The Annual Chrissymas Letter

Merry Chrissymas and Happy New Year to All from Rob and Christine
In a world where many walk alone,

we give thanks for our our family and friends

In a world where many are unhappy,

we give thanks for this season's festivities
Dear friends and family,

Another year....another Chrissymas letter ....not so long a letter as in previous years as most of you see our blog from time to time and keep up with our comings and goings. If you have not gone to our blog and are interested in our sailing and RVing/ trailer sailing trips check out www.celebriansail.blogspot.com We love to hear back from those of you who read our blog and feel free to post comments. Writing the blog is an incredible amount of work; however I have printed it out in book form for the last two seasons and it is wonderful to have all my writings and pictures in book form to look at.


As many of you know we spent last Christmas at home and left for The Bahamas in January. After a slow start getting everything ship shape we spent several months sailing to the Eastern Caribbean. We covered about 2000 miles from The Bahamas to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Barths, Antigua, and down the windward chain to Grenada. The only islands remaining before Venezuela are Trinidad and Tobago. Celebrian is on the hard at Spice Island Marine Services in Grenada. We had little time for sight seeing on our whirl wind trip south and east; however we hope to spend several winters there over the next few years.

We arrived home at the end of May and had a very busy June opening up the cottage and getting caught up with life at home. It would seem that we spend much of the first month going to doctor and dental appointments. I have always maintained that we come home, get fixed up and then sent away for another sailing season.

As you know this last summer was a great time to be at the cottage and we thoroughly enjoyed the warm weather. We hosted Pirates of the Caribbean in July ...our summer beach bash party and guests even got to walk the plank and have sword fights.

My mom visited the cottage on day trips this summer as her needs have become just too great for lengthier stays. Her last visit was for Thanksgiving dinner enjoyed along with our Bayfield friends Brian and Gayle. There is something very special about cooking a turkey out at the cottage for Thanksgiving. I think it brings back very many happy memories for me as we used to always have community dinners with the cottagers when I was growing up.

Rob spent his summer working on Free Spirit, the little Seaward 24 sailboat. She had quite a transformation and enjoyed her first launch in Killarney in August along with Doug and Jane on Cyrano. In addition to Free Spirit we bought a 1998 Road Trek campervan when we first arrived home. We needed a tow vehicle for Free Spirit and Elvie (Land Vessel), as the RV is affectionately known, can also go on adventures on his own. In fact we drove up to Bruce Peninsula National Park in October for a mini RV holiday.

This summer and fall both Rob and I have had our health challenges. I spent two nights in July in hospital after my colonoscopy. Gratefully the doctor removed everything that needed to be taken out; however I am going to be an annual patient for at least the next three years. Rob too has spent a night in hospital after a dizzy spell that we thought might be heart related. He has had many tests this summer and fall as a result of feeling heart palpitations and is under the care of a cardiologist in Kitchener. Gratefully we have learned that his heart is physically okay and there is no damage; however it is important to get the heart palpitations under control before we consider leaving for Grenada. He is wearing a heart loop recorder for the next month and we return to see the specialist on December 20th. He is also waiting on a referral to an internist in Stratford to explore what else could be causing the dizzy spells if they are not related to heart and blood pressure. As we know our bodies are complicated machines and it takes a good deal of investigation and trial and error to keep us healthy.

For now we are keeping ourselves busy with condo projects. Both our ensuite and the powder room bathroom downstairs are getting long overdue makeovers. We are also planning to do a porcelain tile backsplash in the kitchen if we are here for any length of time. Rob is also beginning to build his drawers for his cabinets....another long overdue project. So much of our time and energy has gone in to the cottage the last few years so it feels good to be doing some work on the condo.

The cottage continues to be an ongoing project and Rob did some trim as well as build the sink cabinet for the downstairs bathroom. He also worked away at drawers for our kitchen island. Santa's workshop can't hold a stick to the McGuffins?!?!

We hope that this holiday season finds you and your families happy and healthy.

With love from Bayfield,

Christine and Rob

 

Autumn Turns into Winter for The McGuffins

The autumn sky takes on a different look from summer as the sun moves further south.

Along with the sunsets the lake levels have been changing in the Great Lakes.  I have never seen it this low that I can remember.  Some people have said that it is as a result of the dredging in the St. Clair River necessitated by the freighters needing more depth.  It may be difficult to launch Sweet Boat or my windsurfer next summer if the levels don't change.  The Captain of Free Spirit is pleased that our trailer sailing Seaward 24 has a draft of two feet with her centerboard up.   We may be the only boat that can float in many places previously travelled by boats with deeper drafts. 

Despite the low water levels the waves still break when the wind is blowing in Bayfield.  The pier becomes a launch ramp for crazy surfers who jump off the end and search for that perfect wave.  This of course is in late fall when the wind blows the strongest.  And you thought we were crazy?!?!

The cottage fall projects after winterizing and putting everything away....Rob building our cedar bathroom sink surround and me building a driftwood Christmas tree. 

We celebrated mom's birthday with her friend Jean at Huronview.  It just happens to be Halloween too!

After Halloween follows November and soon time to deck the halls.  This year a fresh wreath welcomes friends to our home.  My friend Gayle taught me the fine art of wreath making.

A sure sign that Christmas is just around the corner is the blooming of this Christmas cactus.

My condo neighbor and friend Jane showed me how to make this beautiful centerpiece.  I am turning into a real "Martha"!?

Elvie's Solo Trip

Elvie was the only camper in Bruce Peninsula National Park.  We had 242 campsites to choose from!  As you know we like to get away from it all and once again we succeeded in doing so.   We had no electricity at our site so it was truly a learning experience of living off the grid in cool weather.  The first night I wore long underwear and a ski toque to bed as we were concerned about running down our battery to run the propane furnace fan; however  the next night we decided that if we were to keep warm we needed to use the furnace more.  We enjoyed ourselves despite being a little chilly at times.  We wanted to learn just how much boon docking we could do and all things being considered we did quite well. 

The campground is at Cypress Lake which we hiked around the first morning.

From the campground we walked out to the coast line of Georgian Bay where the Bruce Trail passes through the park.  It was great to hike some of the trail and as you can see from the picture the rock formations are spectacular along the escarpment.  The Bruce Trail begins or ends in Tobermory and is approximately 800 kms in length and wends its way all the way to the Niagara region. 

The views and the water were quite beautiful even on a cloudy day.

This area of the coast is called the grotto.  Back in the 1970s Rob scuba dived here.  Now there is not a drop of water inside the grotto. 

This area has been given the appropriate name of boulder beach.

We spent one afternoon in and around Tobermory.  We have seen the lighthouse many times from the water; however this time we had an opportunity to visit by land.

At this end of the Bruce Trail there is a wonderful park office.  Unfortunately the office was closed but the tower was open for climbing.  The view was great and we could pick out all kinds of favourite sailing areas.
After our afternoon in Tobermory we stayed in Happy Heart's Campground just outside of the village.  Our propane was getting low and we decided that plugging into the grid was a nice luxury for Elvie's last night out.  The campground was actually closed; however the owner decided that if all we needed was an electrical connection he would let us stay the night.

On the way home we took Hwy 1 which follows along Colpoy's Bay from Wiarton and ends up in Owen Sound.  It was a lovely drive and there were still leaves on the trees to admire.  Once back to the cottage it was time to winterize Elvie and get him into storage for the winter.   He didn't have a long run this year but we foresee many happy trips ahead of us in Elvie.  We hope to journey to Newfoundland next June as neither Rob nor I have been. 
 

Summiting The Crack

During our stay in Killarney Provincial Park we hiked each day on a different trail.  Our most challenging hike was called The Crack and it is part of the La Cloche Silhouette Trail that is 78 kms long and takes on average 7-9 days to hike. The trail is dedicated to the memory of Franklin Carmichel , one of the founding members of the now famous Group of Seven.  The trail is named after his painting "La Cloche Silhouette" which was completed in 1939.   The area around The Crack is some of the trickiest part of the trail as one has to negotiate through huge boulders that have fallen through the crack.   At the top there are spectacular views of Killarney lake, O.S.A. Lake, and Baie Fine as well as Georgian Bay and Manitoulin Island.

Some of the large boulders looked like they could tumble down the side of the cliff at any moment.

How many millions of years did it take for this crack to develop?

We were ready to sit down for lunch once we made it to the top.

This is Killarney Lake and O.S.A.(Ontario Society of Artists) Lake in the distance.  What a spectacular day we had for our climb.

The sign says it all.... a difficult trail but well worth the effort.

Elvie's Land Adventure in Killarney Provincial Park

The campsite at Killarney Provincial Park was very private.   One neighbour that we could see and they were tenting 50 metres away from us.  The first evening we heard a deer coming through the bush and followed it down to the bog near our site.

Just like the fish in the protected park in The Bahamas, the  wildlife in the park seem to know that humans will do them no harm.

The park campsites are situated near Lake George. 

Notice the pink granite in the foreground and the white quartzite in the distance.

Everywhere we hiked the scenes were beautiful.

The rock faces were amazing in places.  This picture was taken on one of our hikes and this is A.Y. Jackson Lake, named after one of the famous group of seven painters who loved to visit and paint in the park.

Each day we would do a different hike.  It was interesting to see all the beaver houses in this one marshy area.

We called this beaver dam Heaver Dam, named similarly to the famous Hoover Dam in Nevada.

Notice me on top of the cliff.

After a long day of hiking it was back to home sweet van.

One evening we had a small raccoon walk through our camp; however on most evenings it was Chippie, the chipmunk and Bossy, the red squirrel who were vying for favours.   Of course it didn't help that we were eating peanuts in the shell and the park doesn't want campers to feed the wildlife.   

 

Sailboats are Magic

A still morning in Beaverstone Bay.

Free Spirit at anchor in Bear Bay.

Cyrano in the late day sunlight of Bear Bay.

Beaverstone Bay

Mill Lake

Cyrano under sail

One of the magicians

and the magic machine

After two weeks of incredible weather, beautiful anchorages and great fun with our friends Doug and Jane it was time to become dirt dwellers once again.  Free Spirit was hoisted back onto her trailer and it was time for Elvie's land adventure in Killarney Provincial Park.