September brings a host of fabulous activities to Presqu’ile Provincial Park.   www.friendsofpresquile.on.ca  Located half way between Toronto and Kingston, Ontario this finger of heritage property juts out into Lake Ontario and forms one side of the Brighton Bay.   The point is home of the famous Presqu’ile Light House a welcomed beacon to thousands of early mariners.  These days there is a flurry of wild life activity at the park.  Monarch Butterflies are gathering for their annual migration to Mexico and this weekend many of the butterflies will be tagged in order to track their journey.  Gathering on shrubs and trees these beautiful creatures are resting, feeding and awaiting those favourable winds that will assist them in their journey across the lake and southward.   The Labour Day weekend also marks the end of the interdenominational church services help each Sunday in the open air theatre at the Park.  But it does not end there.  This is the time when Park Turtles are on the move.  Laying their eggs and preparing for winter.   As well, there are guided tours to observe the bird life in the Park.  September is a wondrous time throughout Northumberland County.  The trees are beginning to show their fall colours across the hills and don’t forget those incredible fall fairs.  Many are happening right now.   Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!

For the past six years “The Great Auction Barn Jamboree” has slipped into Colborne, Ontario nearly unnoticed by most residents.  But this is an event, Country in the Country,  not to be missed.  It happens every year on the Labour Day Weekend.  By my own non scientific calculations, this year there were over 400 motor homes and huge travel trailers gathered around the “Keeler Centre” annually home to this music extravaganza.  Hosted by non other than Gary Warner, long time Colborne auctioneer and raconteur, the Auction Barn jamboree is a blended mix of professional and open mike opportunities all culminating in a huge Sunday Morning Gospel Hour.   Check it out at www.auctionbarnjamboree.ca.   Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!

Black Locust Trees framing the lake

Yesterday I looked out to the shimmering lake watching the water patterns and admired the beautiful Black Locust Trees spiralling skyward on our property right down to the water’s edge. These magnificent trees easily rise 80 feet into the blue cloudless skies.    They are late in getting their spring leaves but compensate that tardy arrival with hundreds of small white flowers that attract bees by the millions.  For up to two weeks, once the flowers burst out, the yard is buzzing with bee’s, 75 feet up in the top combing these special trees for the very unique Black Locust nectar. Then as the blooms fall, we are showered with thousands upon thousands of white petals looking like a gentle snow shower.   Nature affords us a continuing show of wonders.  Just past our stand of Black Locust, the Maples are already changing colours and dropping their leaves.   Summer has been glorious here on the lake but fall’s harbinger is in the air.  Here at Loughbreeze we are looking forward to seeing you.

                                                                                                             

Arriving at our B&B by sailboat

It’s not every day that a quick look from your deck has your eyes fasten on a New Zealand Sailboat complete with crew.  But there they were, Gord and Sharon waving hello and moving their bags into the dingy.  They were arriving at Loughbreeze Bay B&B by sailing their boat up Lake Ontario right to our bank.  What a glorious arrival.  We have known Gord and Sharon for about five years and they usually arrive by car but this time to surprise us they decided to sail and have a visit.  For several days this very special sailboat bobbed in the waves just off our shore while Gord and Sharon visited.  Naturally we had a delightful sail one evening and it was wonderful.  Looking forward to seeing you at Loughbreeze Bay.

We are down to our last two jars of Strawberry Jam.  Thank goodness, the season is early this year so we can stock up our freezer.  Making jam is a team effort.  After we buy/pick our strawberries the division of work begins.  I’m the measurer ,squasher,mixer, cooker and jar filler.  My husband is the washer, huller , jar sterilizer and taster.  This system works quite well for us.  Last year, we bought some amazingly tasty berries at Moore’s Farm just off #2 on the way to Cobourg.  They were so delicious.  Our guests appreciate this home made strawberry jam with the freshly baked bread that greets them on their arrival.  Usually this combination is requested for breakfast along with any style of eggs and bacon/sausages.

A few weeks ago, I found myself with a basket of very ripe nectarines.  I decided to make jam with them and was pleased with the result.  In polling our B&B guests, they like the nectarine jam but the strawberry jam still wins out!

For a novelty, we hung an upside down tomato plant in a colourful hanger just off our waterfront deck.  All summer long, it would be handy to just pop outside and pick fresh tomatoes It could be conversation piece for our guests and a science experiment for the children.  Soon after we made the installation, we noticed several hummingbirds bumping into the red tomato container.  I suppose, they were attracted by the bright colours and trying to find some food.  After searching on Google for the correct proportions of sugar to boiled water, up went the hummingbird feeder.  Success for viewing hummingbirds, was as close as installing a properly concocted Hummingbird Feeder apparatus on the hook near the upside down tomato plant.   Now we frequently observe  several Hummingbird drinking at a time.  What a great way to observe our quickly moving friends as they dart about feeding, wings fluttering.  We are Loughbreeze Bay B&B and are looking forward to seeing you!

I’ll bet you have not though too much about pigeon racing this year.  But Pigeon Racing is a huge sport.  But while it is a sport now pigeons have honourably served Kings, Queens, media sources as well as the military by conveying positive and negative messages from place to place.  Take a look at this web site www.crpu.ca and you can glean all the info you ever wanted about Canadian Pigeon Racing.  In fact, in another blog we told you about the Repatriation convoys we attend along the Highway of Hero’s nearby where Al Wilson has built his loft called “Pigeons of Peace”.  Whenever a member of the Canadian Forces is returned home after falling in Iraq or Afghanistan Al releases 21 white pigeons as the hearse passes under the Lake Road overpass. The ceremony smartly attended by retired military veterans is a tremendously moving tribute to our forces.   Thank you Al.  We appreciate your good work. Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you.

The Shelter Valley Folk Festival, www.sheltervalley.com,  is one of Canada’s premier summer occasions and it happens just minutes from our door.  In fact it is such an institution most folks think it has been around for decades.   Never mind, the country side will rock for three days beginning September 3.  A cornucopia of music, awesome exhibits, naturopathic therapies, a sustainable living workshop and a festival favourite the painting of the old truck are just a few of the memories to be had.  Believe me the Shelter Valley Folk Festival is an earth shaking event not to be missed.  We here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B are looking forward to seeing you.

Catherine Wilson, a noted University of Guelph professor has recently published her award winning book called “Tenants in Time”.  In her book Ms. Wilson has traced early residents history in the Cramahe/Colborne area.  Visit  www.uoguelph.ca/ruralhistory/research/wilson.html to view her online data base.   Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you.

Some times the ordinary is truly extraordinary.  Things most of us take for granted are frequently so special we forget that to recognize their uniqueness.  Just the other day I was standing out on our point that projects into Lake Ontario where I could clearly see the CN Tower in downtown Toronto.  Now everyone knows the CN Tower.  The “TOWER” is mostly retired from it’s communications role but it is still the second tallest free standing structure in the entire world.  Certainly millions of people have visited the observation deck and millions more have dined in the rotating restaurant perched way up there.   Over the years the CN Tower, www.cntower.ca,  has become one of Toronto’s most celebrated land marks.  Here at Loughbreeze Bay B&B we are looking forward to seeing you!