I have found a lil bug which I am not sure how to fix so I recommend reading the blog before clicking through the photos. Sorry about that, I’ll try to work it out!
We have been at Brittany Lake for one calendar year now; we have decided that it is quite beautiful during each season with Winter being our favourite. Only the dogs have gone for a swim in the lake so I am unable to tell you what the swimming is like. I have an adversity to lake bottoms…they freak me out! At least on the Lake side, where the Boathouse is, the bottom is rocky…but slimy rocky. Ick. I know, I know, get some water shoes! I have procured some shoes that have Boathouse designation now and I am gearing myself up to give the lake a go this Summer 2018!
By the time we moved to Brittany Lake in October 2016 it was too cold for us city folk to go out on the lake though we dreamed of being out there, drifting about on the lake on lazy afternoon but first we had to get through our first Winter with the lake frozen solid well into what we thought should be Spring. Oh, what newbs! Once we had sustained -17C or colder days for a week straight we finally deemed the ice safe enough to walk upon; we had waited with great anticipation for the day! It was a great way to walk around the inner side of the horseshoe shaped lake. And the walking was easy! Nothing to climb/crawl over, nothing to shimmy under, just plain easy walking! What a treat! What explorers we were! And then Luke and Sammy fell through the ice! Ack! That was on Casselman Creek. We were heaps more cautious after that, though I imagine we would have been fine out on the lake. We have learned since then that the edges of creeks and lakes are the worst places to walk as the ice is um, dirtier, that is to say that the ice may have defrosted some near the edges and then refrozen as well as having snow frozen on top of it? Not 100% sure on the exact details pertaining to “dirty ice” but we now know not to walk so close to the edge.
Have I told you in a previous post how a raven taunted a young grizzly out onto the ice and we were freaking out that the grizz would fall through? He was way out on the lake! Turns out he was far safer out there than we were clinging to the edges of the lake and creeks.
Interesting phenomenon: as the lake freezes over it sings. The fluctuations in temperatures cause the ice to expand and contract; the shifting ice causes all kinds of sounds in varying frequencies. And then it happens again in the Spring with the break up of the ice. It is quite fascinating though I will say that Bear and Sam were quite…weirded out…by it the first time they heard it! Heh, I had grand thoughts of clearing a patch of ice on the creek so we could have a lil “ice rink” but when I was shovelling the snow the creek sang out alarmingly and I refused to go back out on it again! Oh, I might add that we were both very careful out on the ice because we had no idea how deep the lake or creek were. Turns out we were worried for nothing…
When Benny was there he was perturbed that he was not able to go out in the boat or canoe because the lake was still frozen. Lucky for him a section of the lake over by the Boathouse DID melt enough to get watercraft out there and he determined that he ought to be able to stay because he only got to go out on the boat once! He was here around Spring Break, so late March. Once the lake well and truly did thaw and there was a brilliant sunny day Luke and I hopped into the canoe to go and explore Brittany Lake, at long last!
Now I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but I am a lil afraid of heights and to me, a lake is a mountain in reverse! I was a nervous wreck! We did discover that the lake is actually quite shallow and the creek? Though wide, it is almost only ankle deep in some spots!! While the water is not very deep, I’ll tell you what the muck on the bottom of the creek and lake ARE deep! Very deep!
Bear and Sam love the lake! Bear, though a Labrador Retriever/German Shepherd mix has never been a water dog but he saw Samwise Gamgee frolicking about and actually swimming so he thought he would give it a go. Bear swims absolutely beautifully; so regal! Sammy? Oh. My. Word! He looked absolutely ridiculous in the water! He swam upright! So funny! We got him his own PFD which straightened him out right smart. I would softly lob a floaty toy out for Sammy to retrieve, ever the worrier, but Luke would hurl it out into the lake and Sammy would happily take off after it! It was a great way to tire him out!
Neither of the boys had ever been out on a boat before and we were both nervous that they would … rock the boat…trying to get to the ducks, birds, or loons that caught their attention. They were fine! They were very cooperative and hardly moved at all!
We have cleared a spot at the mouth of the creek, up on the hill, which we have dedicated to Luke’s Granny, Clarice Gibson. There was a bunch of blow downs there which we cleared away, save for one; it is upon that “bench” that we often sit and sip our morning coffee. It is incredibly peaceful. In the Fall, with the mist rising off the lake? Amazing! Absolutely amazing! And then there is a work in progress, a lil farther down the lake; again, up on the hill, we have dedicated a lovely spot to Luke’s Gran Irene Duguid. It is our hope to hang bird houses in some of the trees out there as Gran Irene was always singing ever so beautifully, just like the birds.
We love our lake, in all her seasons.
