African Dream Catcher - Activities

• beautifully equipped kitchen for culinary experts
• Premium package satellite TV with 5 movie and numerous music channels for all tastes
• Small AM/FM/cassette/CD player, no VCR.
• Small library, playing cards and a variety of board games
  

Outdoor Entertainment

Flora / Fauna

Bird watching:
many, many hummingbirds (we’ve seen an albino!) - feeders and food provided; finches, including beautiful black&yellow american goldfinch & purple finches, blue jays, chick-a-dees, woodpeckers, nut hatches, warblers, ducks, loons, etc. Even a stately heron that sometimes visits our dock.

Animals:
An abundance of friendly chipmunks and excusite red squirrels that busily scurry about but always have time to be hand-fed unshelled peanuts! Our larger pets are the raccoon families that come around just as the chipmunks go to bed. For the more adventurous, they will, ever-so-gently, take pieces of peanut butter sandwiches from your fingers! We have also had deer on the property. Will you be lucky enough to see them swimming across the lake? In the other seasons, especially winter, their numbers increase dramatically. They too love our bird’s sunflower seeds, and come within a few meters of the cottage to get it! Eventually, deer no longer run away when they see us! You simply cannot buy these kinds of therapeutic entertainment!!

Spring Flower Garden:
Yet to be discovered, are the extensive perennial rock gardens, which are in best bloom from mid-May until mid-June. Imagine winding stone pathways set in 1m wide rivers of beautiful purple and pink thyme!

Beautiful Winter Paradise:
A very different but equally beautiful winter paradise. After the lake is completely and “solidly” frozen (usually by Christmas), it remains safe to be upon all winter (about 4 months). It is great for cross-country skiing, skating and snowshoeing – 2 pr snowshoes provided.

Outdoor Activities

Lake is non-motorized watercraft only:

• Excellent swimming.
• Watercraft: Canoe, paddle boat - life jackets provided.
• Water games: noodles, tubes, fins, masks, snorkels, also provided.
• 3 recreational kayaks can also be made available.

On-shore pasttimes;

• Games - Badminton with good quality rackets, crocket, bocce, horse shoes, ball gloves, etc.
• Sunken bonfire pit for your safety and evening entertainment under the stars. Wood provided – marshmallows not.
• Star gazing: an ever increasing interest in the planets, moons, clusters, nebulas & constellations. The annual recurring "Perseus" meteor showers are around mid August – no equipment needed - you only need to sit outside or lay on the dock to witness this grand spectacle!

Off-Premise Activities

Fishing:
Lake Trout, Bass, & Pike are the predominant game fish. Licenses are available in the village.

Golf:
Royal Papineau (819)766-2626: very nice 18 hole public golf course set in a scenic mountain valley. Reasonable green-fee rates, club rentals, electric carts, driving range.

Alpine skiing:
Christmas Week & New Years Week rentals can include all sorts of activities. The closest “down-hill” ski resorts are “Mont Cascades” and “Edelweiss” which are about 45 minutes away in average winter driving time. "Mont Saint Marie", the largest Ottawa region resort is about 1.5 hrs away. "Mont Tremblant", an International resort, is approximately 2.5 hours drive. Depending on what days these holidays fall on, we divide this time into 2 one-week rental periods. We even provide a boxed tree and decorations for you to put up on arrival to “ratchet up the spirit” and a bottle of wine to “spirit up the ratchet”!

Enjoy your mornings under the covered decks
and afternoons on the dock.