Got a bit carried away with the filters here, but what the heck. It will be a while before the chairs are enjoyed on the dock over the water.

Fun with panoramas - the view from our beach this afternoon.

They finally opened Main Street in front of the site of last week's fire at the Cochrane Building. As I drove by the site this afternoon, I snapped a photo. I'll have to take the time to stop and check it out soon as it's a real mess.

Another quality business on North Bay's Main Street. The new book selection is quite good.

The Chicago Restaurant on Main Street, North Bay, across the street and 100m west of the fire at the Cochrane Building.

This is Oak Street, North Bay. These buildings face Lake Nipissing.

North Bay's Main Street lost another "heritage" building last night due to fire. Over the past few decades there have been a number of old buildings that have gone up in flames. This one, the Cochrane Building built in 1911, also lost 2 great vibrant businesses in the fire - Vested Interest Trading and Lefebvres.

New Year's Eve 2011

Happy New Year!!!
Here's a New Year's Day photo of the ice and open water in front of our place. With all the cold weather that's around the corner starting tomorrow, the lake should freeze over soon.

Yesterday morning was very clear and cold (-26C). It sure made for spectacular photo ops, though.

Post annual Boxing Day road hockey photo. We won again!

"The Greatest Snow on Earth?" I don't think so, at least not yet, not by a long shot. There's barely a skiff of snow anywhere; although, it is -19C this morning under a clear cold blue sky.

Not sure how this cap ended up at the shoreline frozen in the ice, but it looks like it will be there until the spring thaw. By the way, what emblem is on the cap? The Avalanche?

One Mile Bay frozen over. The main lake is still ice free.

Nice scarecrow in downtown Arden, ON.

I was in Arden, ON, for a couple of hours on Sat. to pay respects at a friend's funeral. Arden is a tiny town south of Perth, off Highway 7 in "nowhere land." It seems to be a town that will be close to ghost town status in 10 years or so. It currently has 2 churches, a community hall and a Legion. The Legion doubles, a tiny bit, as a small small convenience store. The houses are dilapitated, and the ones for sale will probably never sell. I wonder how many other little towns there are like this that are succumbing to the move to urbanize.

Happy Holidays sign from our local pub on the lake, The Portage.

Went for a hike up in the bush yesterday with the Ice Marshal and our hounds- a great trek! Here Sunny perches over a ravine looking down a hydro line.

The Portage dock on One Mile Bay. The rest of the dock is made of floating sections, and they were removed in October.

Here's another photo from yesterday morning taken on One Mile Bay.

I took this photo this morning as I was looking down towards the mouth of One Mile Bay.

Early morning photo looking down One Mile Bay.

It's been a rainy day here at the lake. This is one of 2 young deer that were out above our place checking out the salt at the edge of the road.

We had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. Here's the view over the lake from the hot tub this morning.

Replaced all the old style Christmas lights at the top of the driveway with LEDs. They'll look more festive this week when the snow starts. It sure helps at night, though, as it's pretty dark out here.

This is what the lake looked like a few days ago before the rain moved in. It'll probably be a while before we see the sunshine as wet weather and snow are moving into the region.

Great tree fort in the bush on a hill overlooking Trout Lake towards the south.

Relaxin' in the late afternoon autumn sun.

The off shore weeds in the lake sure do look golden in the late afternoon sun!

Here's a view from today looking eastward down Trout Lake from Ingwerson's beach. What a beauty day!

Budha on a stump - more yard "art" at our place.

Here's another example of the "yard art" we have all around the compound. This is on the wall of the garden shed.

Ah, summer time!! It sure beats the crap out of the weather and season we're just entering. Hola, los tres amigos!

Funky Fungi, or is that Funki Fungi?

It may well be the middle of November, and by all rights here in the mid-north it's quite a ways past the plant growing season. However, these green shoots in the leaf litter didn't get the memo. They are green and vibrant. I wonder how they'll do after days of steady frost.

Looking east from "the compound."

This is the entrance to our college that is not shared with Nipissing University, in other words the only entrance to our college that is exclusively our own. It, unfortunately, reflects the sad state of affairs inside the doors.

This is one of the path ways through the bush in our "back yard." A couple of hours of leaf blowing and some pruning is all the maintenance required.

Gourds or squash? They look like monkey bums to me.

Nov. 8, 2011, 7:00am - Sunrise photo this morning from the deck.

FIRST, and I really hope some techs and officials from bloger are reading this - sometimes this blogger program is a piece of CRAP!!! I tried 4 times to post these 5 pictures in the correct order, and each time the program decided the order the photos would appear, no rhyme or reason. The order I wanted was in the same order the photos were taken - BS if you ask me.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day, and I finally put the Fortuitous to bed, tarped her up for the winter while Sunny relaxed on the picnic table. Afterwards we went for a great hike in the bush.

Grandson Cody, Andrew and Gemma were cooking up a storm yesterday and today in our kitchen.

Not a lot of good came out of this late night work shop encounter, except a whole lot of fun!

Last Friday, the Ice Marshall, Mike and I hiked up the end of Viceroy Road (my street), and we toasted the day and the view over Trout Lake.

Weathering barn board on Mr. P.'s garden shed.