WAVING NOT DROWNING

It's a short hike to the Tree Museum, a gallery of multiple sculptures planted throughout its 200 acres, integrating contemporary art in an outdoor environment. While at the Drowning Not Waving sculpture I encountered this Monarch butterfly that appears in this picture to be waving with one side as it lifts off, as if mocking the exhibit's name.

OUR JOCE

It bekame a running joce with us after we kamped at the KOA klose to Gravenhurst, where we stayed for a kouple of days. We rented a kanoe and pakcing my kamera, we explored the lace and waterways akross from the kampground. The cids tooc turns paddling, often out of kontrol, while I tooc turns ceeping kalm and the kanoe on kourse.

THE BOYS OF SUMMER

With the school year and summer camp commitments finished, I was able to bring my boys Stirling and Alistair up for several days for the first time this summer. We visited this new sign and posed with the letters of our names and I hoped that, like the famous tagline, once they discover more of Muskoka they'll always remember these times.

TWO FUNERALS

Two funerals took place during the German PoWs' internment at Gravenhurst, one for a distinguished soldier who suffered from a blood malady, and the second a decorated major who succumbed to cancer. Fellow prisoners carved wooden monuments in their honour, which were transferred later with them both to a common war grave.

MUSKOKA WHARFARE

A model German U-Boat surfaces in Muskoka Bay, the rocky point in the distance the former site of a PoW camp, where ironically during WWII some submarine crew were interned. Norwegian pilots training at Little Norway used to fly over and drop potatoes at the PoWs' and occasionally practised divebombing and strafing runs on the Segwun.

THE BARGE

Every Sunday evening during the summer locals and tourists gather to enjoy Music on the Barge concerts, a tradition and landmark since the 1940's, with the current bandshell completed in 1959 when it was officially opened and attended by Queen Elizabeth. Tonight's crowd were treated to a tribute to The Beatles by the group The Caverners.

WOOD & WATER

I consider this my Study for Wood & Water, not only as it resembles a painting but also because its details remain incomplete. Each time I visit the wharf I am always drawn to this wood boathouse with its chair, but know nothing about it except that a Sea Ray boat named Sand Bank berths there, and that I wish I could learn more about it.

CLASSIC CARS

The second day of the show featured "glassic" boats, a variety of fiberglass ones with and without fins, classic cars and combinations, such as this AmpFicar that attracted a lot of attention when it began cruising around the bay, and raised a lot of questions, including: "Do they also require a Pleasure Craft Operator's Card now to drive that?"

WOODEN BOATS

Gravenhurst hosted the 30th annual Antique & Classic Boat Show
and as this event spanned all weekend the first day was devoted to wooden boats. The selection was varied with their manufacturers, ages and lengths, their varnished surfaces reflecting the sky and polished hardware, such as this Minett-Shields Gentleman's Racer.

LOOKING-GLASS

A view of Muskoka Bay through a frosted window below deck on the Wanda III. Although the image appears backwards from being taken inside, I felt it was appropriate as being on board was like taking a trip backwards through time to 1915, when she was commissioned by Lady Eaton and was the fastest steam yacht to cruise the lakes.

CAMP SONGS

The Wenonah II glides past the site of a former German Prisoner of War camp during the second world war, the base of the flagpole one of the few existing relics from this period. During the wartime when any steamships passed by, the organist and passengers would break out singing patriotic songs loud enough for all the prisoners to hear.

PLAYGROUND OF ONTARIO

Overcast skies with a light rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of everyone attending the 17th annual Antique & Classic Car Show in Gravenhurst. The bracket mounted above this licence plate caught my sight and is attached to a 1938 Ford Sedan, the same year and model as the first taxi operated by Orvil Hammond from 1944-1946.

SUPERSIZED CHAIR

Gravenhurst means "to cut wood" and a lot was cut to make this supersized chair, claims Rob Clark, its builder and owner of the Home Hardware where it's displayed. Measuring 21' high and 16' wide, it's the world's largest Muskoka chair and replaces his first, smaller version that was destroyed by a F0 tornado last August.

SPRING EQUINOX

Winter has officially surrendered to spring and released the Segwun, North America's oldest operating steamship, named for the Ojibwa word for springtime. Many of the lakes have moats of open water separating the shoreline from the receding and deteriorating ice, conditions now deemed unsafe to travel on except with an airboat.

YARN BOMBING

Described as a form of graffiti that employs colourful displays of knitted cloth rather than paint or chalk, this movement has taken hold in urban landscapes around the world and has now appeared in Gravenhurst, where an anonymous knitter humourously tagged the town's bear and fish fountain, changing its salmon to rainbow trout.

CARVING FOR A CAUSE

Ted Williams, one of several carvers who participated in the first annual chainsaw carving event, skillfully labours over a bear statue, one of his specialties. The event was organized by a local merchant, John Kerr, who invited carvers from across the province to showcase their talent and art, with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity.

FLY IN, TAKE OUT

The sister ships, the Segwun and Wenonah II, are flanked by an identical pair of Advanced Ultralights that flew in to catch some of the excitement of the pond hockey and curling competitions that were underway, and in turn generated their own excitement. One pilot is known to fly in frequently to pick up his Boston Pizza order!