Library!   It's a seed bank -- you can sign out seeds for the summer, that are heritage varieties, proven in this climate.

At harvest time, you collect some of the seeds, and bring them back to the Library to add to the bank, along with a sheet that details how well they grew, so going forward there will be more varieties of produce that are well adapted to the climate of Muskoka.  More details can be found at the Library website

Trouble with Turtles

 It is not enough that the snapping turtles have to risk life and limb to cross roads and find places to lay their eggs...  


Adding insult to injury, the unspeakable raccoons come along and dig up those nests...


This nest was 'hit' last night, and there's not much left except the eggshells.

And these two 'survivors', which we have done our best to put into safekeeping...

Moving Right Along

 Dorset is a happening place. And none so happening as last Saturday.  It was the official Launch Summer Day in Dorset, with the S.S. Bigwin making her first cruises on the lake for 2014, and the opening of the Bigwin Galley store and ticket office.  Take note of that curved piece of railing -- that is from the legendary Bigwin Inn Rotunda.  Plenty of famous people during Bigwin's heyday put their sticky hands on that particular bit of railing...   It's wonderful to see it out on display!

Steve Leavens 'rocked the look' when he borrowed my hat... What a good sport!

 Here's samples of the old Inn's iconic plateware.  When people sat down in the circular dining rooms (now restored and part of the Bigwin Island Golf Course) they were all served simultaineously by over 300 waitresses.  The kitchen doors opened, and out came tray after tray of meals!   Imagine plating that in the kitchens!

If you are in the Lake of Bays this year -- and gracious, you SHOULD be -- there's nowhere better!  -- be sure to stop by Dorset.  A cruise on this ship is pure magic. Powered by electric engines, she slides through the water of Trading Bay in silence...









On Saturday, to celebrate the Launch Summer event, there was a free BBQ, and free rides on the S.S.Bigwin. Even salty sea-dogs got to ride in style!





What a lovely sight to see!









Telus was on hand with free ice cream, and free stuffed panda bears. We mentioned to them that Luna, the saw-whet owl, was a personal friend of ours, and the lovely lady took our card, and offered to send us a stuffed "Luna" toy for our collection.


 Mayor Bob Young, of Lake of Bays, has three grandchildren, so he had to collect three pandas. No problem there, Telus was more than happy to oblige!  Anything to keep peace with the grandkids!



M.P. The Rt. Honourable Tony Clement was on hand as well.  Not just for the BBQ, either, but to attend the official ground breaking of the Dorset Pavillion. He is a good sport, our MP, and no doubt you can read all about the day on his Twitter Feed.



 The Pavillion is another project of the very busy Dorset Community Group -- who could give lessons on how to work together to get stuff done.  They have already built a playground, a gazebo at the docks, re-built the docks and added planters, set up a website and an information kiosk, set up community gardens, secured the land for a community park and Pavillion -- and they are working hard on obtaining a Nurse Practioner Station in the village.


The Pavillion is on the site of the old school, now an open field.  For the occasion, several vendors were on hand, including the LOBREC, the Lake of Bays Renewable Energy Corporation. Melissa was demonstrating a solar oven, handing out tasty baked onions and yams all courtesy of the Sun.  She also had a solar powered water fountain on display.


There was a lot to look at, including fantastic garden sculptures and wind mobiles crafted in Dorset by Peter Kourtz.






What is a party without some face painting taking place?  The art work on the kids' faces was spectacular!







And not just restricted to faces!









 Ruth Ross, Councillor for Ridout, Lake of Bays, has worked tirelessly over the past many years to help Dorset bring these various projects to completion, and she had the honour of introducing the occasion.  The Township of Lake of Bays has worked closely with the Dorset Community Group.






Mayor Bob Young was able to speak to that very support, and to remind folk about the next 'big thing', which is that Nurse Practioner Station.






Special thanks must go to FedNor, for financial support of the project, and to MP Tony Clement for his assistance in securing that funding.   Projects like these aren't cheap.  Matching funds have been raised by the community -- for a certain dollar amount, you could 'buy' a roof beam, a wedge, or a wooden spike with your name on it to be included in the construction. Special thanks must also go to the volunteers and the workmen who donated 'work in kind' to get this thing done -- not to overlook the gentleman who donated not only his crane, but his time and labour to come up and lift the roof beams!





And, although he never seeks the limelight, we must thank Colin Reaney, who has been the catalyst for much of this. He is amazing. Enough Said.







M.P.P. Norman Miller was also on hand for the occasion.  He has represented Parry Sound/Muskoka well over the years, and we are glad to have him back as our M.P.P.



There was a large cast to help with the ribbon cutting ceremony -- and that is fitting because nothing like this happens without a lot of people, both on the front lines and in the background. I'm not trying to name them all, because I would no doubt leave out someone important -- they are ALL important, all critical to the success of any project and to the sense of community that is so strong in Dorset now.  But I do want to Thank them all...

And now, just one week later, check out the progress on this building! What an asset this will be to the community, as the site for the farmers' market, a place to picnic, for kids to play and people to gather. Right across from the Heritage Museum, the site will also include public washrooms.

So when can you see it?  Well, this Saturday is the traditional Canada Day Fireworks in Dorset, hosted by the Community Group. We recommend that you get there early to secure a valued viewing spot -- the bay will be full of boats as well, so you can always go that route (but then you won't get to see the Pavillion, so you'll just have to go back another day).  Admission is by donation (we recommend $5/person, $20 /family)





Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Inspired

 Paul canoed around the bay while Cindy kicked back on the dock with a good book and some sunscreen.




But they had unusual visitors this time at the cottage, two sculptures that Paul recently completed.  These are scaled copies of  two statues that used to be outside Paul's dad's office.  (where Paul got to mow the grass )

 The seated figure is Elbert Hubbard, who founded Roycroft. The original sculpture ws done by Jerome Connor, of Ireland, and was sculpted in Ireland as a memorial to Hubbard and his wife, both of whom died on the Lusitania.  It was unveiled June 19, 1930, on Hubbard's birthday.  (and, June 19 was the day the copy of the sculpture came to Bondi to overlook the bay)

The standing figure is Michelangelo, sculpted by Paul Bartlett. This was commissioned by Hubbard in 1907 to be a copy of the existing statue in the Library of Congress.
 
We were quite honoured to have these two gents visiting us. But even more honoured to have Paul and Cindy back again!
 



Three, Two, One -- JUMP!

 Go Jump in the Lake!  That was the order of the day on Sunday. 


Taffy got into the act, making sure Anna got some good "air" off the dock.

It's not just the docks that provide a great jumping off place -- Austin checked out the height he could get coming off the trampoline.








And then he was the first one this summer to conquer the Iceberg and slide on down.


After all, if you really want a fabulous summer, all you need is a lake... Just add kids...

Seriously?

 There have been two pair of Canada geese swimming about the bay this spring, and this week they came by with their goslings.

Now, usually we see them out with about 4 goslings... But this year they are all over-achievers. 

Pair Number One has NINE... (seriously????)
And Pair Number Two has SIX...

We Believe





 Taffy believes in the Lake of Bays Monster...


You can get cool t-shirts like hers, to show that you, too, believe...  


You can also, for a limited time, get Monster Brew from the Lake of Bays Brewing Company....

You might even have a mysterious 'sighting' of ripples on the lake while you are boating.

Or, you can scoop up a portrait of the Lake of Bays Monster, painted by Napster.   His painting "Here Be Dragons" is now for sale to benefit the Monster's favourite charities in Dwight, Dorset and Baysville. Prints are available on-line, at Bondi Resort, or at Humble Pie in Baysville, $20 for an 8X10, unframed, with Napster's story and a Monster sticker for the back of the frame.