Our Wedding: The Ceremony

Some people might say that Tim and I didn't put as much thought into our ceremony as we did to the rest of the wedding (namely the food!) I don't know that I could argue against that - our ceremony came together fairly effortlessly. While I was raised Catholic, Tim and I both recognize as being agnostic. We knew that we did not want a religious ceremony. Or a long ceremony! We also knew that we wanted Tim's uncle's partner, who is a minister, to marry us. It was really nice to be able to work within the family and he was amazingly helpful in finding the right ceremony for us and rewriting certain parts to fit us better. Tim and I both wrote our own vows and they were completely different! Tim did his the week before the wedding and they were very sweet, a little funny. Mine I based off of a Youtube video that I had seen, absolutely loved, and identified with in relation to mine and Tim's relationship. The video is called 'The Last' by Wong Fu Productions and it's worth a watch:

Here are some photos of the ceremony from our day!

Lots more photos after the jump!

Our Wedding: Group Shots

What does everyone do with the dozens of group photos you get of your wedding party? The selection here is but a fraction of the group photos we received, and they're all good! 

LOTS more photos after the jump!

Our Wedding: The Reveal

It was important to Tim and I that we do the reveal before the ceremony. We wanted to be able to go straight from the ceremony to hanging out with our guests. While many people choose to go the traditional route and have a pause for photographs after the ceremony, Tim and I really aren't the traditional types. I don't know if it's as special as having your husband see you for the first time walking down the aisle, but it worked really well for us. It just streamlined the timing so much to do the reveal and bridal party shots before the ceremony, which definitely decreased the stress of the day! 

More photos after the jump!

Sunday Walk: Peterborough Water Tower

Tim and I wound up with some time to kill on Sunday, in between breakfast with Angel, running errands, and dinner at Dean and Wendy's for Christopher's 25th birthday. I've always been curious about the hiking trails (I'm using "hiking" extremely liberally here) around the west end water tower. There are actually more trails there than I thought, although it's really a small area. Very pretty in the gorgeous fall weather. We spent a half hour wandering around with Tim reminiscing about playing around there as a child.

On our way back to the car we found an apple tree that had sweet apples on it, so Tim picked as many as my scarf would hold and we'll try making apple sauce or something similar out of them later this week!

Our Wedding: Casablanca by Blue by Enzoani Wedding Dress

I will admit that I never had a "This is my dress" mental moment like they show on TV. When I saw myself in the mirror, I did think that I had never known that a dress could make me look like that. I did think that Tim would love it and that it was perfect for the vibe we were going for with our wedding. But I didn't have a crying-as-I-stared-in-the-mirror moment. Blaire did and my mother-in-law Wendy did. But I have absolutely zero regrets. I loved the dress, which is the Casablanca model by Blue by Enzoani.

I bought my dress at the first salon I went to. It was even the first dress I tried on. When I called Antoinette's Bridal Boutique to set up an appointment, I talked to Sevda, who I believe is the owner. I told her that we were having a barn wedding and that I wanted lace. That Tim had told me no poufiness and that I wanted something romantic. Almost right away she said that she thought she had the right dress. That she would have to see me first to know, but that she was pretty sure. When I walked through the doors of the salon the morning of my apointment and introduced myself, she said that she was right - she had my dress. Sure enough, she pulled the Casablanca, which was what I wound up buying. 

It wasn't originally what I thought I wanted - I was sure I wanted straps of some kind, maybe backless. But although I tried on nine dresses, none of the other ones fit as well or was as flattering. Plus I fit the size 6 in the Casablanca perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. I could have used a little butt padding. I blame my flat butt on my Dad, though. I bought the dress that day and cancelled all the other salon appointments I had set up. I will admit it was  a pain to wear. There's a photo in here of Sarah helping me up off the couch. The inner sheath of the dress is very tight, I'm guessing to keep the silhouette of the dress. But it doesn't allow for deep bending. Putting on shoes, picking things up, sitting too deeply - none of that was really possible. I could sit, but it had to be on the edge of the chair. Bonus points, though: I went to the bathroom by myself all night in this dress. Leave me your e-mail address below if you've bought yourself a similar dress and want to know how!

Sarah did an amazing job doing up my dress. I did send her a link to a Youtube how-to video, I'm hoping it helped somewhat. It definitely was not a quick process. 

Lots more photos after the jump!

Our Wedding: Lunches at Dancing Blueberries and St. Veronus

Tim and I both wanted to make it a priority to have time for lunch with our respective wedding parties before heading over to the barn for photos and the ceremony. All of the wedding tips I read said to be sure to eat regularly and drink WATER throughout the day. Given how long the day was, I'm really glad I followed that advice! 

I wanted to go somewhere girly that we could get cute pictures at, but the options for that in Peterborough are more limited than you'd expect. My first choice was the The Magic Rolling Pin Tea Room, but I was extremely disappointed to hear that their summer hours don't include Saturdays. We went to Dancing Blueberries instead. The food was delicious and really reasonably priced, plus the service was very quick. 

More photos after the jump!

Dinner Tonight - Tomatillo Braised Chicken

Tim and I have been doing better this summer than last at finishing up our By the Bushel veggies. However, that isn't to say some things don't stump us (especially not since Tim threw out a bag of unidentifiable green goo - it might have once been lettuce - and a particularly rotted bag of tomatoes tonight). Tomatillos looked to be going that way until I stumbled across BevCooks' Braised Chicken in a Tomatillo Sauce. Part of the allure here was that I had everything to make it already in the kitchen, with a few adjustments.

Bev uses canned tomatillos. I'm not sure one could find canned tomatillos in Lakefield, plus I had a whole bag of them on my counter just waiting to mould. She also uses hominy. While she says that it is delicious (and I have no reason not to trust her), I don't know the first thing about it, including where to get it. Plus that would negate me making this from things I already had on hand. Crucial, given our newly tightened "Let's buy a house" budget.

The chicken is great - I love using chicken legs for braises like this. Perfect portion sizes and really cheap. The sauce is amazing. I could eat tonnes of this over rice. It has a little spice to it (although that will on some level depend on the heat of your jalapeno, they do vary) and a really great acidic sourness. Very different from anything I've had before and I really enjoyed it. 

Tomatillo Braised Chicken

Ingredients:
A dozen ripe tomatillos - make sure they fill the husks
1 small jalapeno pepper
Olive oil
2 chicken legs
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 large red onion, diced
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice, mine was from a squeeze bottle, I will not be ashamed
1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to broil on high. Cover a baking sheet or dish with aluminum foil, making sure it comes up the sides. The tomatillos will release quite a bit of juice as they cook, and you want that juice for your sauce. Remove the husks from your tomatillos. The fruit inside is quite disagreeably sticky. You'll want to rinse that off, I don't really know how. I washed mine in a bowl with lukewarm water and white vinegar and they were still kind of sticky. I don't like it. However, get over your (my) aversion and put them stem side down in your prepared baking dish. While you're at it, wash your jalapeno and throw it in the baking dish as well. Put the dish under the broiler for a few minutes until everything blackens. Take out the dish and turn each item over. Put back under the broiler and wait until that side blackens. I do not recommend leaving your kitchen for this stage. Every time I leave the room when something is under the broiler, it is instantly charred past the point of no return. I don't understand the physics to this, but it's true.

Once everything is nicely charred, remove from the oven. Pull the stem out of the jalapeno. If you don't like heat, a) you maybe shouldn't have used the jalapeno, or b) slice it open and remove the seeds. I just left the seeds in because Tim and I both like a little bit of heat. Transfer the jalapeno, the tomatillos, and all liquid in the dish to a blender. Puree it until there aren't any chunks. I did all of this the day before and threw it into the fridge, but at this point it's ready to use.

Cook your rice according to your favourite method or the instructions on the bag. 

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a deep-sided heavy frying pan (that you have a lid for) over medium-high heat. Add a bit of butter if you want your chicken to brown really nicely. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne for more heat. Obviously skip the cayenne if you are not into spicy. Brown the chicken on both sides in the frying pan. It should take a few minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a plate and add the onions and garlic to the frying pan. Stir them around and let them cook down a little bit, maybe another five minutes. Pour in the tomatillo puree and add the chicken back in, then season with salt and pepper. Put the lid on and turn the temperature down to medium-low. Let this cook for about 25-30 minutes. When that's done, toss in the cilantro and a couple of tablespoons of lime juice. Serve over rice.

Makes two portions.

Our Wedding: The Boys' Leisurely Morning

While the girls were rushing to make it to the salon for 8:00 a.m., the guys got to relax a bit. Not as much goes into getting men ready. They picked up coffee at the Silver Bean, then went and had more coffee at Dean and Wendy's. They even called their half of our photography team, Carlie, to tell her to move her timeline back. She did warn us that men were always running later than the women would. 

Go past the jump for more photos.

Our Wedding: Hair and Makeup at Bloodline Parlour

I'm not sure how most brides go about finding their salon. Mine just kind of fell into place. I was getting my hair cut with Becca at Catalina Salon at the beginning of February and asked Becca if she would do it. I guess I just assumed your regular hair stylist would. But she immediately responded with, "You need to go talk to Jess at Bloodline Parlour." Becca said that not only did she not have the manpower, but that doing updos wasn't her specialty. Plus she added that Jess at Bloodline was the best in town for doing very quick updos and for specializing in fine, thin hair. Which I have been cursed with. I went straight to Bloodline from that appointment and booked the day. Luckily they still had our date open.

Coincidentally (which happens often in Peterborough), I had actually met Jess before at a Halloween party at a mutual friend's house. I had really liked her then and it wasn't any different now that we were both sober. Jess has a really dry sense of humour and a very open, very honest personality. She will neither stand for nor give you any bullshit. I wound up doing two hair trials with Jess because she didn't like the way the first one had turned out. I had just had my hair cut and washed beforehand and it turned out a little flat. I also did a makeup trial with Alex there and absolutely loved chatting with her about makeup and product. It was an easy decision to have my wedding morning start there.

LOTS more photos after the jump.

Buying our first home: Part 1

I'm sure some people - those organized, responsible people who have their shit together - enjoy the process of buying property. It's certainly exhilarating. There are moments of excitement and happiness. But so far, mostly what I've been is exhausted. Tim and I weren't planning on buying a place, or even looking really, until next spring. We just got through the wedding, which was so expensive. But we were out for a Sunday walk and saw a house for sale only a block from where we're living now. We thought we would check it out on MLS.ca just to see what the market in the area was. Only to find out it has a woodshop - a seriously nice woodshop. So we had to go look at it in person, right? I called the realtor listed and set up an appointment. Tim got in touch with an acquaintance who had offered to represent us when we did start looking to buy.

Lesson 1: The seller and the buyer don't usually have separate realtors.

What we should have done was call our guy and ask him to show us the house. He would have gotten in touch the the seller and set up the appointment. I had assumed both the buyer and seller had realtors, but when the two of them realized our mistake, it got awkward. They were both trying to be polite and offered to just let the other person show it, but it was obvious we had stepped on a few toes. We wound up seeing the seller's realtor and having him show us the house. I'm still not sure this was the best decision. While he seems like a really nice guy, he doesn't seem that motivated to answer the specific questions we've asked about the house, like closing date and actual cost. I guess I was expecting it to be more like the shows on HGTV, where your realtor tells you what he thinks the place is actually worth and gives you tips on getting the cost down. This guy priced the house to begin with, so he's giving us very little assistance in that regard. 

We did go to check it out, though, and there's more than a little case of puppy love. The woodshop is incredible. It takes up about half of the three car garage, but there's more storage in a shed out back. It has a wood-drying kiln. The shop itself is heated and ventilated. The whole garage is insulated. The house itself is a weird layout, but it's the right size for us at approximately 1,350 sq ft. The work that's been done inside is gorgeous. Some hardwood floors, great paint jobs, beautiful baseboard and crown moulding, a gorgeous custom kitchen. The lot is big, really nice, and in a great neighbourhood close to work.

Under the advice of friends, we ran numbers like crazy. The asking price is $259,900. We hope we could get them down to at least $250,000. I took the standard mortgage rates for a $250,000 mortgage and did all the calculations. 5% down would be $12,500. Okay, we could get that together. At a five-year fixed term rate of 3.59%, the monthly mortgage payment would be $1,131.49. We've been paying $1,100 per month in rent, so that doesn't really change anything. The mortgage insurance and property tax amounts would go on top of that, say another $300 per month. That's doable for us without any real stretch of the imagination. We would have to be a bit more responsible, but we're pretty irresponsible now, so there's room. So we went in to the mortgage meeting at the bank feeling pretty calm - our income can support the purchase and ongoing payments on a home like that.

Lesson 2: Your income only counts for so much. Your debt counts for just as much.

We have quite a bit of debt. To get a mortgage, your debt payments - including what your mortgage payments would be, because that is a debt payment - have to be less than 43% of your after-tax earnings. You get a little bit of wiggle room, but they'd prefer you be under 43. With both of our cars, our loans, our lines of credits, and Tim's student loan, we were around 45%. Oh - and here's another kicker. If you have a line of credit, they calculate your debt payment as the total you would have to pay if you maxed out your line of credit - not the payment you currently make. It's because you could spend everything out of that tomorrow if you liked. So annoying bank man, who told me years ago that it didn't matter whether he gave me a high approval limit or not? You lied, you jerk. It matters.

So we started making adjustments to get that number down. We can consolidate my loan and Tim's loan together. It's smart anyways to start combining our finances. We paid off Tim's line of credit with mine and cancelled his. We're going to drop the limit on mine. That dropped us a bit, but not enough to make the bank comfortable. The only other place that could give was to sell my car. It's been an option on the table since we moved to Lakefield to get our finances in a better place, but I was resisting because I'm used to the sense of independence that having my own car gives me. Unfortunately, sacrifices have to be made. I'm not making them gracefully, though. I try to catch myself, but selling my car instead of Tim's kind of gives me a bit of a "Why me?" complex. I need to get over it. Better decisions!! We don't really need two cars, anyways. I walk to work most days and Tim can drive me most of the time when I don't. We go in to Peterborough a lot, but we don't really need to and probably shouldn't. So I started the ball rolling to sell the car.

It's a 2008 Pontiac G6 GT coupe and I love it. It's pretty, it drives great. It's had a bit of a knocking in the front end that I've been ignoring for a while because my mechanic told me that it was probably the grease redistributing weirdly in the steering column. Apparently it's a problem in Pontiacs, and my Dad confirmed that their G6 also has some front end noise that they've deemed to be harmless. But it had a recall out on it for the shift lever anyways, so I took it in to the GM dealer in Peterborough to have the recall done, the fluids changed, and the safety and e-test done.

Lesson 3: The safety expires after 30 days. Don't get one done until you have a buyer.

I didn't really expect there to be any problems with the safety. However, what I think isn't always the case, unfortunately. I just heard back from the mechanic and there are multiple problems. Both upper strut mounts need to be replaced, as well as the right side lower arm bushing. That work, plus the necessary alignment afterwards, has been quoted at $1,162.06 plus tax. Apparently (and weirdly) it needs a new windshield due to sand blasting damage. No clue what would have caused that, but they're saying that's around another $350. Add the cost of the safety at $94 and the oil change and fluids at $39.95, and you have a total bill around $1,900. Ugh. Makes my stomach drop. We're supposed to be saving money to buy a house - not spending it! I've sent a message out to a mechanic friend of mine, I'm hoping that he can do the work for less than that. Sometimes dealers can be priced high. Until I hear back from him, I'm just stewing and stressing. Large financial decisions are not fun.

Date night! at Le Petit Bar

Last Wednesday Tim surprised me by taking me out to dinner at my favourite restaurant in Peterborough, Le Petit Bar. Every couple of months I get a really big craving for a sophisticated cocktail and cheese tasting and this is the best place (perhaps the only place) in Peterborough to get both. Besides at home, given that I visit Chasing the Cheese at least every couple of weeks and there's always cheese in our fridge and lots of alcohol in our home bar. Chasing the Cheese supplies the cheese that is used at Le Petit Bar. I need to be better about making simple syrups so that I can make actual cocktails. I've already started accumulating bitters (none of which have ever been opened). 

My handsome husband with our dinner.

Tim brought one of his Rustic Woods cheese boards to give to Shannon (the owner) as a trial for the restaurant. Currently they use dollar store style bamboo boards. It's due to cost and how easy they are to clean, but it looks so sad when they arrange all of these amazing cheeses, meats, and housemade condiments on a made-in-China piece of cr*p! I hope Tim and Shannon can work out something - it would be great to have Tim's boards being used there. We love it there and Tim takes so much pride in his woodworking. It would be great to see them move to a product made with local, sustainable materials. Fingers crossed! She brought out our cheese and charcuterie mix on it and we quickly noted some necessary changes that would make it more functional. Plus I'm looking forward to going back and checking in on how it's going - like I need an excuse!

  

Curried Oeufs Mayonnaise - $5

Tim is a huge fan of deviled eggs (eggs in any format, really), so we knew right away we needed to get this for an appetizer. We were not disappointed. These were easily the most complex and delicious deviled eggs I have ever had. They had a syrup on them and were topped with crispy onions. The red sauce on the plate is sriracha. Tim compared the flavour profile to Caribbean roti. I'm not sure what spices were used in the syrup, but it definitely had a beautiful savoury/sweet balance. When you added the heat from the sriracha, it made for a really incredible bite. 

Two meat charcuterie and four cheese board - $10 for the meat and $16 for the cheese

The two salamis are both from Niagara Food Specialties - one is the abbruzzesse and the other is the nostrana. The cheeses from top to bottom are the Chateau de Bourgogne, a goat beemster, an applewood smoked cheddar, and the Tomme de Gross Iles. The sauces from top to bottom are honey, a ginger chutney, a spicy mustard, and a sweet cherry mustard. 

I love mixing and matching the cheeses, meats, and condiments! The Chateau de Bourgogne is one of Tim and my favourites. It's very mild and buttery. It's perfect to try with the different condiments and a little bit of apple. Tim loves smoked cheeses, but I didn't love the applewood smoked as much as the Bothwell smoked cheddar or the smoked gouda that Chasing the Cheese regularly carries. It was a little too smoke prominent for me - more than a little bitter. The Tommes de Gross Iles also wasn't my favourite cheese we've ever tried there, I found it almost non-existent on the palate. Notably, I am a fan of really funky cheeses. I like my cheese to have taste to it! This was just too mild. The surprise winner of the evening was the goat beemster. It has a beautifully smooth texture with a nice, sweet barnyard finish. I generally love goat cheeses, but even Tim said this was his favourite. He usually does not love goat or sheep cheeses. It was especially good with the chutney. I loved both of the salamis as well, although I don't think I could tell you the difference between them. They were both sweet and not too hard (I don't like really tough charcuterie). I thought they both tasted very strongly of honey. One was more peppery than the other, but I don't know which. 

For drinks, Tim just got a beer (I don't remember which one). I had a maple bourbon sour ($8.50). It was a little more sour than I was expecting. A bit of a duh moment for me, considering the name, but I think I just saw maple and bourbon and thought sweet. It was good, though, and grew on me the more I had. Ha - one could say that about most types of alcohol. Shannon was also a real sweetheart and let us try the 2008 Lillypilly Noble Blend. Shannon is really well-informed about the wines she carries and it was so neat to hear about this particular wine. It was very similar to an ice wine, only the concentration in sweetness is caused by a fungus that only occurs in very specific conditions. While I'm not a huge wine drinker, I do appreciate a good sweet wine and this one was lovely.

Afterwards we went home and cuddled on the couch while watching Pan Am. Perfect date night!

Morning walk to work!

I love being able to walk to work now! It's only 10 minutes from our new place to Savage. Even with the colder weather, I've been so happy. Especially since I walk across and along the river. I love the water and the dams. I love the birds - there are three herons and an osprey nest along my walk. Well, the herons aren't always there, but there's usually at least one of them and I love looking for them. I love to look for fish and think about how much my Mom would love it here. I like to watch the construction team at work rebuilding the one retaining wall on the bank. I love living in a small town again!

The river this morning as I walked to work. It was a one heron day today.

The osprey on it's nesting platform. I've seen both of the mating pair, but not the chick I've been told they have. Apparently it is mature now and flies around. They make the most noise of any bird I've ever heard - more than seagulls!

This photo from last week shows a two heron day - can you see them both?

Storm clouds over Savage a couple of weeks ago.

The crane lifting materials down to the work site for the retaining wall last week.

Friday night when Tim and I walked to the grocery store, we actually had a three heron day! Two on the south side of the bridge, and then this guy hanging out by himself on the north side.

All bundled up for the walk this morning. It was 0 degrees when we woke up and it's not much more than that now!

Have a great day!

Mini Honeymoon Pt. 2 - The Old Station

All day on Monday as we were hoping for the weather to subside, we were hearing radio reports on the cottage traffic. 

          "It's a parking lot on 35 from Lindsay." 
          "Traffic isn't moving on the 400 south of 89."
          "It's bumper to bumper on 11 from Gravenhurst all the way to Barrie."

Needless to say, neither Tim and I nor Matt and Teri were looking forward to the drives back to Peterborough and Mississauga. We knew we could backroad into Bracebridge, so we decided to do that and then find a place to stop for dinner to kill a little more time. We drove in circles in Bracebridge for a little bit looking for the top-rated restaurant, which is a little place called the Griffin Gastropub. Unfortunately, once we did find it, it was only to learn that it is closed on Mondays. We had passed another place that was definitely open, so we went to the Old Station instead. 

Interior shot courtesy of www.oldstation.ca

I had assumed this place was brand new. It was super clean and looked like it had been styled to be the perfect cottage restaurant. I was quickly informed by the server and Tim, who had read the plaque, that it was actually started in 1985. It's aged well! The exposed brick and gigantic tree trunk pillar are very on trend for design these days. The clientele was a good mix. A few older couples, a group of young friends, a family. The menu was big, but absolutely full of things I wanted to try. I usually find the opposite - a large menu full of mediocre items, or a small menu full of crazy things that you get really excited about eating. I had difficulty picking between the Oven Roasted Pepper Squash, the market pasta of the day, the Crackling Skin Chicken Supreme, the Chicken Curry Masala, and the Fish & Chips. Tim wound up ordering the Chicken Curry Masala ($18), so I ordered the Crackling Skin Chicken Supreme ($18). We also ordered the Deep Fried Dill Pickles ($9) to start. 

Hot apple cider at the Old Station in Bracebridge

I was so happy to see hot apple cider on the drinks menu. We ordered a full round of these, and it was a great way to warm up after the rain. If we hadn't been at the end of the long weekend, I would have ordered mine with a shot of spiced rum! The deep fried dill pickles were really neat - I had never had anything like this before. They were SUPER hot on the inside, though. I'm glad the guys warned me about that. But the coating was crispy and the pickles were soft. Really, really yummy. 

Chicken curry masala at the Old Station in Bracebridge.

Tim's chicken curry masala was alright. Nothing really spectacular, but it hit the spot. I thought their spice blend had too much cumin in it. It made it taste a little more Mexican than Indian. Not a bad plate of food, though.

My chicken was easily the best dish. (Matt and Tim helped me polish it off, they thought so too.) The chicken was moist, the skin was crispy, the toasted pecan sauce was delicious. The mashed potatoes didn't blow my mind, but the rest of the plate was spot on. I loved it! I would go here again in a heartbeat the next time we head up to the cottage!

Mini Honeymoon Pt. 2 - Tia and Graham's Cottage on Skeleton Lake!

One of the bittersweet moments at our wedding was saying goodbye to our friends Tia and Graham, who have moved out to New Brunswick for a new job at a private school there. We'll miss them, but it's a great opportunity for them and a great excuse for Tim and I to make plans to visit the east coast! They also graciously offered to let us use their cottage on Skeleton Lake when we have time until they get back late next spring. With Tim teaching Saturdays at Lakefield College, I don't know how often we'll be able to make that happen, but we're definitely going to try!

We were happy to head up on the Labour Day weekend before Tim started teaching. It's only a couple of hours away if we beat the cottage traffic, which we managed to do on Friday by leaving work early. I was more than a little worried when the rain started pouring down in Bracebridge - we could hardly see the cars ahead of us! That didn't bode well for us canoeing in and of course, Tim hadn't brought a tarp. We tried to find somewhere to buy one in Bracebridge, but no luck. Luckily by the time we got to the launch point on Skeleton Lake (their cottage is water access only) the rain had tapered off to almost nothing. We (and by we I mean Tim) are chronic overpackers. We were only going for three nights! Why did we need this much stuff! We had a cooler, two big bags of food, a bag of booze, a bag of mix, the laptop, two duffel bags of clothes, and the camera and tripod. Our canoe is a beast - almost three feet wide in the middle, fully fifteen feet long, weighs around 90 lbs. Even with that kind of transport, we were LOW in the water. I wasn't sure how far it was to the cottage and, I'll admit, was a bit nervous. Skeleton Lake isn't your typical Muskoka cottage lake. Rather than being a glacial lake (long and narrow), it's a meteor crater, so it is deep and wide. At one point we came over a shoal and I remarked to Tim about how much better I felt when I could see the bottom. His completely NOT reassuring response was along the lines of, "Oh, actually, we're still really deep here - it's just that the water is so clear!" Thanks, tips. That makes me feel MUCH better. Just like his comment about how the water was much rougher than he had thought it would be and that we were moving up and down in about six inch swells with only four inches of water clearance at the middle of the canoe. I told him six inches was an exaggeration (that's what she said!) so he proceeded to bounce up and down in the back to make it worse. Jerk.

The rain pouring down in Bracebridge.

We did manage to arrive safely after about a half hour of paddling, which is really short. It's also a great paddle - the shoreline is beautiful and the water really is crystal clear. So when you can see the bottom, you can see everything. We spent the evening getting situated, relaxing, having a few drinks, and having lots of cheese! 

Did we pack enough for one weekend?

Don't worry, one of those is mine - a gift from Carley and Pete for the wedding!

Sad face! Tim knocked me into a wall when we were moving a mattress. Plus I have a weird mohawk bump thing going on in my ponytail. That makes everyone sad.

Crostini for cheese!

Mmmmm - Grey Owl!! I don't care if you think it looks gross, I don't know why everyone feels they need to tell me that. The external coating is not mold, it's vegetable ash. And with my homemade cherry mustard, even Tim liked this and he is NOT a funky or a goat cheese type of person. And yes, insulting my favourite cheese is somewhat like insulting my as-yet-unconceived firstborn child.

Great selection! Clockwise from the crostini: aged gouda, cherry mustard, Bothwell smoked cheddar, Grey Owl, Hatch Chili mustard, an aged sheep's milk cheese, maple ice jelly, pear jelly. The cheese and pear jelly is from Chasing the Cheese, while the hatch chili mustard and maple ice jelly are from Firehouse Gourmet. 

Delicious cheese face.

While people elsewhere may have been cursing the cold, wet weather on Saturday, Tim and I were loving it. We slept in, made a leisurely breakfast. Tim continued to read Shantaram (looonnnggg book, he's been picking through it for most of the year) while I powered through the backlog of magazines I've been accumulating and not reading for the last couple of months due to wedding planning. It started to clear up in the late afternoon, so we enjoyed some dock time. Drank champagne with the gorgeous blown glass goblets Tia made us as part of our wedding gift. After making dinner we headed to the neighbouring cottage, which is owned by Graham's parents. They were having a big shindig with family and other cottagers. It always amazes me, how small the world is. Out of the dozen or so adults there, one was a geologist who had worked extensively in Nunavut, and two of them had visited or lived in Morocco. We had a great discussion about the north and relations in Africa with all the problems right now in Egypt, as well as talking about Syria. When the sun started to go down, most of us went back to Tia and Graham's dock to watch a really beautiful sunset. Tim cracked open his scotch and shared it around. After the sun had gone down and everyone had left, Tim and I couldn't stop exclaiming over how perfect a day it had been. We were just so relaxed. Hard to remember the crazy amount of stress we were under not too long ago.

Opening the first of two bottles of champagne we drank this weekend!

Mimosas in the morning!

Tim attempting to make guacamole.

Guacamole fail. Icky avocado.

Our incredible new customized Badger paddles!! We loved this wedding gift from Jess, Mike, Tobey, and Andrew!

Badger, badger, badger, badger - MUSHROOM, MUSHROOM!

Twitter at the cottage? Tim's in heaven.

Frog One of Five.

Frog Two of Five!

Couldn't believe the perfect reflection of Tim in the frog pond.

Tim posted this to Facebook with the caption, "Reflective Pond-ering." Har-har.

Watching the frogs!

What a gorgeous day!

Rum and magazines!

Oh, the bracing lake water really makes a man feel alive!

"Come hug me!" "No." "Pleeeeaaaassseeee?" "No." "You'll like it!" "No."

Falling over face!

Whale tattoo! Wedding ring! Lake!

Enjoying our champagne in the afternoon.

Tia is so great - aren't these goblets amazing?!

Enjoying the afternoon.

The start of an absolutely gorgeous sunset.

I wish we saw sunsets like this every day!

Cassiopeia.

The big dipper!

Sunday was the nicest day we had, so we got up earlier to enjoy the sunshine on the official last long weekend of summer! We canoed out to a couple of small islands that show the edge of the impact crater. The first was really strange - just covered in seagull carcasses and bones. It was actually really creepy. The second was a lot smaller and obviously was where all the live seagulls went, because the entire island was painted in long streaks of bird poop. Ew. We didn't get off there. We paddled over to the far east shore of the lake and worked our way back along the shoreline. Tim caught three progressively smaller rock bass. I wanted to hike up the one cliff face to where there was an Inukshuk perched on the top, but there were big no trespassing signs and I'm a wussy when it comes to that stuff.

Tim trying to get me to swim again. The water was beautiful. Just too cold. No thanks!

Tim rounding the point.

The water is actually twenty or thirty feet deep here, but Tim found a huge boulder to stand on.

Canoeing to the islands!

That is a nice paddle you have there!

Fishing, but no luck.

Here, Tim, you paddle. I'll be lazy and take squinty-eyed photos of myself.

Yay, Tim finally caught a fish!

Oooo, he has another one on!

And it's a monster!!

This lake is huge, it has to have bigger fish than this!

 . . . Nope. 

I spent another afternoon on the dock with a rum and coke and more of my magazines before Matt and Teri came down from the cottage they were visiting near Sudbury. The boys went fishing with no more success than Tim had had earlier while Teri and I hung out on shore and caught up (not that we hadn't just seen Matt and Teri on Thursday). After the boys got back we made a gigantic supper of BBQd steak and vegetables and corn on the cob. Matt almost immediately passed out into a meat coma, but we roused him long enough for Tim and I to lose at Pictionary. It was an easy concession because Matt and Teri are MUCH better artists than Tim and I.

Tim continuing to fish after we got back to the cottage. He got his line stuck and had to take the canoe out to get it out. Only he didn't take any paddles with him. 

Again with the rum and magazines. This is my ideal life.

After Matt and Teri got there, at least Tim had someone enthusiastic to fish with.

Teri and I would rather enjoy the late summer sun.

Awww - family cuddles. It was so exciting that the baby was moving!

We made too much.

Sunday dawned extremely crappy again. The boys got up early to go fishing, but I just went back to sleep. Matt made us a big breakfast once they got back with bacon, eggs, and steak. A man's breakfast! We all just vegged most of the day. Played puzzles, read, I blogged and worked on the computer. There was a strong northwest wind coming in and we were worried about how we'd get back to the arena. It did not look canoeable, which had been the plan. Luckily Graham's parents were okay with Tim driving them into the marina in their boat and then coming back for the rest of us. Matt volunteered to sit in the canoe as we towed it back to the marina. It was SO rough! As long as he stayed in the wake of the boat and didn't do anything ridiculous, it was perfectly safe. However, it's Matt and that just isn't the way he does things!! At one point he gave us all a heart attack when he managed to rock himself out of the wake. He almost flipped, and then when Tim stopped so we could get him back in the wake, his momentum pushed him into the back of the boat and he almost turned over again! Ah! Rollwagens! 

Opening the second bottle of champagne.

So exciting!

Ugh. Brrrr. You really can't tell from the photos here just how rough it was. I'll put up a video later.

Tim and Matt assessing the situation.

Might as well enjoy what little dock time is left!

Tim actually paying attention to his driving in the rough weather.

Our super safe plan to get the canoe back. At least Matt is wearing a life jacket!

Hi! Hi guys! How's the boat? The canoe's great!

Look at me! No hands!!

*sigh* Rollwagens.