This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Flood Wood Care for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love my deck, especially this time of year when the surrounding gardens are beginning to bloom, the leaves are greening and the birds are chirping. My home deck is not really big but I’ve made it cozy with a pretty privacy screen, comfy chairs, a trellis with morning glories and an arbor with corkscrew vines.
There is though one thing missing. Pretty wood. The wood on my deck is bare, aged and gray and to be blunt, it is ugly. Previously, I’ve covered it up with carpet but this year I’m beautifying it so I can enjoy the look of natural wood grain.
My wood deck beautifying begins with treating the gray wood with Flood® brand wood cleaner. With a solid reputation as “The Wood Care Specialist,” I can count on Flood® brand from start to finish on my beautifying project.
Flood® Wood Care has earned their reputation beginning in 1841 as a family business, and continuing through the years, offering dependable finishes that will not only protect yours and my investment but do so with products that help make your wood design options truly yours, personalizing your outdoor wood elements with stylish colors and stain that brings out the beauty in the wood that compliments your home.
I’m actually very exited about my project as I use my deck as I would an extra room. I plan on using the suggested solid color because because the wood is weathered. Now I just need to choose from 51 different color options! I’m thinking either Mulberry which has a subtle, soft brownish hue or I may get a little bit daring and use Tranquil Sea! Mmm, it’s so pretty and as you might guess it’s the color I would expect to see if I were on tropical, by-the-sea vacation!* Either way, I’m so looking forward to refreshing the look of my “summer room!”
NOW is the time to give to The Fresh Air Fund—in any way you can:
Summer '94
Literally, all my life I’ve had a beautiful summer place to go.
Thanks to my grandparents, I grew up sometimes spending months on a crystal-clear lake in the breathtakingly beautiful Haliburton Highlands in Ontario, Canada. At the time however, my nuclear family had emigrated to Connecticut–just a stone’s throw from the great state of New York and where I spent the rest of my year. My dad kept the radio on especially in the morning and I’d hear PSA’s for The Fresh Air Fund. It was hard as a child to imagine what it would be like stuck in the suburbs all summer long–never mind the inner city! Later, TV adverts made an even more indelible impression on me that I was exceptionally fortunate as there were many kids who were not.
After over 130 years of giving inner-city children the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, ‘creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities,’ no one needs to remind the not-for-profit The Fresh Air Fund of what a fantastic difference spending some of the summer away from the city can make for children.
Read an excerpt from a recent news story on how summer resources for city youth are going to be even more scarce in summer 2011:
NEW YORK — A rising number of children can look forward to excruciatingly boring school breaks this year as budget crises in places such as New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and Detroit rob them of the activities and programs that have long defined summer in the city for urban youngsters.
Swimming pools are being closed. Recreation centers are locking their doors. Library summer reading programs are suffering. Openings for short-term jobs have evaporated.
Yet, with a shift in perspective, do the kids have to be on the losing end?
‘We can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer’
In New Orleans, Mayor Mitchell Landrieu this year fulfilled a campaign promise to boost city funding for children’s recreation facilities and summer programs, despite the city’s economic difficulties. While last summer, about 700 children participated in sports and literacy activities through the city’s summer camps for children ages 5 to 18, this year the city is expecting to serve 5,000 campers with the help of local organizations, private partnerships and doubled city funds, said Gina Warner, the executive director of the city’s Partnership for Youth Development.
The city – where nine out of 10 recreation sites were damaged by Hurricane Katrina – will be opening 12 pools this year, up from seven the year before and three the year before that. And libraries will be coordinating with the city summer camps to keep children reading, Warner said.
Warner said that while her city faces the same economic struggles as its counterparts around the country, elected officials see the New Orleans summer programs as not only an investment in children, but also a crime-prevention tool.
“We’re a very tourism-dependent city, and so we can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer,” she said.
I’m starting a semi-regular feature about what I would do for recreation, meals, and entertainment if I were in the Haliburton Highlands at any given time. When we are at our cottage on Maple Lake I will actually be doing some of the myriad activities that are going on year-round in the Haliburton Highlands. Right now, I can only dream <sigh>.
If I were in the Haliburton Highlands on Mother’s Day, the Pinestone Resort for brunch* is where I’d love to be. Just read the menu or have a look at the websitefor more photographs of why the Pinestone Resort is a superb choice for fine dining & accommodations.
My mom passed away earlier this year and I dearly wish I’d had another chance to have a lovely meal out with her. Don’t put off such a perfect opportunity to show your Mom how much she means to you.
This is a non-paid post in support of the province of Ontario, Haliburton Highlands tourism.
Want to know where heaven on earth is? It’s right here in the Haliburton Highlands!
I’m so excited. After a disappointing spring and summer where I leaned heavily on the ever-gorgeous Reach Harbour, Lakefield and Chapleau River webcams to bring beautiful scenes to the Maple Lake Ontario blog, I found today that several new locations–with functioning webcams(!) have been added! I can’t tell you how welcome this is and despite the shots not being perfect–on all of them I’ve fixed the angle and brought up the contrast, etc., they are beautiful to me because a) they are photos of scenic Ontario, Canada a/k/a “The Motherland” and b) the webcams function when I click for example, “Magnetawan River in Britt” (the name of the river means “swiftly flowing waters” in the Ojibwa language) and Turkey Point (on the north shore of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario). I have noted, complained actually(on the blog and in emails), that in the case of sponsored webcams–and some so you know, are private–regular folks covering the cost of hosting and the webcam themselves, in the case of sponsored webcams like Halcom Communications in Haliburton they continue to get free advertising and they should give back at least a webcam shot, right? I have not seen a shot of Haliburton, which is among the closest areas to Maple Lake Ontario since last spring. Same goes for Indian River, Port Carling. It used to be one of my favourite scenes year-round and Muskoka Realty Corp is still taking credit–yet no webcam shots–ever since last winter, in their case. So welcome, welcome, welcome to some fresh Ontario webcam locations! I’ll get to the rest and have the weather up later tonight but for today, the first day of October 2010, please enjoy the beauty of autumn in Ontario Canada.
First, let me apologize that my video shooting skillz are not so “mad.” It’s been windy and rainy here and yesterday was the only day nice enough to be in the water. As you can see it is pretty churned up. Still beautiful, though.
This is the day of our arriving at 3:30 a.m. so despite my spouse’s working to get the huge rock ( a/k/a”my favourite rock”) that is the final step to the water in place, we took it pretty easy.
No one felt like grocery shopping and the store-shelves would have been pretty bare post- Labour Day weekend so we went to “That Place In Carnarvon” or simply, “That Place” for dinner. We were so glad we did. The service was outstanding, the waitstaff lovely and the food–just perfect. We were seated straight away at a table right at the wide windows which face Mirror Lake. Very pretty. We both had the Pork Schnitzel with Hunter sauce which came with one trip to the small in size but high in quality salad bar. I’ve missed Canadian-style potato salad and boy, what a treat to enjoy it again. Almost as good as mom’s. Dinner also came with garlic mashed potatoes or choice of three other selections as well as the veggie of the day. I left the veggies and most of my garlic mashed potato only because after the salad bar and the very generous, juicy pork schitzel I was stuffed.
“That Place” is “relaxed casual” as far as dress which was good because I dressed for grocery shopping, LOL!
There is a really nice selection whether you prefer meat, chicken or fish–plus the lunch menu which also looks quite tempting.
Keeping in mind that this was the day after the official end of summer season I must mention that though we arrived early (first dinner patrons) by the time we left the restaurant (which has a nice cottage/eclectic comfy decor and is quite roomy) was near capacity. Obviously local folks like the place not only because of the number that showed op on a Tuesday night but because it has a Cheers-like atmosphere with the server knowing various patrons by name and by drink choice. The small bar seemed a good place to meet friends too as there was the hum of familiar/ friendly banter in the background.
Just a note: “That Place,” which is near the corner of Hwy 35 and 118, has gluten-free pizza for take out which can be really nice if you arrive and are starving but want to wait ’till the next day to grocery shop. The main menu also refers to trying to accommodate various dietary needs. “That Place” has moved to the top spot on my list of restaurants in the Maple Lake Area.
"That Place" in Carnarvon Ontario (CLICK to enlarge)
