Simcoe Day

In honour of John Graves Simcoe, Ontario's first Lieutenant Governor, today is a holiday in Ontario. So I am were you would expect me to be on a day such as this - at the cottage.

I could write about John Graves, but instead, I thought I'd show you some random shots of our little bit of paradise...
This is still one of my favourite shots - this was sunset from a year or so ago, and we get this vista a lot. The sun sets over there, and we so often get the pinks and oranges that you see here. This was a remarkably calm evening, and the lake is almost mirror smooth.

Even though it's a fairly busy lake with quite a few cottages, we are still in the wilds, and share the area with wildlife.
This little guy was on the road last Sunday, and just stood there, looking at us. He (she?) was almost posing for us, as we took pictures. We had to actually let the car move a bit to get him to move along and safely off the road, and even then, he just sauntered off to the side, and watched us drive by.

We have tons of dragonflies around our place - a good thing, since their main diet is mosquitos. Most of them are black or blue, but this guy likes to hang out by my Muskoka chair near the lake. I see him pretty much every day I'm there.

The lake is also full of wildlife. The other weekend, this line of Canada Geese made it's way casually across the bay, taking their time. We see geese occasionally, but this year, there is the rather large gaggle hanging about. I'm good with it, except when they decide to walk up our beach. To put it mildly, geese poop. A LOT. We try to gently encourage them to walk around the more uninhabited areas of the bay - let's just say we aren't always wearing footwear, and that's the fastest way to find goose poop. 

Our bay is also host to a loon family (real loons, not the people who inhabit some of the cottages...). This year, there are two babies, although they are probably considered teens by now. They still have the fluffy brown feathers of the adolescent, but will start developing the distinctive black and white of the adult loon soon. The parents are very protective of the babies, since they can't yet dive, and one morning, the whole family got in close to the dock, allowing me to take their picture.

But my favourite wildlife are these...

This is my son and one of the neighbours on the Lily Pad. There is nothing like the call of the pre-teen that defines the sounds of the cottage.

So in honour of the holiday, I'm going to have a contest. I have another picture of the loons below.
You know this is Mom Loon, right? You can imagine what she's saying to the young'uns...

Leave me a comment on this post before midnight EST Wednesday, August 3, and the caption that makes me laugh hardest gets a Knit Girl or Knitting Nerd decal. ( see tomorrow's post for what I'm talking about. there may be some other yarny stuff thrown in as well...)

Come on! Make me laugh!