Break-up 2010

I walked across the lake on the afternoon of Monday, March 22nd.  This pressure crack crossed the lake from east to west.  I crossed several more pressure cracks along my 6 km hike. 

ice patterns

 

Break-up 2010

This is a close-up of the place where the ice froze early in December and got snowed on (white).  The dark ice came a few days after the snow, thus shows clear.

Break-up 2010

With all the snow long gone from the lake, the clear ice allows a view of the rock below.  Reminiscent of the same area from last December (below).

Clear Ice with rocks from December

 

Break-up 2010

What an odd end to winter we've had!  Warm weather arrived in the first few days of the month, and stayed for nearly 3 weeks.  It didn't take long for the snow to melt away, and soon the ice began to melt.

 

This has never happened in March before.  Actually it doesn't get that warm for that long even in April.  So we've been watching very closely this year.  The melt is different than I've ever seen before, but ever so beautiful.

 

This close-up of the ice surface on March 22nd shows the clarity, and the beginnings of melt lines.

 

Kukagami Autumn

Kukagami News Autumn 2009

 

Some folks say the summer of 2009 never happened.  Here at Kukagami, we had a great summer!  There were at least two days in June at 30+.  I do remember the sun shining for a minimum of 1½ days in July, and for sure there were 11 days in a row of summer in the middle of August, and the first 3 weeks of September were fabulous! 

 

The lake is especially beautiful this week, with magical misty mornings on the lake, and calm waters reflecting the beginnings of fall colours.  

 

This past winter was one of the busiest we've ever had, and in August we had visitors all but three days near the end of the month.  Whew! There are a few more bookings in September;  and this year our Thanksgiving Weekend is going to focus on cooking, canoeing and fall colour hikes!  Currently, we still have space available for Thanksgiving, so let me know if you would like to come north for a weekend full of fine dining and guided walks through our beautiful forests.

 

The only other scheduled event is the Annual Work Weekend, which will be October 16-18^th.  This is a free weekend for you, in exchange for helping to bring the firewood under cover for winter, burn rocks and fill holes on the ski trails, trim overhanging branches and generally have a good time.  Let me know if you are interested! 

 

New at Kukagami this year!  As usual, not much has changed.  Or at least there's not much change that you will notice.  We've put new shingles on buildings here and there, a new porch on the sauna, moved the dock.

 

The one big new thing is that I started doing pottery again, after 26 years!  I joined the Sudbury Basin Potters, which gives me a key to the studio so I can go there to work whenever it fits my schedule. I'm happy to say that potting is sort of like riding a bicycle, in that it didn't take long to get the basic skills back.  I've been having a great time making bowls and more bowls!  And a few giant mugs.

 

To celebrate our 25 years of Kukagami Lodge, every guest this summer got to select a bowl to take home.  I'll be working in the studio a lot this fall to build up enough bowls for each winter guest.   And for those of you who love pottery, there will be bigger bowls and a few mugs that you can buy while you are here.

 

Have a great Autumn!

 

Viki and Allan

 

 

Oh yeah.  There is one more small plan that you may be interested in…. Allan and I are starting to talk about retirement.  Indeed, all those roofs and decks and docks to repair…it may be time to pass on Kukagami Lodge to an energetic young couple.  Do you know anyone who fits this description? 

We are not in a big rush, so we hope to be able to choose a buyer who will love this place as we have.  Someone who will take care of the ski trails, and you, our guests, for another 25 years.  It could take a while to find this couple, so don't worry yet.  We may be here for another 5 years!