The artist in her studio
So what else do you expect us to do all summer?
This month's visits
After all the years we have been here, it seemed about time that we visit the very few islands in the area that have ferry access to them. Out of the 1865 islands, only two can be reached by bridge and 3 or 4 I think, by ferry. The rest? You fly, swim or boat. We ferried to Wolf Island first, the largest of the Thousand Islands, then from there took a second ferry to Simcoe Island.
Simcoe Island is a small, 4 mile long (6km) farming island at the edge of Lake Ontario near Kingston. It being a quiet rural landscape, we crossed to it by a cable-operated ferry from neighboring Wolfe Island. It houses the historic Nine-Mile Point Lighthouse.
A 4-minute crossing on our very own private ferry
The Nine-Mile Point lighthouse at the very tip end of Simcoe Island (1833)
The Grenadier Island country club.
Every year, we have friends who invite us to join them for a big dinner at this Hoyte Toity club at the Grenadier Island Country Club. They shuttle us over by boat and we get to rub elbows with the really nice club members. Then we go home and become regular poor people again.
Fort Wellington
Our next adventure was to visit the town of Prescot, home to Fort Wellington and the 'Battle of the Windmill' (Later converted into the lighthouse seen today.) The fort was built to protect British supply routes during the war of 1812 and was completed just weeks before the war ended. It houses the largest still standing blockhouse in Canada.
Location of the Battle of the Windmill. It may look similar to the one 3 pictures up, but it is not. This was where one of the skirmishes between the "Hunters" (American loyalists) fought the British in an attempt to free the population who later became Canadians. On that one, we got spanked.
The remains of a British warship that was sunk near the shore at the time and raised in 1967.
More stories
I have been as busy as a beaver this month. Realizing that we will soon be leaving for the season, I thought it only fair that as a brand new still wet behind the ear's volunteer correspondent for the Thousand Island Life magazine, I should leave my friend and editor some stories in the hopper to use during our extended absence. By the time we board the plane, she will have 16 of them, 2 for every month we are gone.
This month saw two more articles I wrote being published. I am going to keep it up until she fires me. I am astounded by the variety of people I am meeting and the range of subjects I am covering. Anyway if interested, the first one is about a world class photographer and can be read HERE. The second is about a guy that invented a machine to destroy 'forever chemicals' that is being dumped in our river and can be read HERE. Just click on the capital words 'here' as they are the links.
