Turtle, Frog and Mosquitoes

What a brilliant weekend we've had! Although the weather was so-so here in Toronto we had glorious sunshine all day Sunday and reasonable warmth on Monday up at the cottage on Lake of Bays.

The girls absolutely love it there. As soon as we pull up outside our place they clamber out and disappear. That is the beauty of a place you return to time and time again - they are familiar with it and know the drill.

There is always a highlight of each trip and this time it was the creatures we encountered. Before we'd even arrived we'd spotted a fawn at the entrance to Blue Water Acres.

On Sunday morning, while the girls were paddling a canoe on the lake they reported sight of a turtle. We all dashed down to the dock to check it out but couldn't see anything in the water. All we could see was a rock. We were disappointed - a turtle was something we were yet to see. We were discussing how much the rock looked like a turtle... "You can see how they thought it was a turtle... That bit looks like its head.. And the ripples in the water make it look as if it's moving..."

Suddenly the 'rock' started to amble towards us!!!! It really was a turtle. A huge turtle. Over half a metre in diameter. It was a snapping turtle and would have given someone a nasty nip if we'd got close enough.

They look something like this.

And listen to this video:

This is what is making the racket - a grey tree frog.

While we were roasting our marshmallows around the campfire we literally could not hear each other speak as this little beauties were so loud.

And no visit up north at this time of year would be complete without a few bites from mosquitoes and other nasties like the deer fly and black fly. Despite lots of bug spray and long pants and long sleeves none of us got away without quite a few itches; Tess, it seems, has come off worst and Meg just a few...

Perhaps casting spells with sparklers helped.