When life gives you lemons...

They say bad things come in threes. I guess we're going to test that theory today.

Last night Spence and I came to the realization that our camera is missing. The last thing we remember was packing it into the car before heading back to the city last Sunday night. Now it's nowhere to be found. Along with the camera went two lenses (a 24mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.4) a 32 gig CF card, a pistol grip, half case, extra battery, and messenger bag. It's a bummer for sure, but we're both trying to stay focused on the positive: it's just stuff. It can be replaced. The only things that can't be replaced are the photos from last weekend and that's very unfortunate.

This morning I woke up to the news that the camera is definitely nowhere to be found. Spence looked everywhere. It was a with a bit of a sigh that I set out to enjoy a cup of coffee in the sun by the ponds. On the way, I noticed this:

 

That's our neighbours' truck they very kindly loaned me last night. Last night, it was in pristine condition. This morning? Not so much. I don't know what kind of party the seagulls (?) had overnight, but I demand to know why I wasn't invited!

Instead of lingering, I decided to ignore the problem for the time being. I was bound and determined to enjoy my morning coffee in peace. So I grabbed the stack of flyers that were delivered yesterday from the passenger's seat of the truck (I successfully avoided getting bird poop on my hand while opening the door -- score 1 Sim!) and continued on my way.

I arrived to the ponds to find everything was just as I'd left it.

This will definitely make everything better, I thought. And I was right.

I was right until a split second after I sat down, anyway. With a jolt I came to the realization that despite the bright sunshine the chair was still soaked with morning dew. Yup, I was soaked.

That was number three. All in all, not exactly the start to the day I was hoping for, but hey, it's bound to happen once in a while right?

I couldn't help but think of a line I read yesterday in one of my favourite blogs: Smile. You're alive.

(As an aside, I offered to wash the truck when I returned it. I was very kindly told not to worry about it. All it needed was a quick rinse with the hose and it would be good to go. They would take care of it. I'm very grateful we live next to such wonderful people.)

Week 20: Bodum Times

With Twin Ponds becoming more and more inhabitable each week, it became clear that a key comfort was still missing: the ability to brew a coffee. With me being the only coffee drinker in the family, this was obviously more important to me than it was to Spence, but definitely a necessity. Not only is it impractical to drive all the way to town in the mornings (a 30 minute round trip), but constantly forking over $3 or $4 for a coffee and a donut is a bit of a waste. In order to conserve space, I opted for a single cup Bodum. It's simple to clean and fits nicely on a shelf in the kitchen amongst the collection of mismatched plates, glasses, and cups left behind by the previous owner.

Mmmmmm home-brewed coffee and a good book

Hi!!

The rest of the weekend brought more of the same. Spence weed whacked and we both continued work on the neverending chair refinishing project. Once we'd had enough, we enjoyed lots of time swimming in the pond before capping the day with a steak dinner and roasted marshmallows over an evening fire.

Sadly Sunday brought ever darkening skies which culminated in a pretty bad downpour that was scheduled to continue until the evening so we reluctantly packed up around noon and headed home.

Yup, that's one happy pup

Hard at work

Week 19: Good Times, Good Friends

(Despite the author being listed as Spence, it's actually Sim)

Our first Canada Day Long Weekend at Twin Ponds was marked by a big first: I finally conquered my fears and went swimming for the first time! The water was pleasantly warm and calm, its mirror-like surface distorted only by ripples created by lazy our movements. The gold fish inhabitants welcomed us by swimming nearby hoping for a snack of bread.

On the drive up, we made an uneducated decision when we purchased some blow-up pool furniture on a whim. This proved to be a mistake as the raft failed to stay inflated even for one day! We promptly returned it for a full refund and learning from our mistake, began researching some better alternatives.

With our barbecue assembled and fully operational, we were now equipped for guests. Our friends Ange and Matt were quick to accept the invitation and committed to taking the time to bike over to us from a town about 100km away with full camping gear in tow. Once they arrived, we came to the realization that we had yet to discover an ideal camp site -- all the spots we explored were either sloped uncomfortably or were quite rocky necessitating some sort of foam pad which we did not have available. After some deliberation, it was decided that they would spend the night on the small, greying bridge that crosses our river. The following day, in the amber light of the early morning, Ange reported that while it's not ideal, the bridge was actually a pretty good spot. The water provided a soothing drone to fall asleep to. Unfortunately, though, every move one makes on the bridge reverberates in the aging wood. Time to find a new spot for next time.

Although we had guests, work didn't stop around Twin Ponds. Continuing on our journey of reclaiming the overgrown and deteriorated exterior of the project, we turned to staining the beautiful Muskoka (Adirondack if you're an American reader) chairs the previous owner had included in the purchase. While I happily stained away, Spence borrowed a ladder from our neighbours and replaced the burned out bulbs of our exterior porch light. Now, venturing out in the middle of the night is a little less daunting.

A great way to cool off

Cleaning up

Ange and Matt's tent

A good time

Blossoming spirits

Lounging

Week 18: Slytherin

With a lot of the cabin remodelling behind us, it was time to turn our attention to some landscaping. This necessitated a trip into town for one of Spence's favourite things: purchasing a new tool. On this week's menu: a weed whacker.

Happily donning his a bright orange set of earmuffs, Spence went on a weed murder spree as evidenced by the photos below. Not bad for a day's work!

Driveway before & after

Cabin before, during & after

Watch out, Jas! That's a snake!

Week 17: There will be Blood

.: June 4 & 5, 2011 :.

After what seemed like endless rain the week leading up to this weekend’s visit was impeccable. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm. It all pointed to a great weekend. For that reason we decided to leave Friday evening rather than Saturday morning. Mother Nature, however, was being her predictably perterbed self and although we got there without incident and had a pleasant (albeit short) evening at Twin Ponds, Saturday morning looked dark and foreboding.

I got up at around 6 a.m. and the skies on the horizon looked threatening. Nonetheless I went into town and procured breakfast from Tim Horton’s. It wasn’t long after my return that the dark skies turned darker and let loose a howling storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. So we basically waited it out.

This weekend Sim’s parents were scheduled to visit for the first time. We were looking forward to it, as were they. In fact, Sim’s mother got up early herself to do some baking. Given the weather we weren’t sure whether they would still come, but they didn’t let it discourage them and while we sat inside the cabin watching Fringe they arrived without us even hearing their car. It was still raining a little at that point, so we showed them inside and gave them the 15 second tour of the cabin.

We then decided to show them the property despite the moisture and by the time we had made it to the ponds the rain had all but stopped. As the sun slowly broke its way through the clouds we spent some time back on the deck chatting and enjoying the food that Sim’s mother had baked.

Feeling reenergized, we decided to split up: Sim's mom and Sim went to work on the clearing while her father and I continued last week’s work of cleaning up the brush. It was not without incident, unfortunately, since I managed to rip my arm open with a sharp stick (don't ask).

Having limited cooking facilities we opted for venturing to a local inn for supper. After a very welcome and delicious warm meal, we explored the local roads by taking a new route back and discovered the local golf club which is tucked away a series of gravel roads lined with towering trees.

Sunday proved to be absolutely beautiful. Taking advantage of this lucky break we rolled up or sleeves and got to work assembling our brand new charcoal barbecue. Hamburgers here we come!

Once that task was done, Sim decided to call it a day work-wise and opted to read at the ponds while I continued to work on the clearing, building up a good sweat. After an hour and a half of hard work, I doffed my sweaty work clothes and went snorkeling in Pond Superior.

Our main appliance

Ouch!

What?!

Bandet as a lifeguard

Week 16: Bye-bye Bushes

Before we completely fell off the blogging wagon (that's a thing, right?) we'd actually created a number of draft posts with photos and point form notes. Instead of letting all that stuff go to waste I've decided to post them before writing about more recent events.

Without further ado, here's week 16.

.: May 21, 2011 - The May Long Weekend :.

This weekend's visit was a bit of a hallmark for a couple of reasons: it was our first two-night stay and we finally finished installing the floor in the main room!

We had dinner with our wonderful neighbours and despite considering leaving early due to heavy rain we decided to tough it out. We were rewarded with a gorgeous Sunday so Spence took the opportunity to have his first swim of the year. It would be the first of many. At this point I was still refusing to swim in the pond because I thought it was murky and, well, kind of gross. It's kind of funny thinking back to this time because swimming in Pond Superior has since become my favourite activity.

We also took some time to do two other things during this weekend that would become staples in our Twin Ponds routine over the next two years: clearing some bush having a bon fire.

Hi! Do you love me?

Bush massacre

Morning web

... and we're back!

*tap tap* Is anyone still there?

After a very long and unplanned hiatus, I've decided to revive this blog. It's become obvious that it was impractical to try to document everything that happened every weekend -- it just lead to a perpetual catch-up situation which became so demoralizing that we gave up completely. This time I'm going to focus on the most important and meaningful aspects of the time we spend up here. I've been very inspired by Tara and Tyler's fantastic blog, Going Slowly, which I recently discovered. They're going through many of the same things we've gone through. It's great to read about their adventures and be so closely reminded of many of our own.

Just look at that smile!

So much has happened in the past 2 years. My first goal is to go through the many, many photos that have accumulated since our last update and slowly post the accompanying stories that stand out in my mind.

But today I'll focus on the present. Spence and I both crashed around 9 p.m. last night and still managed to sleep until 7:30 this morning. While Spence built a fire, I grabbed a cup of coffee and came out to the pond to breathe a bit of life into Welcome to Twin Ponds. Keedo happily followed me and has been basking in the sun while I type away.

Yesterday Mark came over to give me a bit of a watercolour lesson. I have very little experience with painting, but not only is Mark extremely talented (check out his site), he's also an excellent teacher. I don't think my work is ready for the gallery just yet, but I had a great time.

Can you guess which painting belongs to whom?

Finished products