BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

Bigwin Island as seen from Foxwood

This morning the thermometer read -24C! Yesiree, winter has arrived! Not a lot of snow but the ground is frozen solid and the heat lamp is on in the chicken coop to keep our hens somewhat warm. 
It was particularly beautiful this morning so we took a few pictures. Hoar frost was coating all of the trees and with the sunshine reflecting off the ice crystals it made for some neat effects. Even the rock wall that surrounds part of our waterfront was wrapped in an icy cloak. Looking down the lake we could see signs of Haystack Bay beginning to freeze over. Usually the ice doesn't start forming on the lake until just before Christmas so perhaps these are all good signs for a white Christmas and a real Muskoka winter.
By looking at our holiday reservations it appears that even our guests are confident the holidays will be snowy. We still have some space but so far bookings are looking very good. Our local ski hill, Hidden Valley Highlands, opened last week under the influence of good snow making weather. That is about as early as you can get and we believe they are the first to open in southern Ontario. 

We want to remind anyone who is thinking about visiting this winter that Foxwood guests can receive a 10% discount off the posted lift rates at Hidden Valley. As well, while at Foxwood we offer complimentary use of our snowshoes for exploring the nature trails at Foxwood. We are also happy to guide you around the trails during the day. There is lots of nature to see; deer, wild turkeys or fox. For a very special Foxwood experience, we also invite our guests to join us and share in our tradition of going out at night under the stars and moonlit sky. A cup of hot chocolate along the way, the hooting of an owl or the occasional howl of a wolf in the distance make for a very memorable experience. 

DOCKTAIL HOUR

Many of our guests this week have been gathering at the waterfront for docktail hour. Anywhere else it would be just plain cocktails. It has been amazing weather this week and what better way to spend the later afternoon hours than with great company, a cool breeze, fresh air, awesome sunsets...absolutely perfect!
For Len and Adele it was also time to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Congratulations! The two have also been bringing there family to Foxwood for about 15 years now.

With not even two weeks left to the summer, the summer holidays are quickly coming to an end. Nevertheless, the lake water is still beautiful for swimming and should stay that way for at least another two or three more weeks. Right now it's sitting at about 77F/23C. 
Fall colours will start happening by the 2nd or 3rd week of September and usually carry on 'til after Thanksgiving.
It's a good time to visit North Muskoka.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

Although it seems like it was ages ago, the heavy rainfalls and quickly melting snow that created all of the flooding in April wasn't that long ago. Foxwood and most of area around really didn't get badly affected. There was the odd road washing out and the ground became very soggy. Huntsville was another story; we had sightings of people canoeing down Highway 11 just north of town and the Big East River spilled its' banks in many places.
Lake of Bays went up quite high and was about 12" above our dock. Fortunately for us, the ice didn't tear anything away and the lake stayed fairly calm throughout, otherwise the results could have been disastrous. We have friends on Peninsula Lake, one lake to the west of us, who had their large boat house taken right off its base, and tossed 25 feet away onto its side. Moving ice, even a couple of inches of it, carries so much power!
The lake water is still high but the water is warming up. It was about 60F today and Julia was in swimming. She said it was actually quite nice. Brrr ...to cold for me! By the weekend we are hoping to get the ski boat in. Meg is chomping at the bit to get on the water for some wakeboarding time.
What was really eerie was what we found a few weeks ago sitting on the dock. The high water had just receeded to a point that left the top of the dock exposed. Up until this time many things around the lake became floating objects, lifting many boats, dock chairs and boathouse items from the safety of where they usually sat untouched under normal water level conditions. While surveying the water levels one night, our daughter Meg, noticed a pile to debris sitting on our dock right next to shore. Right on the top of a small pile of scrap wood, pine needles and sticks, just waiting to be noticed, was a red pen. She picked it up and read the inscription on the side ...."FOXWOOD INN - LAKE OF BAYS, DWIGHT, ONTARIO   705-635-2333"
The resort hasn't been called "Foxwood Inn"  for years and who knows when that phone number was last used. The pen had to be at least 20 years old or more. Where did it come from? Did it float up out of our dock? Possibly, but most of it was completely re-built half a dozen years ago. Did it come from another place across the lake? Who knows, but somehow it made its' way back to Foxwood, onto the end of our dock, to sit on top a bunch of debris, to be found after so many years. Just like ET.
Maybe it is a sign that this will be the year that we see the return of many long lost Foxwood guests. Are you one of them? .


 

SPRING FLINGS

Winter is pretty well all but done although there is still snow on the ground and the lake remains iced over. This time of year is typically when there is not much to do; the ground is too soggy to work on, we can't turn the water on in cottages because the evening temps often dip well below freezing, skiing is over and hiking trails are deep with mushy spring snow. So what do we do? When possible, we take off for a spring fling.
Julia's has had the West Highland Way on her "to do" list and so in mid March she took off to hike the 100 miles of Scottish wilderness with two of her friends. Although it was earlier in the hiking season - I think that the trail was still closed for winter - the gals had a great time enjoying the scenery, the old inns and Scottish cuisine. I stayed home to take care of the chickens, the cat and the dog.
A few days after Julia got back, I was off to Lake Tahoe for a few days of skiing with Meg, Adam and Adam's girlfriend Teresa. The weather wasn't brilliant and the snow was a bit on the thin side for spring but we had a great time skiing Squaw Valley, Kirkwood and Heavenly Valley. Of the three I'm pretty sure we all agreed that Kirkwood was #1. A bit more low key, fewer people and really good skiing!
Poor John missed out on the West Highland Way and the skiing at Lake Tahoe, however he also had an exciting spring as well. He was part of a team of 3 who were fortunate to be accepted to participate in the Oxford University Intellectual Property Moot competition in March. The team was sponsored by a local Ottawa law firm and the event involved a simulated court situation where opposing teams argue for one side of the case or the other. After losing their very first round to the 2012 winning team, they went on undefeated and won the whole thing! The Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa University Gazette covered the story
Next for us is to wait for the snow to leave and the ground to dry out so that we can get Foxwood open and ready for our May guests.

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IT'S SO COLD THAT.......

Talk about cold, when we got up this morning the temperature was -37C without the wind chill factored in! By noon it had warmed up to a balmy -23C. We even heard some places were recording temperatures of -38C. Fortunately, there was little or no wind around otherwise it would have been a very different story.
Starting up our vehicles went OK however it is interesting how everything changes once you get below -30C. The doors creek, the dials on the dashboards become stiff and hard to move and the trees make a "cracking" sound as they adapt to the cold. The stars in the night sky seem to shine that much more brightly in the crisp air as well. 
So far, we haven't seen any snowmobiles on the lake as the ice has just been too unreliable up to now. We imagine that by the weekend the thickness of the ice will be sufficient ....however where ever you decide to venture make sure that the surface is safe! 
We noticed that Hidden Valley Ski area has taken advantage of the cold weather to make heaps and heaps of machine made snow. That should make for great conditions on the slopes right into spring time.
Annie, our border terrier had her winter coat on when she was out snowshoe-ing with us today. The trails now have a good covering of snow. Funny how winter looked like a loss a week ago when it was raining and the snow was melting away. 
Winter has finally reclaimed it's ownership of January. Bring it on!


  

ITALY...FINALLY

We are 2 months late posting news about our trip to Italy, but we feel it's better late than never. So, here is a Cole's notes version of our trip.
On October 11 we flew to Rome and everything went smoothly. After landing we found our way to the train station to catch a ride to Naples. After a few hours speeding along at about 225km/h we arrived. It was then another train ride, albeit much, much slower, to meet our friends who had earlier traveled from Kamloops,BC. We hung out in Sorrento few days and then took the bus to Amalfi. The roads and buildings were amazing as they clutched onto rock faces hundreds of feet above the ocean. We made a number of side trips. It would have been so easy to spend days exploring Pompeii and Vesuvius, Revello was absolutely beautiful (we took tons of pictures at Villa Rufolo), the hike along the Path of the Gods was everything we imagined and we met Pietro who sang for us at dinner and even signed his "limited edition" cd that we bought from him. The Isle of Capri and the Blue Grotto were definitely memorable adventures on several fronts.

After saying goodbye to our friends in Amalfi we hired a car from Sorrento and drove north to Assisi to meet up with some of Julia's family. We rented a spacious villa that sat in the middle of an olive grove. Our trips here involved a bit more travelling by car. There was lots to explore in Assisi and plenty of good food and drink. We sat in a small church that was built in 1166 and wondered about the people built it and what it was like living then. The caves at Orvieto were fascinating and the cathedral, like many in Italy, left us in awe; it took 30yrs to design and 3 centuries to build! We visited the Marmore waterfall. They were made by the Romans in the 3rd century BC and are the highest in Europe, dropping 165m.We couldn't resist taking a winery for a tour. Just outside the town of Todi we found Roccafiori, an organic winery and just 15 years old.
We flew back on October 26, thoroughly touristed-out and glad to be back home. There were many more adventures which we are happy share if you ask us. All in all, Italy was a hit for us!

WINTER IS COMING!

We haven't done very well with our BLOG lately. The summer seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were off to Italy on vacation.....and then we just got lazy. So, sorry if you kept checking us out, only to see that there was nothing new. We'll try to do better.
Anyhow winter is bearing down on us. Last week the temperatures dipped down to -14C. Now that was chilly, but certainly no where near the -30C that we occasionally see in the winter months. Those cold nights and quiet breezes allowed for the lake to start freezing in the bays and sheltered areas. The main parts of lake will take a bit more time. Usually sometime over the holidays we see it ice over. Lately, with global warming has made things more unpredictable; last year the ice came in later and it went out a month early.
Also, with coming of winter the sun sits lower in the sky. There are still the great sunsets to see, it's just that the sun goes down earlier and slightly more to the south.
The Foxwood nature trails are almost ready for snowshoeing. Guests at Foxwood are welcome to use them free of charge. We'll even take those who want on a evening hike when the sky is black as ever and the stars are shining brightly. It is really quite a memorable experience particularly under a full moon.
The local ski area, Hidden Valley Highlands, just opened last week and they are working hard to get a good carpet of snow down with the aid of their snowmaking system. Over the winter remember that you get 10% off lift tickets when you stay with us.
All of our shopping is done, the tree lights are up and we are getting ready to greet our holiday guests....we have a few spaces remaining over Christmas and New Years.Sometime in the next week or so we'll update you on our Italy trip.
Cheers!