A Week in Muskoka

Last week John and I had five days with our friend, Omid, on Walker Lake in Muskoka, Ontario, near Huntsville.

The Norseman is a cottage-rental resort and restaurant off the beaten path

When you pull in off the highway you find the restaurant and main building.

Most of the cottages for rent surround a communal dock. There is an inflated swimming raft and there are canoes, kayaks and a pedal boat for visitor use.

We rented the most remote cottage with its own floating dock.

We've visited four times with Omid before but it had been 8 years since our last visit. The place was much like we remembered it.

We love the screened-in Muskoka Room.

We put out peaches and tomatoes to ripen, just out of reach of local creatures.

It is a also good work space.

I was working on a study from a dream I'd had in Rome based on Baroque ceiling art and something that I'd wanted to explore for Arabian Nights watercolour drawings.

We spent leisurely hours reading alone or chatting on the deck.

The little deck is a great vantage point for observing the cottage above,

the lovely moss-covered rock face and foliage,

morning mists

and the fascinating changes of skies over the water.

Omid liked the kayaks and would sometimes appear at the dock on his explorations.

I personally loved the water reflections when all was calm

and slipping into the lovely warm waters

with John.

I was reading Elena Ferrante but John was gobbling Jeff Vandermeer and Luigi Ghirri.

Muskoka is pure delight.