Long time between posts, I know. Hopefully, the jam-packed menu of Haliburton Highlands good times coming up in the next couple of weeks will make up for it.
I’m going to highlight a few favourites, then follow with all the information you need on the rest of the activities (and there are many!!)

Minden Hills Bluegrass Festival

Want to hear some of the finest bluegrass music anywhere? This may sound a bit naive but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Canadian Bluegrass music–so if it were possible for me to warp speed myself out of the American Midwest to Minden Hills, Ontario I’d see you there. This event, which takes place over two days, July 16-17 is a must see.

Living History Days - Day with a Black Smith

Living History Days! Again, this sounds fascinating because I’ve not ever encountered a ‘black smith’ shop. And costumed characters seal the deal for me!

9th Annual Stanhope Heritage Day

In it’s 9th year, Stanhope Heritage Day is teeming with some of my favourite activities like a BBQ lunch and the Stanhope Museum‘s famous ‘Citron Marmalade.’ But there’s much more than food being offered. there is music all day and uniquely skilled local residents demonstrating and in some cases inviting you to try rush weaving, tatting, carving, bookbinding, tinsmithing and much more!

Where Are the Whip-poor-Wills?

On a more informative and serious note is this informative presentation about the decline of the Whip-poor-will population by a staggering 50% in the last several decades. When an iconic species such as this is disappearing at this rate it is time to get informed and hopefully, join together to discuss possible solutions.

Highlands Summer Festival Presents - 'Looking'

I’m just realizing that there are over 20 separate events, some taking place over days or months to browse through. I’m ‘thumbnailing’ them all here–just  click to enlarge them and read all about them. I’m ever-impressed by the creativity, strong love and commitment to community and commitment to the arts, be they culinary, artsy-crafty, or fine arts like the play ‘Looking,’ by Norm Foster (see above).

I strongly encourage you to indulge yourself. There is so much to relish in the Haliburton Highlands!

After the jump: The entire list! What’s Happening This Week! July 13 – 20, 2011–AND BEYOND

All this good stuff is brought to you by and thanks to:

"Kennisis" by Bill Lishman

Free Guided Tours through the Amazing Haliburton Sculpture Forest:

My family trekked through the Haliburton Sculpture Forest and it truly was the most beautiful setting for public art that I’ve ever seen. Surrounded by the gorgeousness of the Haliburton Highlands, strolling through you soak in the unique beauty of the outdoor collection of sculptures by Canadian and international artists. Because all the sculpture is situated outdoors just off the trails in the Sculpture Forest, you experience changing perspectives of the forest and the sculptures in each of the seasons. Visit often and enjoy a unique experience each time.

Also, depending on your preference, you can walking and bike ride in the spring, summer and fall and ski during the winter!

Get more info about the delightful permanent public art installation in the Haliburton Sculpture Forest (CLICK!).

Haliburton Highlands This July and August the Haliburton Sculpture Forest will be offering free guided tours! The tours will take place every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. Meet at the trail kiosk in the Fleming College parking lot.

Haliburton Sculpture Forest Map

Niagara Falls, Ontario - 6.10.11

Welcome to the  second weekend of June, 2011. It is amazing how quickly time is passing by as we move into the summer months. The very active weather has been a distinct reminder that we are not quite into summertime yet, rather as we transition we  are getting, as Ontario knows only too well, some very strong reminders of when warm fronts meet cold.

So what kind of weather is in store for this week? In a word I’d say ‘calm.’  Though not exactly beach weather, for most of the week temperatures should be about 20-21°C with almost no precipitation at all. A bit of a break to give everything (and one) time to dry out.

Haliburton Highlands Weekend Weather June 10 - 11

If you happen to look up into the sky right now you’ll notice variable clouds. The temperature is chilly at 52°F. The 24-hour precipitation outlook is for 0.8 inches from Friday overnight through Saturday overnight.

Saturday morning should be mainly cloudy with temperatures rising to 55°F, though by Saturday afternoon rain moves in with a high of 61°F. Saturday evening you should expect scattered showers and a high of 57°F. Overnight on Saturday look for cloudiness with clear breaks and a temperature of 50°F.

Haliburton Highlands Long-Term Forecast

Sunday’s forecast calls for variable cloudiness with a high temperature of 61°F, and a low of 50°F overnight. There is no rain in the forecast.

Monday will be sunny with a high of 64°F and an overnight low of 48°F. There is again, no rain in the forecast.

Tuesday will be sunny with a very pleasant high of 72°F. Nighttime temperatures fall to 50°F and there is no rain in the forecast.

Wednesday, expect cloudy periods, a high temperature of 73°F and a low overnight of 54°F. You should not expect rain.

The forecast for Thursday is for sunny skies, a high temperature of 66°F and a warm-ish temperature overnight of 59°F.

The week closes out on Friday with isolated showers, a high of 68°F and a low overnight of 57°F. There may be up to 0.1 inches of precipitation accumulation on Friday.

So, What About the Bugs?:

Haliburton Highlands Bug Report through June 15

The bugs in cottage country right now are as we say, ‘thick.” What that means specifically is that the Black Flies will eat you up and the the Deer Flies will finish what’s left–UNLESS you wear long sleeved shirts, full-length pants and douse yourself in DEET. To state the obvious, the heavy rains have not helped the bug situation.

So all-in-all a good week for hiking, camping, biking, boating–whatever your pleasure. Just dress accordingly and you’ll have a grand time.

Kawagama Lake, Dorset

Found photo: Summer 1985 - "jimmy & his mom' Going through recently the thousands of photographs that my mom had amassed, I came across this one, taken by my mom.

Hm, I thought, I’d not ever laid eyes on it or any of it’s companions. Of course Mom took it back in the days of film development vs. downloading and she often wouldn’t get a full 36 photos taken and developed until (as in this case) after vacation, maybe months later.

I remember this day, though. After dinner, with the sun about to begin disappearing, it was time for the little guy to get cleaned up for bedtime. Back then we had no proper shower or tub, so one would take a bar of Ivory soap and scrub up in the Lake. (Now of course, that is an explicit no-no. Not a problem as we’ve long had a shower and pretty cushy sink and vanity, thanks to my Mom and Dad).

Anyway, in this situation, it was not warm out so I got the little guy cleaned up as quickly as I could. He was extremely good–never kicked up a fuss and as you can see, was glad when it was over. This little guy, who ultimately grew up with no Dad, was the perfect kid. Bar none. Ask anyone who knew him then. A perfect child because, I think, he felt he needed to be.

…at least until his step-dad and then, little brother came along..

Maple Lake -Summer '94(?) - Jim (11) and Chris (2) w/ Roger in distant background -'Brothers.' I don't think we ever thought of these guys as 'half' anything. Just brothers. 'This was about as good as it got. And this was pretty darn good. One more 'found shot'. I have a bunch from this set as I took them but they have not yet been scanned 'cept for this one..

One more Maple Lake photo from ’85:

A chillier point in being 2 y.o., getting washed up on a not-warm evening on Maple Lake, Ontario in 1985. ( I am so glad I did not yet have big hair!)

I was a  25 y.o divorced mom. ‘Jimmy’ was born in 1983 when I was 23. I think I was a pretty good mom (grown-up Jim has said so–without prodding or bribing!)–certainly right in there, sometimes overprotective, but that’s pretty typical with one’s 1st child, never mind one with a dad 100% out of the picture. Plus, I’m ‘ya know, fierce as a mom (and if need be, rarely, other times).

Here’s more details about one way you can spend your Earth Day 2011:

'Save Our Planet Earth'

This year is the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, a day to celebrate and honour our home–while educating  ourselves and others how we can better care for Earth.

In day-to-day living, though we sometimes may feel bombarded with ‘save the Earth’ messages these messages can be especially powerful when applied to our immediate surroundings. Positivity is a large part of the Earth Day Family Festival with topics and activities that sound very worthy of yours and my time: hearing The Good News Earth Report (yes folks, there is good news!) and Our County’s Species at Risk as well as the Eco-kids Quiz and Gaia’s Story “What Is Magnificent’ are some of the ways you can participate and enjoy Earth Day 2011!

Check out the event website: www.earthday.ca

See: Events: Ontario: Wilberforce

For more info about the Gaia Centre activities on Earth Day click to: info@gaiacentre.org.

Sir Sam's Ski & Bike

Sir Sam's

Sir Sam's

Photo :Janet Gosselin - North Bay, Ontario Canada

One of the things to treasure most about the Haliburton Highlands is the abundance of natural beauty year-round. Until recently I’d stuck pretty close to our place on Maple Lake with the occasional trek to Haliburton or Minden, great places both but hardly off the beaten path. Enter Hike Haliburton and the plethora of hiking opportunities for all ages and even a doggy hike! There is so much going on you’d best just click over and read all about it and/or click here:

View the “Hike Haliburton” Event Map (841Kb)

These are FREE community-sponsored events which I urge you to partake of. I’m seriously considering altering my vacation plans next summer to including a third-week-in-September visit so we can enjoy the changing foliage and brisk, refreshing fall air.

Don’t forget to Preregister for Hikes. Enjoy!

Hike Haliburton: September 24. 25. & 26. 2010
All hikes are guided and FREE.
(Donations are appreciated.)

Email or call in your registration for your preferred hike to 1-800-461-7677; 705-286-1777.

Join us for a Pre-registration Event
Friday, September 24, 2010
Time: 4:00pm – 9:00pm
Haliburton Highlands Tourism Office
12340 Hwy 35, Minden

Pick up a detailed brochure, find out more about hikes, enjoy refreshments and meet other hikers!
Thursday, September 23 2010
(Pre Hike Haliburton Events!)

Healthy Active Communities Forum

Special Guest Speaker: Gil Penalosa; Executive Director, 8-80 Cities

Internationally renowned liveable city advisor and social marketing strategist, Gil Penalosa is passionate about vibrant and healthy communities. As the Executive Director of Canadian non-profit organization 8-80 Cities and former Commissioner of Parks, Sports and Recreation in Bogota, Columbia, Gil promotes walking and cycling, as well as the creation and use of parks and trails, in hopes to improve the quality of life for all residents.A speaker in high demand, Gil has presented at over 150 workshops and seminars in North America and has been keynote speaker and provided consultation throughout the Americas, Europe and new Zealand.

All Community Forum participants are welcome to meet Gil and members of the Communities in Action Committee at the Town Docks in Minden for a stroll along the Riverwalk prior to the forum.

Presented by Communities in Action Committee
**Refreshments will be served**
Hosts: Communities in Action Committee
Leader: Gil Penalosa
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: Minden Hills Community Centre.

I had planned to address the topic of setting off fireworks every summer weekend over Maple Lake even before I saw the “Letter(s) of the Week” in the Haliburton County Voice.

These letters, written by local cottage country property owners were not only food for thought but were enlightening in their enumerations of all the ways uncontrolled personal use of fireworks in cottage country is a very bad thing.

To digress for a moment, prior to this year I, Canadian born, and raised in Connecticut from ages 6-18 by Canadians with frequent returns to my entire extended family in Canada, found the Canadians that I encountered in Canada to be…not like Americans. For starters, they confirmed the oft-repeated stereotype by being refreshingly polite–if more the “arm’s length”- formal kind of politeness.

But does this type of “politeness” extend so far for some Canadians who hold a decisive opinion about a matter such as the fireworks but chose to pretend the issue does not exist? And is it at it’s base due to fear!?! Is there a fear among Ontarians that they will be perceived as impolite to speak up when they feel a large wrong needs righting?

I don’t know. I really hope not.

I always had a sort of idealized notion of what a Canadian is/was. But growing up, I was always steered in the direction of not talking about things that might make other people uncomfortable–even if said thing needed to be addressed–so for better or worse, here goes.

About five years ago a neighbour on Maple Lake, a year-rounder I believe, began setting off fireworks every single weekend of the summer. (This is not a precise accounting. I simply know that no matter when I went to the Lake, from the last weekend in May when we opened through Labour Day when we close, it was and has been the case.)

I hoped it was a passing phase as the fireworks startled me and scared the daylights out of my dog–and they destroyed the peacefulness that used to be indigenous to our little lake which is dotted with year-round personal residences and cottages.

The setting off of fireworks phase has not passed, however. I’ve realized belatedly that it is not just a band of folks on Maple Lake that have gone ga-ga over something that I’ve always thought very American. To embrace the crassness of setting off  fireworks whenever and wherever you please, for there can be no other way to describe their intrusiveness when they go off unexpectedly near your home,  is to ignore the specialness of setting them off one or two nights a YEAR.

So to everyone who still insists that setting fireworks off every weekend of the summer is special–as well as your “right,” as someone who has grown up with the American traditions involving fireworks let me tell you: You are acting like a bunch of Americans.

You are Canada. You will never be the United States nor do you want to be, trust me on this. Let’s just cite one reason: preserving your national identity as Canadians. Both countries have much to laud but they are separate, distinct entities unique unto themselves.

Let me reiterate the very real ramifications of Uncontrolled Use of Fireworks on Maple Lake and other lakes in cottage county:

1. Fireworks increase the potential of fires

2. Noise pollution and the consequences (e.g. loons leaving, tourists leaving)

3. Toxicity to the air, water, and surrounding grounds***

*Let me expound a bit about the toxicity of fireworks. They get shot off mostly over the lakes. Unlike how it may appear, they do not just explode. The reality is that the exploded debris falls into the water, along with the chemical residue. Yes, this is bad for the ecosystem and even if you don’t really care about the ecosystem and shame on you if you don’t–you are poisoning your own water.
Whatever you dump on the ground near a lake seeps into the water table eventually and then it gets into your water–your swimming water and in the case of our cottage, our tap & shower water. This dovetails into #4…

4. Interfering with wildlife habitats.

First-hand story. Last year I spent about a month living on Maple Lake. Despite the rainy and seasonally cold weather of  the summer of 2009 on Maple Lake, I could hear and sometimes see a pair of loons that have taken up residence on the Lake each summer for as long as I can recall. Their haunting calls are unmistakable and for me, comforting that some things don’t change (though I wouldn’t know if the specific pairs of loons changed–I would guess they’d have had to)–you can count on them. Or so I thought.

I’m soon heading up to Maple Lake and I’m going to try to find a second loon on our lake because instead of the minimum 2 that I’ve seen every year for as long as I can remember–I’ve only heard the sound of a single, solitary loon in 2010.

Did my neighbour and his regular weekend fireworks frenzy drive away one of Maple Lake’s loons and if so, are we going to lose the single remaining loon, too?

I’m not at all an expert about loons. I just know they bring me stolen moments of serenity. Loons are beautiful creatures to behold as they duck under the water and resurface 100 or more feet away in their elaborate “game” of try-to-find-me.
What I can say with confidence are the facts as I’ve observed them.

I have a neighbour across the way who every weekend of the summer at about 9:30 p.m. sets off about 20 minutes-worth of fireworks. He (I presume it’s a “he”) scares my older dog out of her senses. She quivers & shakes both during the noise assault and long after. The noise kills the atmosphere of peacefulness that Maple Lake always exuded. I’ve now read that this is a problem for other lakes in cottage country and the fallout (no pun) is remarkably similar to our own.

Naturally, the question of what have I done to try to solve this problem ? is a relevant one. I’ve worried and complained about it as I’m doing here for the first time but have I addressed this with the people setting off the fireworks? The answer is no, I have not. I was hoping the novelty would wear off but of course, it hasn’t or I wouldn’t be speaking up now. Now I do want to try and have courteous conversation with them but I cannot figure out where exactly they live. It is somewhere in here:

Area of Fireworks Activity on Maple Lake

Please click to enlarge.

As you can see by the named roads this is a densely populated area of Maple Lake and it’s going to take some sleuthing to find out “who” is shooting off fireworks on their property out over out lake every. single. weekend. Not to mention to do the sleuthing I’m going to need to either go to the site of the fireworks by canoe or trespass on “private property.”

Even here in the U.S. of A. in the great state of Illinois (absolutely no sarcasm–I love where I live) there are much stricter limits on the type of fireworks that can be bought legally. For us, it’s sparklers and poppers essentially but then, we do a very American thing. On and around Independence Day a/k/a The Fourth of July, towns and cities alike put on displays for everyone to enjoy. They have a distinct beginning and end, are controlled for safety and someone cleans up afterward. Not perfect but way more in-line with something I used to think was a standard Canadian trait: civility and respect for one another and the environment.

I do believe that both countries share in the desire to put a halt to unnecessary pollution of our precious natural surroundings. Surely banning unregulated use of fireworks in cottage country, Haliburton County specifically, is unquestionably a positive step that we, as stewards of this planet, should not hesitate to take.

Am I going to continue to be the “misdirected” polite Canadian and ignore what is being done to Maple Lake in the name of a (very) few people’s need to entertain themselves with exploding gunpowder? Nope. Can’t do it anymore. I love the Lake too much. And I’m not walking away. I’m digging in. (On a personal note, it was harder to attempt to do so this year as my youngest son was preparing for college and I was needed back here in Chicagoland.)

I’m willing to meet halfway in my suggestion for a remedy as is so often the end result of circumstances like this. If I made the law, I would allow use of fireworks on specific holidays like the July 1st Canada Day, Victoria Day on May 24 and quite possibly both the civic holiday on the 1st Monday in August and on Labour Day. The rest of the time I’d allow small “personal” fireworks like sparklers & poppers that will neither drive away our wildlife or our human residents and vacationers alike who would prefer to enjoy their evening without the punctuations of those that wish to emulate bombs exploding.

I’d love to hear any sincere comments, ideas or suggestions from you about on fireworks in Ontario’s cottage country so use the comment box or please drop me a line at maplelakeontario@gmail.com.