Gr. 3 gal about town

Who is this girl? So confident, so excited. "All that and a bag of chips," Shauna would say.

This is Julia, the Gr. 3 gal on the go. The dream of a rolling backpack came true. She could be an flight attendant.

What a difference a year makes... check out Gr. 2 Julia (sounds like she's a Barbie - like Malibu Barbie)

I thought this girl looked like she had the world by the tail a year ago...

She looks so young --

perhaps it's the gap

where the front tooth was supposed to be?

Perhaps it's the spindly little legs?

This girl was excited to go to school.

To see her friends.

To meet her new teacher.

This girl did her signature sway stance, just long enough for me to snap this picture.

She knows the drill -- I call it tradition.

Will she let me do it every year?

She better.

I compared this shot to last year's shot

-- she's soon going to outgrow that little tree.

This gal was happy with the new teacher and a bit sad that her friends were in the other class. She had some homework the first night -- just a little "All About Me" bag that she had to decorate and fill with items that she thought represented her --the contents included a soccer medal, her pink scarf from dance costume last year, her knitting, one of Butterscotch's toys, a bracelet she made, and her panda key chain from China.

This girl is all that and so much more. Hoping the new year brings her opportunities to show all her talents.

Moments to remember

The wild winds and rolling surf this weekend made the lighthouse an even more interesting subject to photograph. While the surfers warmed themselves with some hot chocolate! -- imagine! --hot chocolate to end the summer -- I ventured down the shore to capture a few photo memories and moments.

The sky was changing each minute as the clouds rolled by, thanks to the strong wind. I was perched on some of the rocks on the shore, bracing myself against the wind, and kept snapping, snapping, as the wind whipped hair and spray in my face. I must have taken about 50 shots of the lighthouse.

This is one of my favourites -- happy to capture the gulls who soared so effortlessly through the air and the great swells Lake Huron was offering.

A second later, and a shift to my right and I got this shot as I pointed the camera over to the waves, now awash in late afternoon sun. I love the look of the angry sky contrasted with the shimmering shore.

Back to the lighthouse and now I noticed there was someone on the pier, braving the waves and the wind. Okay -- another subject to work into the composition, adding some perspective to the shot.

When I zoomed in, I was shocked to see that this brave soul was Shaun! What a wonderful surprize! This is my favourite shot of the weekend. Love the sheen of the rocks, the swell of the sea-like lake in the background, the spray of the waves, and Shaun's casual over-the-shoulder look at the mighty Lake Huron. I couldn't have planned a better shot.

And this is another angle, with Chantry Island in the background.

Back home for a yummy breakfast-for-supper dinner, Maggie and I tackle the pancakes, while Christine coaches Jack on how to do the scrambled eggs. Oh yes -- the foam on my head -- a cottage tradition to plop some suds from the sink on some unsuspecting cook or diswasher. Julia succeeded at making me the target this time.

The winds died down on Sunday, and there was more sunshine, but not much heat as Julia and I would have liked as we cuddle for our traditioal end-of-summer shot. "Summer lovin', had [us] a blast..." and a kiss!

Maggie and her friend, Tori said farewell to Sign Guy from the bridge with their own tribute.

After a trip to Kimberly's for the final purchases of the summer, and an ice cream from Midsummer Cafe, it was down to the beach to say goodbye. Again we were the only ones there, kind of sad to see the beach so empty after such a busy summer. At one point, during our China Beach week, we had counted close to 50 beach umbrellas on our little beach. Today there was lots of room to do some cartwheels, where just yesterday the girls had been jumping in the waves.

The fab four say goodbye.

Final walk up the dune path

Summer smiles, bid goodbye to the lake until next year.

Thank you, Southampton for a wonderful summer. See you next year.

Stormy Shores

It wasn't Hurricane Earl that was making its way up the east coast, but it was the stormiest we had ever seen the lake at the cottage. It was mesmerizing to watch. The shore across the street from the cottage was flooded right up to our campfire pit. It was not the calm shore we had experienced in July or early August. That's what's so exciting about Lake Huron, the lake of many moods. Here is a look at the wild shore, early Saturday morning.

Finally, the pelting morning rain stopped, the grey skies were broken by the sunshine and despite the wind, the young folk were all about tackling the waves. Here the big and little girls explore the spot on the shore of our beach where we usually sit, now covered by waves.


This was an unusual sight, to see churning, almost boiling water from our look out to Chantry Island.
Time to tackle the waves. I was being pushed by the wind, making it hard to focus.

Maggie helps Julia jump the waves.

A shivering surfer makes her way back to shore.

As I recorded all the crazy surfing fun, Moe was dutifully counting heads in the water to keep track of all our crew. She was ready to to jump in for a rescue if necessary . Here Moe sits, all puffed up with the wind. That little ball of towel is a shivering Alyse.

There was lots of shivering, lots of squeals and lots of smiles as a second day at the beach brought new adventures.

We still weren't ready to say good-bye.

The last hurrah!

Labour Day weekend was going to be a continuation of the painting project launched last year at this time with Team Elemental tackling the bunkie. But the weather forecast was not painting- friendly, beach-friendly, or campfire-friendly for the shores of Lake Huron and our last weekend of the summer. Moe and decided to make hay while there was some sun and headed out early on Friday to explore some other features of Grey-Bruce Counties.

First stop was Inglis Falls, one a seven falls in the Owen Sound area. We are going to do some of the others next summer.

Then it was down the road to Grey Roots Museum. I've passed this museum everytime we drive to the cottage, but we never have stopped, always eager to get to the beach. But we knew we had a few hours before the clouds would clear, so the museum was the perfect stop. The girls loved the heritage village section. Here they are on the porch of a log cabin, an original home of some Irish settlers in the area.

There was a scavenger house for the girls to do -- a great way to learn about the tools and activities of early settlers and their families. Here Julia tries out the parents' bed -- not so comfy.

Alyse tries her hand at bending some iron in the blacksmith's shop.

When we finally got to the beach, there was sun and some wind, but not the temperatures we have been blessed with this summer at Southampton. We were the only ones on our beach. It was wavier than we we were used to, but we would discover the next day, this was the calm before the storm. Here the girls sit, considering their options.

Julia tried to skim in the little channel, but the water was too high from all the waves. She had been waiting weeks to continue to hoan her skills at this new sport. She was very disappointed and bit cranky with a cold, so in her mind, there was no more fun to be had at the beach.

Alyse was in good spirits though, exploring the windy dunes -- splendor in the grass.

Julia, all bundled up, looks wistfully out at the lake that was too cold for her -- and I must admit --too cold for me too. We are fair weather swimmers. Last summer I never made it into the lake until Labour Day weekend, and this year, we were swimming the first week of the summer. This was a disappointment.

Moe and Alyse, no doubt warmed by their excitement finally to be at the beach, braved what we thought at the time were big waves.

We toasted what we thought was our last day at the beach with some smiles for Jerry's fries.

More to come as the long weekend unfolded..