A Musically Inspired Idea: Clark's Crossing Honey Fest

We had been out of business since this Spring, but then a couple from La Broquerie called and said they were having a hard time finding a B&B in our area. Before, when people called I thought that maybe the flood wouldn't last and we would be re- opened for July. Now I think that we will be lucky to have the B&B ready before the snowfall. So I gave them the names of other B&Bs and told them to call me back if they couldn't find anything. I said that maybe we could try to figure something out. We are so glad that they did call back. Lynda and Gary stayed for two nights in seven year old son's bedroom. Don't worry, I had time to clear out all of his stuffed bears and make room for their upright bass and guitar. They were musicians on their way to a festival in Hartney. On Saturday night, they did a concert for us right in front of the house. The neighbours came from all directions with their lawnchairs and soon we had a crowd of about ten children and twenty or so adults. Everyone enjoyed it so much, there was something magical about sitting outside under the leaves with a pleasant breeze, puffed-wheat cake, coffee and iced-tea and the harmonies of their bluegrass music. My dad, with a big smile on his face said, "Sheila, you should do this every year!" Even the roosters sang along and the dog, Tibo was very happy playing at the end of the lawn where he was tied up, to keep us all safe from his slobbery mouth. This morning Gary told me that on their way back from Hartney they were chased by a storm and their cars were being hit by hailstones almost big enough to smash their windshields. My parents also drove through the storm in the car ahead of them, because they had gone to see them play at the Gospel Music Festival in Hartney. Their scary drive reminded me of our first guests' adventure making their way through the blizzard in December. Well, I always said that coming out here is not for the weak at heart. I mentioned my "unadvertising campaign" to Lynda, but sadly realised that I would not have met her if she had read my blog. She probably wouldn't have come here at all, since she is really scared of bees, but even with what she calls a "Bee Phobia", they enjoyed a very thorough tour of Ray's Honey House, including a visit to a beehive.

Out of this visit a very nice combination of ideas has evolved. Gary suggested doing something that would really celebrate all of what we love doing here. He said we should do something like an end of the year "Clark's Crossing Honey Festival", with artisans, musicians, a farmer's market and something amazing, like a maze for the kids, ha ha (a-maizing). Now that is a great recipe for fun. I don't have time to make a maze of corn, but we'll do something fun or maybe we'll just tell the kids to go get lost while we adults sit around and visit. Ha ha, just joking. I really doubt another blizzard or tornado would happen at the end of September, but we'll try to be prepared for anything. It is like reality t.v. in a way (Fear Factor) On Saturday night our guest from the Philppines did a video tape their outdoor concert on the lawn,and there was Lynda having to face her biggest fears, her phobia of bees as she toured the apiary!!! Congratulations Lynda, you did very well on your first visit to this "Honey Farm".

Speaking of honey, Lynda and Gary were a very loving and humorous couple. We all enjoyed their visit so much and I think that things have been sweeter around here ever since. We hope they will come back often. I now have a greater appreciation of how important it is to have Ray around to "visit" when I need to do anything in the kitchen. When I was trying to serve them breakfast on Sunday, I would forget things like getting the toast in or out of the toaster if I sat down and started visiting. If Ray can't be here, I will have to set up a "breakfast buffet" next time. Yes, I asked our son and he thought it was a good thing to lend his room out like that, although I did have to grease his palm royally and I forgot to pay the cook and the cleaner.

Bye for now.

Sheila

P.S. The chickens are all still alive and happy.

And then they came....

Sliding down to the river on the old Treesbank Ferry approach.

It has only been two months since we had our first guests and I am smiling at how many people have come.   They were all very nice, down-to-earth people just looking for a place to spend quality time together.  I am so glad that the guesthouse is attracting people that like doing outdoor winter activities.  The first guests used the snowshoes, the second guests tried out the cross-country ski trails and borrowed the toboggan and last night's guests came all the way from Winnipeg by snowmobile!  The funny part was that I hadn't even noticed that they spoke French until they were about to leave.  That was when Isabelle, my neighbor came into the yard for our weekly ski and they heard us chatting in French, next thing you know, the whole yard was sounding like Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes.  So, I thought about the fact that NOTHING I have on the web is in French and people wouldn't even know that we speak French except by accident.  On that note, I think I should at least make a resolution to do a few blog entries in French.  That will mean using the French accents on the keyboard, like the ç in français and the é in a good cup of thé and I will probably make a few mistakes, but at least that way we may have more chance meeting the francophones out there who are looking for a B&B.  The phone just rang, and next weekend is reserved for another family.  I love that, when I'm in the middle of blogging, I get a reservation.  The kids love it, when I say another family is coming out for a visit.   One of the things that I think made this woman choose our B&B is that we have a barbecue available for guests to use.  It is a lucky thing that she asked about the barbecue, to make sure that it was available during the winter because actually,  it is still new in the box and we will need five hours to assemble it and gather up some barbecue tools before they come next Friday!  I love having a way to get Ray to help me do something faster, hee hee.  If I were to try to assemble it on my own, it would be a disaster.  Well, we can't all be good at everything.  I am going to tell you one thing that I can do well, and next time I want to babble on some more about it.  Okay, here it is, I make my own granola from scratch, and it is mighty tasty.  I put it in a great big jar on the counter for the B&B guests, and I hope to make little "recipe" postcards so that people can take a souvenir when they go and make it at their house.   Yes, I have many plans.  We'll see.  In the meantime, thank you for reading my ramblings.

à bientôt!
Sheila
ps.  la prochaine blog sera-t-il en français?

Snow Without Tracks

By snowshoe, snowboard, toboggan or x-country ski, being surrounded by smooth snow makes you feel  as if you were the first person to be there.

One day when he is older, will this child remember how I explained to him that there are people in the world who LOVE fresh powdery snow?  It was his first time on a snowboard and I think he just wanted to go down as FAST as possible, fortunately, the snow cushioned his many falls, as he made his track going straight down the hill.

While going down the road might not be common by ski,  the snowplow never puts the blade down low enough to touch gravel, so I just go to my "trails" by road.  I suppose if Clark's Crossing became more popular, I would detour this scenic stretch of road, but as it is, I never meet anyone cars.  If a vehicle were coming, I would hear it long before it would meet me.

The trails we make with our  own skis have become my favorite.  Our little trails go where no noisy machine dare follow!  There is nothing so serene as being surrounded by smooth snow in the silence of winter.

Trails Leading to the Your Door

View of the River from the Little Blue House in December

Snowmobilers sometimes go down the road in front of the little blue house.  There is a connector trail that passes here.  It joins the Tri-Lakes Snowmobile Club trails to the south and the Sprucewoods Snodrifters trails to the north.  Their groomer, run by a volunteer, goes by sometimes more often the the snowmobilers themselves.  They have a warming shack not far from here, on the north side of the river.  Their trails run from here to Spruce Woods Park, and also down to Wawanesa, and south to Ninette and Killarney.  They must run by some beautiful scenery.  

This snow right now is perfect for snowshoeing.  When it was too fresh and powdery I sank right in, but now.... there's a stiffer layer, so I can actually stay on top.  No, I don't know a hundred words for the types of snow, but I do like to play in it.  Last year we built quinzes for the fun of it, this year I want to make a snow sculpture.  That means I better get piling it up.  Last night as we pulled the toboggan home from our New Year's outing to the "neighbour's", the little D was inspired to sing and the big R was explaining to the kids how the stars were actually suns.  Big D was running up ahead in the dark and A was busy taking it all in.  

For cross-country skiing, I am quite happy to use the snowmobile trails through the deep snow.   It was -25 the other day, but sheltered from the wind down here, it was perfect for a quick ski.   Today it is MUCH warmer, and I think that I'll take a good hour to enjoy the trails.   All you need to enjoy this time of year is the proper clothing.  If you want to look fashionable, you are going to pay more than the price of your clothing, you'll have cold feet to boot.   My best pair of socks ever came this year from my cousin in northern Alberta, who raises alpacas.  These socks are so soft, warm and thick.  I look forward to raising my own alpacas in the future so that I can learn to use Grandmaman Gigi's loom to weave some beautiful, warm scarves with alpaca fibre. 

I remain convinced that winter is the most beautiful time of year at Clark's Crossing, even though few know about it.  There isn't a lot of traffic out here, but I am thankful for the visitors we had over the holiday season.  It was a good way to bring in 2011.

Cheers amigos!

Sheila