Honey Harbour - Bears, chairs and sunset

On one of our walks on the mainland, Aimee and I walked up to Honey Harbour Rd and down it to "Chain Reaction".

We spoke to Kelvin Cadeau, the chainsaw artist, and he said that he can always sell bears

He has different sized chainsaws for the carving and finishes off the details with a dremmel.

He does carve things other than bears; a beaver bench,

honey bees,

and a bald eagle (a customers special request)

But he said that the bears are by far the most popular (Aimee and Greg have 3 of his carvings)

One waiting patiently in the workshop

with his bear posse.

Luckily the pair of bitterns had already been sold. I had scared up a bittern a couple of times in Aimee and Greg's pond and we watched one fishing in a marsh.

I don't want you to think it's all "beer and skittles" here, this is the before picture

and the after picture. I was told I had "pansy" hands as I got a blister from my screwdriver use.

Nope not "beer and skittles" or "wine and roses" it was actually "champagne and pretzels" to celebrate finishing the chairs.

A couple of evenings we have walked across the island to Mary and Al's deck (they have closed up and gone home) to watch the sunset.

So quiet that we could hear them talking across the water.

A glass of wine and the fabulous colours

offset the mosquitoes (even though they are quite small, they are still around at sunset)

until only the colour in the clouds is left.

I have also been binge reading Nora Roberts

Snap shots of fall in Honey Harbour

Usually I visit Aimee and Greg's cottage in Honey Harbour in the summer months but this year it's September and it has a different feel. Although the days can be warm, the evenings are cool and the nights downright cold!

On arrival I was greeted by the Osprey. Usually I get to watch the pair, feeding their young and teaching them to fly. This time only the youngster is still here and he/she left after a couple of days (time to fly South)

Fall wildflowers

The raspberries are over and the vines beginning to turn colour.

No Phragmites here, just good old native bull rushes.

Asters (?) in white and blue.

Goldenrod attracting lots of bees.

Big sky

Sitting down by the water I watched a mink dragging a fish about half his size. I think this skeleton is probably his work.

Only one lily left.

Playing with reflections

More reflections

Aimee has to empty the feeder so this little lady will head South.

Aimee and I have been taking the boat to the mainland and walking on the cottage road (can't get enough mileage on the island)

Our kayaking is also good exercise

We had hoped to see the resident otter and we did. We followed him for about 20 minutes.

My main reason for risking the camera in the kayak was to get pictures of the sunning turtles.

This pair has been here all summer.

It wasn't until I saw this picture on the computer that I realized there was more than one turtle on the rock.

So often they all slid off and into the water before I could get a picture

All the rest left but this guy stayed. King of the castle

Hash-tah-buh-lah to Port Dover

We stayed in Astabula for a couple of days and went to lunch with friends. They then took us for a drive in the countryside, through an area with many Amish farms and businesses.

This barn theatre is near their home

Once a professional summer stock theatre it now houses community theatre.

Docked 3 boats down from us was this perfect boat dog, waiting for it's owners.

"Is that them?"

"No (sigh)"

I have been coming here for 3 years now and, walking downtown, I see this boat is still for sale, on the hard.

Makes me sad. I hope someone decides its worth a $500 (or best offer) gamble and loves this boat again.

Finished off the sketch of downtown that I started last year (and was interrupted by a thunderstorm)

Walked up to the museum in the old lighthouse keeper/customs office building. A brochure described one of the rooms that houses artifacts from The Ashtabula, a car ferry built in 1906 to take railway cars full of coal across the lake to Port Burwell, before the proliferation of lake freighters (Lakers). It sunk after a collision in Ashtabula harbour in 1958.

Through the telescope I could see, clearly, 3 bald eagles circling over the gravel piles.

Information boards outlined the extensive rehabilitation of the river that involved dredging most of the harbour and river to remove the toxic sediment from decades of industrial use and naturalizing much of the river bank.

The fish have come back to the river, spawning in the shallows and marshes up by the yacht club and supporting a thriving sports fishing industry.

Another boat dog; "Scupper". He and his owners live aboard their boat at the AYC and he travels around in the basket on the front of his owners bike. He's a busy little dog; visits people at a local nursing home, chases the Canada geese at the club and is generally loved by everyone.

The trip back to Erie was a sunny motorsail and after Paul had finished his magazine on the foredeck, I took over the chair at the bow and fell asleep, rocking gently in the sun, and got a sunburned nose.

We stayed one day in Erie, worried about when to cross the lake, home, as winds were high. We decided to cross back in spite of 20 to 25 knot winds on the nose (ENE). It turned out not to be directly on the nose, or quite as high as expected, and we were able to use the sail to increase the speed of our crossing.
We had been gone for 2 weeks, had some lovely days of sailing, some lovely days of motor sailing, seen a couple of new ports, explored small towns and a big city, had some delicious meals both on the boat and out and generally enjoyed being on the lake and the friendliness of other boaters.