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Volume 15 No. 18
Summer is in full swing. We’ve had beautiful warm, sunny days, and even a bit of rain yesterday. The wind is propelling the sailboats, the calm mornings are perfect for a kayak or paddle board excursion!
Looking forward to the weekend, there are our July PaBIA Naturalist on Sunday, sailboat races and learning to sail clinics on Saturday.
Then I hope you are gearing up for the Junior and Senior Regattas – not too far away now! Time to get the paddles out and practice those swim strokes!
In this Eblast:
PaBIA
- PaBIA Channel Markers – Are You Aware of any Missing or Moved?
- PaBIA Naturalist State of the Bay – July 16 @ 10 a.m. in the Movie Hut
- PaBIA Sailing Race in Main Channel to Honour Mike Mosley – Saturday 2:00 p.m.
- PaBIA & Ojibway Sailing Clinics DOUBLE CHECK – Starts This Saturday Click to sign up
- PaBIA Junior Regatta 2023 Saturday, July 29
- Literally on the Bay – The Lodge That Beaver Built
- Nutty by Nature by Trudy Irvine, Education Committee
Of Interest:
- Does the Foodcycler Work with Solar?
- GBLT Nature Walk on Fairies Dancing – July 24th 10:00 a.m. – noon
- Evening with Artist Jack Reck – to Benefit WHPHC – Monday, July 27th @ 7:00 p.m.
- Ann MacIntosh Duff at the McMichael
- Florence United Church Rummage Donations & Sale July 22 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Yearbook Update as of July 10, 2023
- Lake Michigan-Huron Water Levels – July 11, 2023
Past Links
- AA & Al-Anon Meetings “The 1906 Group” – Mondays 7 p.m.
- Indigenous Ingenuity: Timeless Inventions Traveling Exhibit July 8 – August 12
- Indigenous Medicinal Properties of the Strawberry Plant
- Indigenous Teachings of the Ojibwe Observations of the Strawberry Plant
- Merlin Bird App
- PaBIA Blueberry Pancake Breakfast & AGM Monday, August 7th @ 9:00 a.m.
- PaBIA Sailing Race
- PaBIA & Ojibway Sailing Clinics – Begins Saturday, July 15. Click to sign up
- Shawanaga First Nation PowWow
- ToA Waste Management – FoodCyclers Contact Information
- Website with the latest fire smoke forecasts in the USA/Canada.
- WhatsApp Creation Process
- Sign up for ToA E-News Link
- GBA eUpdate Signups
PaBIA
PaBIA Sailing Clinics at the Ojibway Club – Important Update
Learn to Sail Clinics start this weekend!
It was brought to our attention that the online registration link for the clinics was not working. THE LINK HAS BEEN FIXED. Please feel free to confirm your registration by emailing Margie Wheler. If interested in attending the upcoming sailing clinics, REGISTER HERE. Check out the details here!
Missing/Misplaced Channel PaBIA Markers?
If you become aware of a missing or misplaced PaBIA marker, please note that the contact information for Tom Cavers has changed. If you wish to text him, please see the Yearbook Update in this week’s eBlast for an updated cell phone number.
State of the Bay: Perspectives on Ecosystem Health/Fisheries
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Ojibway Club Movie Hut
Katrina Krievens, Aquatic Programs Manager, Georgian Bay Biosphere
Becky Pollock, Executive Director, Georgian Bay Biosphere
Arunas Liskauskas, Upper Great Lakes Management Unit
Join staff from the Georgian Bay Biosphere to launch the third edition of the State of the Bay report which explores both scientific and cultural perspectives on ecosystem change. For the first time, this publication weaves regional scientific findings and environmental trends with Anishinaabek worldviews and stories. Learn about key issues facing water quality, the food web, coastal wetlands, and species at risk, as well as ways to get involved.
Management Biologist and State of the Bay technical advisor, Arunas Liskauskas, from the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, will provide an overview of the health of fish communities in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Decades of study reveal the complexity involved in fisheries management in the face of ecosystem change.
PaBIA Mike Mosley Sailing Race This Saturday @ 2:00 p.m.
The next sailing race in the PaBIA July Series will be the Mike Mosley Regatta which is held annually in honour of Mike Mosley and in recognition of so many years of support he has provided to the sailing community.
Come Watch (or race)!
If watching the race from a motorboat, please make sure to stay out of the way of the sailboats as they erratically zig-zag their way up and down the Main Channel Course from Raspberry to Poplar Island. Cutting between boats in the middle of the (any) sailing race course is strongly discouraged.
(pictured) Mike Mosley in the committee boat!
Of Interest
Does the Foodcycler Work with Solar?
The question has arisen as to whether the Foodcycler machines work with solar energy?
The answer is that is that each uses as much power as a laptop computer. that is on for the 4-9 hours. The usage is the equivalent of .8 kw/cycle for the 2.5 L machine or 1.5 kw/cycle for the 5 L unit.
As of July 11, The Archipelago has 12 Maestro (5L) FoodCyclers and 5 FC-30 (2.5L) FoodCyclers in stock. We will continue to provide updates on inventory frequently.
If you are interested in purchasing a FoodCycler, we suggest you call the Office at 705-746-4243 to ensure there is stock before your arrival. A reminder that you must visit the municipal office to pay and pick up the unit. Payment can only be made by debit, cash, or cheque.
GBLT Nature Walk – Pointe au Baril
July 24, 2023
10:00 a.m. – noon
Fairies Dancing, Pointe au Baril
Join our Protected Areas Manager Aaron Rusak for a naturalist’s tour of Fairies Dancing. Discover and learn how to identify the amazingly diverse flora and fauna that is present on this island and throughout Pointe au Baril. Please feel free to bring a picnic lunch to enjoy afterward if you choose.
Location: Fairies Dancing, Rathlyn Island, Pointe au Baril (map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZpfCPmn9zwU9pR6p6, GPS coordinates: 45.553613, -80.411235). Please note that this island is boat access only. There is no dock, and boats will have to anchor. Please register
Your Nature on the Bay
Written by Trudy Irvine, PaBIA Director for Education. Each week, Trudy will be bringing Nature to you with her wonderful eye for unfolding a deeper meaning for us all to consider.
Nutty by Nature- The Red Squirrel
Also a bit naughty by nature, this fluffy tailed rodent is the neighbour who demands attention. Able to devastate the interior of any cottage that they can gain access to faster than you can say Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, these feisty little squirrels are hard at work all year long.
Fiercely territorial, individual squirrels protect their foraging territory and their central caches of food. A confrontation between two red squirrels often entails a lot of tail flicking, chattering, and foot stomping. Their diet mainly consists of the seeds of conifers like pines and nuts like acorns, but they are omnivores and will also eat berries, mushrooms (even those toxic to humans), bugs, mice, eggs, and small birds, among other things. The squirrel whose island I live on is not above licking the barbeque grill and rattling it loudly in the hours just before dawn, or nibbling the tender leader of a pine seedling I am trying to cultivate.
The Latin word for squirrel, sciurus, is derived from two Greek words, skia, meaning shadow, and oura, meaning tail. Combining the two means loosely “one that sits in the shadow of its own tail”. The red squirrel’s bushy russet tails are used for balance as they jump nimbly from tree to tree, as well as for signalling annoyance with intruders. Annoyance with intruders is in fact the defining characteristic of red squirrels, and perhaps you have heard their series of loud calls and barks as you have dared to step outside of your cottage onto the squirrels’ territory. Even though your name may on the deed, it’s plain the undeniably cute red squirrel really owns the property. Proof that a fluffy tail goes a long way in life- just ask a rat or a mouse!
For more detailed information on the habits and ecology of red squirrels, see https://www.aiwc.ca/blog/six-things-to-know-about-red-squirrels/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel
Literally on the Bay
Book recommendations by Charlotte Stein, owner of Parry Sound Books
Edited by Janet Irving, Education Committee.
There is nothing – absolutely nothing – like reading a book on a summer’s day on Georgian Bay! This summer we suggest some books that are literally set on the Bay – or feel so much so that we just had to include them.
Each summer I like to introduce a few new picture books for young children that reflect what they see around them in the natural world. The Lodge That Beaver Built, written by Randi Sonenshine, and illustrated by Anne Hunter, is informative and fun. Lively pictures of busy and resourceful beavers are the perfect accompaniment to this story about the lives of beavers and the hard work that beaver families do to make their homes.
Florence United Church Donations Welcome
Rummage Sale –
Saturdays, July 22, Aug 12, Aug 26 9:00 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Donation items, such as clothing, toys, furniture, household items, and the like, can be left by car or boat at either church entrance which is checked daily.
Otherwise, come visit!
For over 70 years, Ann MacIntosh Duff (1925-2022) painted the landscapes and everyday moments of her life. Her most expressive works are those pieces from her beloved “Scotch Pine Island” in Pointe au Baril. (For a more in-depth look, read “A Quiet Determination” on pg 85 in PaBIA’s Yearbook 2023). Ann’s masterful paintings of the moments and moods of Georgian Bay “at times lyrical and serene, at others moody and sepulchral, are a catalogue of emotions rendered on a large scale and with an assured minimal hand.” (Associate Curator John Geoghegan of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection)
In late 2022, shortly before her passing, Miss Duff generously donated two hundred of her watercolours to the McMichael, the country’s largest publicly funded gallery of exclusively Canadian art. The current exhibition, which includes a carefully curated selection of 12 of these works, represents a small survey of Duff’s career and is a celebration of her important career, remarkable gift, and deep love of her island summer home.
Yearbook Updates
With each eBlast, we will provide you a list of names of those members who have provided updated contact information. The details of all the changes since the 2022 yearbook came out in late April are provided in THIS printable format for you to print out and insert into your own Yearbook! As of August 24th, here are the changes.
Tom Cavers – changes to Board & Chairs list on p. 29 for reporting Marker problems
Ray & Caroline Hutton – cottage location change
Bruce Prior & Jenny Gannon (address change)
Water Levels
Lakes Michigan/Huron Water Levels July 11, 2023
To better read the charts, please click on the chart for the Daily or Six Month Forecast Water level chart and the corresponding websites
Click on the logo to go to the website
Mark Payne, Sales Representative
Please support PaBIA’s Yearbook Advertisers 2023
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Emergency
• PaB Nursing Station
• Canadian Coast Guard
Search and Rescue
800-267-7270
• PaBIA Emergency info