Loughbreeze Bay B&B

Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

Famous Presqu'ile Point Lighthouse

Presqu’ile Provincial Park camping is an annual ritual at one of Ontario’s most popular parks.  Over 380 camping spots are available.  This year Presqu’ile Park, Ontario’s most popular park, celebrates the International Year of Biodiversity offering a host of workshops and contests.  Wondrous sandy beaches compliment the campground area.  Be sure you investigate the newly opened wheelchair accessible Marsh Boardwalk.  It is awesome.  The picnic area is right on the water making it very special.  It is quickly populated by hundreds of day visitors during the spring/summer and fall.

The Park is open year round and offers many winter activities and community programs.  At Presqu’ile Point you will find the famous Presqu’ile Lighthouse with The Nature Centre and foot path.  The Nature Centre is always hosting special activities and displays.  You will not want to miss this attraction.  Just this past week, we had guests stay with us who had relatives camping in the park.  They moved easily between both areas, ours and the park, enjoying the best of  both.  Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!

This spring, I couldn’t wait for our heritage lilacs to bloom. It seemed to take forever!   All my friends, had beautiful sweet smelling blooms but not me.   Here, on the lake, with the ever present cool breezes,  growth seems to slow down. My neighbours, up in the Northumberland Hills saved the day by sharing there’s with me. Our guests appreciated being greeted by large bouquets of fragrant lilacs.   Just when those lilacs had past their peak, mine finally started to bloom. Wow!  We had more that a month of lilacs to enhance our home.   Next the Irises added ambiance and I now I can see the lilies are ready to bloom.

I can’t forget all those other perennials that I enjoy from coral bells to lupins.   Everything, except the lilacs, seems to be blooming earlier and taller. We are hoping that the groundhog will ignore trimming our hollyhocks so we can watch them grow too.  Come visit us and share our gardens!

Canada Day in Cobourg, Ontario

Canada Day, July 1,  is our day of Celebrating the Greatness of Canada.  Nearly every town in the Country will host a collection of activities to show their appreciation.  Flags are flying, parades are moving down the main streets, bands are playing, dignitaries jump up to support the festivities and people cheer on the marchers. After the last float has passed, everyone moves to the park where the celebrations continue, bands play and speeches abound.  Usually the festivities are culminated by a handsome displays of fire works.

Canada Day Parade in Cobourg, Ont.

Last year we were in Cobourg.  We shook hands with the tallest Mountie and heard the Town Crier.  We were entertained by the dancers and learned more about the different volunteer organizations.

Congratulation on a great party!   We will be in Colborne and Brighton this year and a super party is in the offering. Be sure you are joining in too.  We here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B are looking forward to seeing you!

Donnybrook at the Warkworth Arena

It happens every year in June (19th, 2010).  It is an occasion not to be missed come rain or come shine.  Warkworth is a happening community supported by caring and dedicated citizens.  I’ll bet you the Warkworth old timers believe it is a Miracle.  Yes, that is MIRACLE .  A sign of what a community can do/become  when they come together.  When you visit the Warkworth Donnybrook (www.warkworth.ca) you will be joining hundreds of caring and dedicated neighbours working together to promote their community in a glorious fun filled celebration.  All monies raised during the Donnybrook, go to finance community activities.

Here is the scene at the Warkworth Fair Grounds. There is a barn chock full of books. I estimate several thousand, racks of clothes of every style and type, antiques like you would not believe, collectibles and stuff you never saw before from yesteryear plus, plus, plus.  Inside the barn, people are filling their black garbage bags cause everything is sold by the bag ($5.00 a full bag).  Simply put, at the Warkworth Donnybrook, everyone feels like a lottery winner.   At most times, there is a line up to get in and a line up to get out but it’s the most fun you have had for ages.  When it is too crowded, stop in at some of the outdoor booths for their speciality items.  You will not go hungry or be bored here for there is glorious food all over town.

Auctioneer and red shirt helpers busy volunteering!

The arena, filled with wonderful articles you have always wanted and needed, opens at 7:00p.m.  Auctioneers (12+) are ready to put the piece you want up for auction. Donnybrook advocates beware, this is the real thing!   Aardvarks to zebra skin rugs and everything in between awaits your considered bid and immediate possession.  Looking for tools?  Need a bed?  How about furniture?  Radio’s, TV, or anything electronic?  Do you need exercise equipment?  The Warkworth Donnybrook celebration is your place to be.  Great fun, great people and a lesson in community.  Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you.

Searching for fresh veggies.

I love the feel of the warm earth in my hands, as I plant my vegetables.  I’ll make any excuse to stay in the garden, ignoring the other “must do” chores.   Last year, our asparagus yield was small but we had plenty of peas, beans, potatoes and zuchinni .  We were still harvesting our beets and carrots until December but the neighbourhood groundhog regularly pruned the brussel sprouts and cabbages to the ground.  Those ingenious squirrels got quite handy at reaching the sunflowers and corn by climbing the stalks and causing them to break.  Thus making their food reachable.  There is a challenge to managing the sharing of produce.

This year,  we are experimenting with fencing part of the garden to mitigate the losses.  So far, half of the beans have been topped and the peas are getting shorter by the day.  Our guests seem quite interested in seeing how their veggies grow. They also are amused at the evidence of our gardening groundhog.  Some visitors have even lent a hand to plant a second crop.

Come by and check us out at Loughbreeze Bay  B&B.  We look forward to sharing the our gardens.

Hidden Treasures

For hundreds of years geologist, ordinary people, amateur rock hounds along with the naturally curious have scoured mountain sides, fields, beaches and anywhere they travelled looking for stones. For most of us shapes and colours catch our eyes and attract us to the rocks we collect. Here at Loughbreeze Bay,  stones and rocks of every size are in abundance. Our immediate area is a treasure trove for stones with the markings of a wide range of small animals.  Regularly our visitors carry some specially chosen ones home as mementos of their visit with us.

More Treasures!

Our grandchildren are particularly pleased to find heart shaped rocks. Bleadsdale Bolder located in Quinte West is reported to be the largest glacial erratic bolder in North America. It’s as big as a house!

Budding artist at play

My husband’s announcement that we needed a sign for our business brought a hearty agreement from me.  It made such sense. We do need a sign letting visitors know that we have an incredible place.  It needs to convey the idea that watching the Lake, its sun rises, how it highlights the skies and on calm days reflects the clouds. the stars and even the many birds skimming its surface, is so decompressing.   The sign should have a relaxing tone to demonstrate how guests unwind and let nature entertain.   ”Where do we get a sign”?  I asked.  ”You could paint one,”  he answered and reminded me that I had painted a couple of pictures… but never a SIGN!  I did paint our current sign but only under the premise that a professionally sign would quickly be forthcoming.  Well, my sign is up and working just fine.  Even though I missed painting the birds, it does the job.

The Repatriation of our servicemen and women from the war zone is time filled with sadness and emotion.  All along the Highway of Hero’s from the airport runway at Trenton Air Base and the roads leading to Highway 401, dedicated citizens and Military Personnel, line the roads holding their Canadian Flags.  Once on the 401, Highway of Hero’s, the convoy is lead by Ontario Provincial Police cars.  Other officers strategically placed along the route, block access to the Highway as the hearse, family cars, and Military Guard of the procession moves toward Toronto.  Intercoms crackle as word is passed from one overpass to another announcing the motorcades progress by means of Fire Department and Police radio.  At every overpass, from Trenton to Toronto, there are caring citizens and civic personnel offering their support and appreciation for our troops.  It is a moving scene!  Damp eyes and clenched jaws reflect the mood.   At Lake Road, a small 401 overpass, the Warkworth Legion Colour Guard assembles on each sad occasion.

These dedicated veterans dressed in Blazers with Berets, Campaign Ribbons prominently displayed they raise and lower their flags on command, as the procession approaches and then as if by Divine Intervention 21 white pigeons are released to pass over the hearse.  On top of their fire engines, personnel stand and salute.  It is truly a Grass Roots fallen Hero’s return Home. Respectfully, we go to the Lake Road overpass, near Brighton, Ontario,  with saddened and heavy hearts but this manifestation of caring Canadians lifts us as we all pray there will be no more fallen Hero’s.

Minutes from us, just across the bay Presqu’ile Provincial Park is celebrating The International Year of Biodiversity.  As proclaimed by the United Nations, Biodiversity is the assembled  puzzle with billions and billions of pieces of life, plant and animal, on Earth.  Among the more diverse wild life populating Presqu’ile Provincial Park  are the Red Knot shore birds travelling annually from the lower tip of South America to the High Arctic.   The Monarch Butterfly is another prominent visitor that travels from central Mexico and returns.  Be sure you have a chance to experience Presqu’ile’s biodiversity at the Nature Centre or take a walk in the Park.  Contact www.friendsofpresqu’ile.on.ca for more information.  Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!

Loughbreeze Bay B&B along with Presqu’ile Provincial Park offers artists and photographers excellent opportunities to get up close and personal with nature. From the unspoiled wooded area and beaches, you can step into lanes and walkways to observe special plants/trees along with birds and many small animals.  On most any day throughout the year, you will see professional and amateur artist and photographers searching out their special subjects.
From the Snowy Owls of winter to summers’ Hawks and Owls, Monarch Butterflies and Red Knot beach birds Presqu’ile Park is a Natural paradise.   Be sure to inquire about the many Park competitions open to artist and photographers.  Contact:  www.friendsofpresquile.on.ca or 613-475-4324 ext. 225.   Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!