Gnomes Wandering White Lake

Cue the James Bond theme.....

The boys have arrived and we have had quite an evening already! They are a fun group of lads - but, honestly, it's like having small kids again!

You previous hosts & hostesses already know that Dave is the shy one and he has a bad habit, but I just hand him a hankie and tell him to blow; Bullwinkle is the mischievious one - and adventurous! (My oldest son was like that - he had to be doing something all the time). I think we should get Bullwinkle some reigns! Oh, the other fellow is a nice lad - always smiling. The boys seem to have nicknamed him Jerome. Jerome the Gnome .... or Smelly. A note for future hosts: make sure Jerome does NOT remove his footwear indoors!

I'll post some more pics as I get them ready.

Sandy

Forgot to say we came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/913649/


This message was edited Oct 23, 2008 11:49 PM

Sandy,

Great Pic.....let the adventure continue. Looking forward to the upcoming pictures.

Me too. And also to getting together with you when you are ready.

Ann

The first stop was the Museum and gardens. A troupe of us volunteers were there just yesterday finishing off the fall cleanup. The boys were surprised that such a small place could have such a large park with gardens.

The boys wanted to check out the Gazebo. The Museum is in the background. I explained to them that around 1865, a Scottish clansman ruled with an iron fist for 20 years. He was quite the scoundrel. 101 years later... his cottage was dynamited to rubble and in 1967 was rebuilt as a Centennial project by community volunteers. The gardens were added in 2000 as a Millennium project, again by volunteers. Yay, community spirit!

Dave asked if he could get on the volunteer list. I told him thanks, but I would not know where to call him in the spring - he could very well be in Nunavut by then!

Most of the leaves are down, but that seemed to excite Bullwinkle. He wanted to run and jump in the leaves. The other two just sighed. I guess they are used to his adventurous ways.

Sure enough, Bullwinkle does a face plant right into a pile of leaves. I did notice Dave and Jerome were egging him on, though.

Then, as I was playing 'photographer' and sprawling on the bench to get a shot of the fellows with the old church in the background, I didn't notice until after I took the shot that BW had climbed a tree and pulled a Tarzan.

THAT's the moment I knew he was going to be a handful.

See.

Then Jerome wanted to go down to the lake, so I took their pic at the boat launch.

Well, guess who HAD to go for a swim? Yep

I admonished him that he wasn't in Vancouver anymore - it's October and the water is COLD in Eastern Ontario! (He is wearing my steering wheel cover....)

It didn't seem to fizz him though. Next stop - on the way to "downtown" White Lake, we stopped at the Castlegarth restaurant. The boys thought we were having supper there and I explained that the restaurant was a bit posh and expensive - although organic, local, lovely food - but we were having PIZZA at my place. Well, they let out a WHOOP and a WHOO-HOO. I guess they like pizza.

The plaque on the restaurant says:
"In 1846 Alexander Stirling came to White Lake and erected a log house on this site. In 1861 it was destroyed by fire and this present house and store was built by him in 1862.

The original post office was located in the store until 1907. During the late 1800's boots and shoes were manufactured in a large workroom situated over the store.

The village of White Lake was an important staging post on the main highway between Kingston and Pembroke until the construction of the railway along the Ottawa River."

Next stop is downtown White Lake!

I don't think the boys were impressed by "downtown". Can't blame them really, considering all the lovely places they have been on their journey.

As luck would have it, on the way back home, the sun was just setting as we got to the White Lake dam, so Dave suggested we take some pics. Bullwinkle was starting to shiver again because he was still WET! But he's a trouper!

This one turned out nice.

We got back to my place and Bullwinkle starts shivering like a wet dog so Dave insists on giving him a 'blow dry'. I thought to myself warmly, "they are very fond of each other"....

Well...........I went to put the pizza in the oven and come back to find Dave and Jerome shutting the door to the dryer on Bullwinkle! OMG! Rest assured I gave them lots of heck.

Well, it turns out that they have done this numerous times before (you guys never told me!) Bullwinkle was perfectly cool with drying off in the dryer. However, he was shy to have his picture taken as he has a problem with post-dryer frizzies, so don't laugh, 'kay?

Well, then the timer went off for the pizza and I'm feeling quite hostess-y (sp?) so I pour them a small glass of wine to go with their pesto-mushroom-spinach pizza (ooh-la-la)! Due to size differences, they wined and dined in their own separate room, which I think made them feel special. At least, that was what I was going for. I even put on some background music! Hearing the hoots and hollers in the other room - I was feeling like the hostest with the mostest! ....

Suddenly the music is cranked up really loud and I hear a bunch of yipping and hollering (kind of like the Calgary Stamped or somethin') ...

Well, they sure made themselves at home - they turned off all the lights and had the fibre-optic lamp spinnin' like a ferris wheel!

I switched on the lights to find the fellas have gotten into my tickle truck (a la Mr. Dressup) and are really goofin' around !

OKay - we'll just chalk this one up to experience - but may I recommend that no alcohol be permitted for these fellas - not even a smidge!

I'll take them on a wee bit of a tour tomorrow, too, since the weather is supposed to be nice again, but I must get some rest now - I'm pooped!

Sandy

I LOVE IT!!!! LOL ... what awesome pics .. and I see YOU remembered a STOOL to perch them on for pics .. I left mine sitting at the backdoor !!!

OOOoooooooooo the wine !!! Here in TBay it was BEER they tried to snaffle .... LoL .. in fact .. I found Dave .. that lil Scallywag .. perched in a case of EMPTIES !!! The Boys do have a penchant for Italian Food .. I made lasagna while they were here and 2 of my noodles and some sauce disappeared !!

Enjoy your day with them Sandy !!

~M~

LOL...very entertaining. Looks to me like you are having just as much fun as the boys, Sandy. Gorgeous photos. White Lake looks like my kinda town. Just Lovely!

Marilyn, I'm finding Dave somewhat reserved and I would have to call Bullwinkle the 'Lil Scallywag'. In fact, scallywag is the perfect description for him! I suspect that Dave likes the bright lights, big city and is a bit bored by country life. That's just my own observation, though...

Sandy

DonM47, I sure am having fun hosting the fellas. I'll be posting our morning antics shortly.

Sandy

The boys were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, despite their mischief last night.

We went across the road to an uncle's farm and we took some pictures of the frosty field as the sun was coming up.

Then we headed into the village and down to a tiny bit of beach at one of the resorts.

The boys sat on the dock while I told them that White Lake is a really LONG lake - so we were only seeing a speck of it. It's 10 miles long and the perimeter is 60 miles. It has several resorts as there are lots of bays, coves and inlets... and many cottages! Lots of fishermen come for the northern pike, large and small mouth bass and there are quite a few bass fishing tournaments in the summer. Most of the tourists are from Pennsylvania, and I've spoken to many of them that have been coming every summer since they were kids.

Well, here it's not even 9a.m. yet and guess who finds the kiddy-slide? Here he is going up for the second run and you can see the frost on his backside. I'm not usually one to nag - but I reminded him that if he doesn't smarten up he's going to get a cold for sure!

Then we took a jaunt to Burnstown, as I wanted to show the boys the scenic lookout. It's really pretty in the fall, but of course a lot of the leaves have dropped now.


This message was edited Oct 25, 2008 9:54 PM

I was telling the boys how the bricked portion of this building was once the old schoolhouse that my DH's father attended as a boy. They lived on the farm where we were earlier and had to walk all the way to school.

It's now a trendy coffee shop that make their own pizza. Installing their pizza oven and chimney cost many thousands of dollars. I told the fellas that I had a friend that made an outdoor cobb pizza oven all by herself and for zero dollars and she lives nearby. The boys thought they might like to visit. I said we'll see how the day goes - I have laundry to do.

Then we stopped in at Burnstown Beach. There was a mist rising off the water so we took advantage of the photo opp.

I was a bit apprehensive of you-know-who being so close to water again - but Dave offered to keep him reigned in.

Looking up the Madawaska River. The beach looks a bit forlorn with the leaves covering the sand and nobody around.

It sure was peaceful, though.

A little bit of shananigans in the beech tree before we left.

LOL..loved the first shot of the Burnstown Beach. You're good, Sandy. Oh, how I would love to be sitting at a beach like that right now...sigh

Sandy - you may need to send that rope along to Ottawa since we have water here too - two rivers and a canal. Do you think the lads are dressed warmly enough since it's getting chilly these days? I though maybe I should sew up some capes for them to keep them warm for the rest of their visits. So glad you were able to show them scenic Burnstown and the lake. I know I've seen just a small portion of White Lake when I've visited out your way.

Ann

DonM47. Yes, that morning mist was a nice surprise.

Ann, I think you have a point there. I'll bring along the rope and I'm sure the fellows would benefit from some capes to keep the chill at bay. Good idea!

Sandy