The pursuit of cottage

Summer long weekends bring the best of Canada's summer together with family and friends. It's an exciting adventure when you can get away from home.

The Band cottage on Kawagama Lake is a treasure that is only surpassed by the people that join us for the weekend. You can relax on the dock or while sitting on bedrock along the edge of the lake.

We set up the tents after a four hour drive to the lake that sits just beside the cute town of Dorset. We also got to see some fireworks on Saturday, July 30, 2011. Later I met four hot ladies that I tried to hit on. They shot me down so I drowned my sorrow with beer. For some reason they kept getting better looking.

You can see our 2010 adventure here. See more photos after the jump.

Canada Day Fireworks

I hope you enjoyed Canada Day festivities and topped off the evening with a fireworks show. The displays of explosive colour high in the sky are so popular that driving to them is a nightmare of parking, walking and trying to get away after the show is over. The best way to see a fireworks show is find somewhere close where you can watch the display and then walk home.

In that vein I walked over to my local fireworks show put on by the Acton Firefighters Association. The fireworks are placed at the edge of Fairy Lake and Prospect Park fills up fast for the show. Around 10pm the night sky goes dark enough to launch and the show begins.

I went on the other side of Fairy Lake to try to get the show and the reflections in the lake in the shot.

See more fireworks after the jump.

Things to do in Toronto July 1-3, 2011

Happy 144th birthday Canada! It's time to party and there is a lot of great things to do in Toronto over this summer long weekend. In lieu of gifts please just pay a little more HST. You will go crazy trying to catch everything this weekend so try for something that you can walk to because parking can be a bitch on holidays.

Thursday June 30: Toronto Roller Derby League: Clam Slam, part of the Pride celebrations.

Friday June 24 to Sunday July 3: The Pride Week and Pride Parades
           July 1 to 3: Street Fair
           July 1: Trans March, July 2: Dyke March, July 3: Annual Pride Parade     
Friday June 24 to Sunday July 3: Toronto Jazz Festival. 
Friday July 1: Multicultural Canada Day at Yonge-Dundas Square.

2010 contest

2011 Ms Chin Bikini winners

Friday July 1 to Sunday July 3: Chin Picnic at Exhibition Place, including the Miss Chin bikini contest  Saturday July 2 at noon and Mr Chin bikini contest Sunday July 3 at 6:30pm.
Friday July 1 to Sunday July 3: Blue Jays vs Phillies baseball.
Friday July 1: Ashbridges Bay Park fireworks.
Friday July 1: Mel Lastman Square Party and fireworks.
Friday July 1: Red, White and Vinyl Festival at Woodbine Park, music and fireworks.
Friday July 1 Canada Day: Festival of Fire, fireworks at Ontario Place.
See many more Canada Day celebrations at the City's event website.

Saturday July 2: Saudi Festival Day at Yonge-Dundas Square.
Saturday July 2: Flash Mob in Nathan Phillips Square.

Walking beside the Bay

I thought it was just a rumour but it turned out to be true - the sun came out this afternoon! I am tired of the damn rain although we are a great deal more fortunate than a large number of areas around North America that are flooding. 

Saturday is supposed to be 'mainly sunny' but Victoria's Day (Monday, May 23, 2011) on the other hand has a 'chance of thundershowers' so the Ashbridges Bay 9:30pm fireworks show might be a little wet.

Long Weekend Fun

Hello, you long weekend you, trying to be all coy but knowing that Canada is looking forward to this spring holiday and the celebration of bunnies and chocolate, among other things, so that you want to dress up in your party clothes and jump from an airplane.

The holiday is also a little sad because it is not a two-four weekend up at the cottage (still a little too early for that), it’s more of a keep the winter clothes and umbrella ready and enjoy a nice hot coffee beverage. But rather than cry it is time to get the bathing suits ready, decide what fireworks you want for Victoria Day and have a fun time in Toronto.

Enjoy Toronto’s largest Easter Egg Hunt on Centre Island or head over to Casa Loma for a cracking good time.

Santa should come with fireworks

And his sleigh should be pulled by eight tiny, little hamsters.

See more sparkling fireworks after the jump.

2010 Cavalcade of Lights

The annual celebration of cold stuff and the interesting building that is the "new" City Hall provides plenty of sparkling lights and fireworks, although due to the proximity of all those windows and buildings the fireworks aren't like the big, exploding starbursts - more like giant streamers of fire.

Fireworks signal the lighting of the Christmas Tree.

Starting way back in 1967 this, the 44th annual event, is squeezed into the areas that are still in one piece around all the construction in Nathan Phillips Square. The stage is set up right in front of the entrance to City Hall.

They got the skating rink ready for the nights party.

Jam packed Nathan Phillips Square.

Debbie Travis poses for pictures with fans.

Debbie Travis will start off the night from 5:30 to 7:00pm, then the lighting the Christmas Tree, followed by concerts, fireworks and finally the skating party. Debbie Travis was sponsored by Canadian Tire who gave out free hats and scarves while Debbie posed for photos with fans (the pictures were printed and given to the fans). Musical guests are Shawn Desman, Divine Brown and Sarah Slean. There was also a really cool trampoline performance by Haut-Vol see my YouTube video here.

You can see more pictures of the night's fun after the jump.

The Fire Guy does a great show after the concert and fireworks.

The Toronto Star was giving out free newspapers - most of which ended up scattered on the ground.

You can see my pictures of the 2009 celebration here.

Kawagama 2010 - it's cottage time

No, it's not the Olympics, it's vacation time up in cottage country. It was time for the Civic Holiday weekend up at the Band Cottage on Kawagama Lake which is a couple hours north of Toronto, near the town of Dorset in Haliburton Highlands (which is just beside the boundary with Muskoka). Dorset is a fantastic place to know because when you run out of booze and other goodies you can get it all in the small community with the famous Robinson's General Store. Waterfront property provides recreation and stunning beauty while the ducks provide some of the wildlife and a lot of the poop.

The Band Cottage is a little touch of heaven and we enjoy getting away and partying with family during the annual get together (If you are in the market for your own slice of heaven in the area you can always check out the area Real Estate Directory).  Days are spent enjoying swimming, tubing, games, campfires and sing-alongs. With tubing the participants sit in various styles and sizes of tubes pulled behind boats and depending on the rider's age one of the goals maybe to get them airborne and bounce them out of the tube.

We had some huge marshmallows which tasted great when lightly toasted over the fire. Our fire was spectacular as a dead birch tree was recently cut down and used as firewood. The birch bark is highly flammable and creates a firestorm until the bark is burned away until only the wood remains.

The Civic Holiday weekend also features fireworks put on by the Lake's marinas including the Old Mill Marina.

See more pictures after the jump.


The Kawagama Lake Cottagers' Association also holds a Regatta during the long weekend. The Regatta had many events that reflect vacation activities up in cottage country such as swimming, building sand castles and canoeing. This year they supplied all the canoes for the race events.

Here are some of the Band Clan in the 2010 group photo.

In Dorset we find a street sign advertising the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) which has a CPO designation which stands for Community Policing Officer. Someone has changed this sign to read C3PO which is a reference to a golden protocol robot in Star Wars.