Kukagami Autumn News 2014

Kukagami Environment Watch Area News http://www.kewatch.blogspot.com/ Autumn 2014

Full Moon Rising

As the full moon of September rises in the east, the sun sets in the west. Simi- larly, the full moon sets in the west just as the sun is rising in the east. It is way more fun to get together with neighbours out on the lake in the evening than early in the morning.

The weather is looking pretty good for the September Full Moon Rising. Bring your boat, your snacks and you binoculars to watch the sunset and moonrise. At 7:30 pm Monday evening, we will be meeting at the nearly naked island just north and west of Lion's Head.

The final full moon gathering for the season will be on October 7 at 6:30 pm.

Taoist Tai Chi classes continue on Tuesdays at 9:30 at Sportsman's Lodge. New students are welcome to join at any time. Taoist tai chi focuses on restoring and strengthening health. More on Tai Chi on page 3 (below). Check out this link: http://www.taoist.org/transform-body-and-mind/.

Road Clean-up October 4 to 12

Thanks to the many neighbours who take the time to pick up litter from our roadsides every spring and fall. For most people this is not just a twice a year event. The busy parts of the road are tended to frequently.

There's always room for more volunteers! Contact KEW if you would like to have a section of road to call your own.

Lodge Lady Second Edition
In 1990 Pat J. Loney published a book entitled Lodge Lady. It captured many of

her memories of being a tourist outfitter in Northern Ontario and gave family histories of the campers on the lake.

2015 marks 25 years since the book was published. Pat's granddaughter Ali Loney is spearheading the new edition and would like to update the family history section. There are many new faces around the lake creating their own special history on our paradise of the north.

You can help out by sending the following to loney.ali@gmail.com:
 Updated history of your family time on the lake (no story is too long or too short)

 Photos of your family & special moments at camp (sunsets, fishing, picnics etc.)

Mushroom Walk September 21, 2 pm.

The fifth annual mushroom walk will be on Sunday the 21st, rain or shine. This is an hour long walk through the forest. You will learn what to look for and what to avoid. You must pre-register for this event. Send a note with your phone number or email address to kewatch@gmail.com to get the information regarding meeting time and place.

Check your Sauna!

When Kukagami was settled more than 50 years ago, many of the new property owners were Finnish. The first thing they built was the sauna! Neighbours were invited over and quickly discovered the great experience. It wasn't long before nearly every camp had its own sauna.

Unfortunately, many of these old saunas have become fire hazards. Many long years of high heat suck all the moisture out of the interior wood. Often, the walls around the stove become black. Wood near the stove becomes charred. Charred like charcoal. A fire waiting to happen.

Next time you go down to fire up your sauna, check to be sure the fire will heat the room and not burn down the building. Check all the wood surfaces around the stove, around the stovepipe, ceiling, walls, railings, everywhere! If you see anything that is dark, try to scratch it with your fingernail. If you get a soft brown or black powder under your nail, you better think twice before firing up the stove.

Get rid of any charred wood. Install proper shields. Enjoy a hot one this autumn! And a brisk dip in the lake.

Twig Furniture

This is a great time to try building twig furniture – no bugs and a good time to cut twigs!! The best place to find twigs are along sections of the road that have been brushed in the last few years – eg under power lines, brushed back areas.

Willow bends easily and is a grey-green colour found in clumps along the road. It is more difficult to find the thicker ones. Pin cherry has a beautiful deep red colour and makes great chairs as it is strong and wears well. Birch looks good but tends to rot sooner than other trees.
Construction hints

• –  cut pieces as you need them. Do not cut them all ahead of time.

• –  use drywall screws not nails. The wood dries out and the nails release over time.

• –  pre drill all the holes for the screws

Some websites: Canadian Living, Indestructibles
Pinterest also has many pictures to help with design ideas.

Good luck! Mary

Where on the Lake is that?

KEW is in the process of developing a map of our area with local name plac- es. Do you have place names that you would like to share with Kukagami neighbours? Send the information to kewatch@gmail.com, and send along a story if there is one.

Getting Older or Getting Better? You can choose! V. Mather I spent the last week of August volunteering at a remote location here in the north. While getting to know my co-worker, she seemed surprised to learn that I am older than her. She plods through each day, with an inner acceptance that her aches and pains are just part of growing old. Long ago I learned that what we think is what we are. If we think we are old and falling apart, we will be old and fall apart. When we choose to be well, we make bet- ter choices for ourselves. We make time to do what we need to do to stay healthy. We invest time and money in ourselves because if we don't, we will surely suffer the consequences. A dozen Kukagami residents invested in themselves over the past year by learn- ing tai chi. Each Tuesday morning we gather at Sportsman's Lodge for an hour of instruction followed by a tea break, then more tai chi.  During out tea break, we enjoy time catching up on the latest news around the lake.

Sometimes we talk about how tai chi has improved our lives. One person found she could run a short distance...after 15 years of not running at all. Another found she could skate for hours on the lake ice...after decades of just skating for 10 minutes at a time. Some have found that aches and pains have disappeared from shoulders, neck, hips and knees. All have found that the weekly tai chi classes have been far better than just sitting at home. In Sudbury, new Taoist Tai Chi classes start this week.  You can go to as many classes as you like for one fee...and classes are held around the world! Including here at Kukagami. It is not a lot of money, but it does take some time. After all, it took us a while to get into the aches we have, it is going to take some time to get out of them. Invest in yourself. Make the time to have better balance, better concentration, and a healthier future. A few thoughts about tai Chi G. Kusneirczyk I had attended Tai Chi classes in the past, both in Sudbury and Victoria BC., but I stopped because of a temporary hip problem. I attended Guy's first beginners class at Kukagami and signed up immediately! I had forgotten how wonderful Tai Chi is and how good it felt to be back! I have been back at it since and attend classes both at the Lodge and in town, as well as Victoria in the winter! I also went to the Tai Chi international awareness day in Toronto this year, where there were people from all over the world doing Tai Chi at Dundas Square. Guy is a wonderful teacher and it's also so nice to see Kukagami neighbours at classes.

Travels to the East Coast by V. Thurlow Today we are headed inland on our jaunt across the East Coast. The rocky terrain, windswept shores & weird looking trees on this west coast of Newfoundland are hauntingly beautiful even in the rain. We've been blessed with gorgeous sunshine & warm weather but today the rain came. We saw mist rising like huge curtains across the majestic Western Brook opening in Gros Morne Provincial Park. The sea swells looked to be 8-10 feet & we could not see across to Labrador today. Thousands of lobster traps sit abandoned on the sides of the highway, in yards, down on the shores and in garages until the very short season opens up again in May. Stacks of firewood line the highways, taking up any available space. There are jumbled piles of tree trunks, 8-10 feet in length, waiting to be blocked along with stacks of blocked wood lying everywhere along the roads, fighting for space with the

forlorn lobster traps. You'd be hard pressed to find a home owner who does not heat with wood. Apparently the men get a permit, then cut & haul in winter to the sides of the road. Come end of lobster season they come back to block it. Not unlike the pro- cess followed in our area for tree harvesting. They really work hard here to get their wood as they have to go inland so far to reach the wood then haul it out. Most of them work in groups of 2 or 3 with chain saws, axes and little else. The vast piles are not protected but they all respect each other enough so that no one touches a pile that does not belong to them. The locals are harvesting their gardens now. We see garden patches along the sides of the highway, complete with scarecrows & there doesn't appear to be anyone living nearby at all. It seems the land is warmer closer to the road & away from the winds blowing off the sea. There was good topsoil dumped along the sides of the road when the highways were built & only rocky soil in most of the small towns we passed through. Again, everyone respects one another enough not to touch or pick from a garden patch that is not theirs. I still haven't figured out how they would ever find their own patch along the desolate road but they must have some landmark in sight. The evergreens are very short, like scrub & most were 4-6 feet high. The ugly, twisted, skeleton-like needleless trunks are known as tuckamores says my Newfie friend Ginny. Today we headed east towards our next destination, St. John's. We are now start- ing to see much larger trees, reminding us of home. Some maples here are starting to change color but they can't compete with the one in our yard at Kukagami! Our tree had red leaves falling to the ground by the long weekend in August. I'm still shaking my head.

Website and Newsletter

The KEW newsletter is published quarterly, and sent by email to any interested per- son. The Website is updated randomly through the year – so check for new infor- mation and photos! Submit photos and news items to our email – listed below.

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