January 2008

Hi Clearlakers!

It's hard to believe another year has gone by. So far it has been a winter of extremes. In December, we were wondering where we would put all the snow. Now, in January, we briefly saw the grass again, as well as open patches of water. We even had ducks out in front splashing in the lake. I hope the Christmas season was good and that you had time to spend with your loved ones. We were lucky to have everyone together as a family for dinner just before Christmas. As the kids get older it's more of a challenge to get everyone together. It's hard to believe that Nick is 29 now and even though he lives and works locally, we don't get much time together. The girls were able to spare time over Christmas so the four of us went down and spent Christmas with Rita’s dad, Tom, who is now 88. He was delighted to sit back and smile with all the kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and significant others making his house so full there was standing room only. We all came back in time for New Years. Jill, who is now 22 and in the last year of Teachers’ College at Queens University in Kingston, and Brianne, at 24 and working and living in downtown Toronto, had their own ideas for a New Year's celebration that didn’t include Mom and Dad. Rita and I are well and are lucky that cabin fever hasn't hit us too badly so far this winter.

We are, however, looking forward to the spring and seeing you all again. We can only hope the year begins as well as last year with lots of warm weather and great fishing. In spite of a strong east wind, all who entered in Terry Wilkinson's opening weekend tournament did well when they could get out. Victoria Weekend had temperatures in the 90s, and it was heard by the dock, “Everyone that goes fishing at night is assured of at least one walleye and lots of pan fish from either the boat or the shore.” Some guests arrived earlier than expected. Sorry Wayne! If we had known you were coming, we would have left the light on when we relocated the front door at cottage #7. I'm sure by now your nose is healed. A great milestone occurred during the weekend as the 2-4 Club regained their title as horseshoe champions after an absence of too many years in that position. They started the event over thirty years ago. Well done guys! 2007 was one of the best spring fishing periods in memory. Gary Coleman and Doug Hempy averaged six walleye per night. One day they had a hundred fish in eight species. It's hard not to have fun with fishing like that. The cottage full of Webb boys would have made Lonnie and Paul proud with over 50 walleye to their credit, ten caught in a single night out front. The fourth generation of the family, seven-year-old Colin, caught a 5.2 pound fish.

Soon it was summer. What a great time of year! Time spent with the family creates memories that last a lifetime. Guests continue to thank us for having no televisions in the cottages. We heard comments like, “We've had the best conversations this week.” and “We haven't talked like this since last year.” With all the things to do, it's hard to fit them all in. Besides playing cards, reading, or just lying in the sun, there was the more active things to do like horseshoes, shuffleboard, ping-pong, air hockey, volleyball, swimming, fishing, paddle boating, canoeing, or swimming off the islands or in the rapids. For the kids, there was the swing, slide or merry-go-round, building sand castles on the beach, catching frogs and minnows, discovering nature in the conservation area behind our property, or just sharing time with the other kids. Our organized activities were much appreciated. On bonfire nights, Danielle, Kris and Jill had the kids engaged with toasting marshmallows and playing games like, red rover, freeze tag, tug-of-war, and capture the flag. Just be careful of things hiding under your stairs on bonfire night. Terry Vale is still trying to find his heart after a hand grabbed his ankle on the way into the cottage. Movie night had the whole family together enjoying the kids’ feature, followed by the family feature, all the while consuming mounds of popcorn. The most popular activity continued to be our free, twice-weekly ski and tube day. All ages got involved, from small children to grandparents. The excitement levels ranged from “sewer power puff” as Matt Altobelli called it to “suicide”, as well as speeds like Quinn Button’s “spicy medium”. We had lots of first-time tubers like, Madelyn and Emma Waxman, Brendan Alexander, Laura Kostia, Keren Shmaya, and Katelyn McIntosh, Laurana Cline, and Brandon Fleischmann. Some of our first-time kneeboarders were Montana Griffiths, Kevin Alexander, Jason Brata, Joseph Altobelli, Graham and Liam Flynn, Andrew Stevanus, Cam Smith, Brandon Forrest, Katelyn Booth, Megan Bell, Katie Hines, McKaela Coutts, Jaeden Dinkel, Jacob Ab, Natalie Parker, Kristy Migneault, Owen and Taylor Bloom, Alyssa Valentini and Curtis Ehlert. Some of our first-time skiers were Reid Simpson, Trent Raymont, Kodi Graham, Zach Riley, Jamie Laventure, Jackie Pogue, Kevin Charbonneau, Megan and Kristen Farkas, Katie Sargent, and Brandon McCallum. A few of our advanced skiers tried slalom for the first time, like Marco Ciavarella and Annie Morris.

Fall was upon us before we knew it. It was so warm that the trees were just starting to turn colours by Thanksgiving. The fishing was awesome and unlike the spring, all species were legal. The results of our annual fish contest are in. The largest WALLEYE for the year was a 7.2 pound monster caught by Brett Rostrum of Painesville, Ohio. The fish was only slightly bigger than the ones caught by Mike Beiter, Ron Langford, Guy Tschirhart, and Jake Vanderhook. The largest BASS for the year was a beautiful 7.2 pound largemouth caught and released just to the right of our property by Phil Wright, but it was a week too early and therefore, wasn’t eligible, but the one caught by Darin Peacock of Thorold, Ontario, a beautiful 5.9 pound smallmouth in September was. He’s the winner for that category. Other notable fish were caught by Michael Cline, Bill Wetmore, Tom Curtis, Ben Walker, Eddie Venema, Chris Kenny, Matt Sigurdson, and Brian Morris. The largest catch of the year was by Vince Crossley, who successfully hooked and landed his fishing boat. Someone forgot to tie it up! The largest MUSKIE was caught by 12-year-old Alexis Camargo of Parma, Ohio, with a 44 inch, approximately 23 pound fish. This was slightly bigger than Nicole’s 39 inch fish. Special mention goes to John Rivera Sr. who continues to take kids out for their first Muskie experience and produces this type of success. He and his group of muskie fanatics boated 18 fish in their trips up here last year. Alexis Camargo is also the winner of the largest LADIES fish with honourable mention going to Barb Ensworth, Jessica Zan, and Karen Easterday. The largest KIDS fish, for those 10 and under, was caught by Colin Webb of Ostrander, Ohio, with a 5.2 pound walleye. Honorable mention goes to Keaton and Kane Smee, Rachel Abela, Sean Wyse, John Henry Venema, and Jason Brata. You have to appreciate people's fishing passion.

It is with great sadness we said goodbye to a couple of Clearview friends, Lyle Snover and Pep Delinsky. Our thoughts are with their wives Jill and Lois. We would like to welcome a couple of new girls to the world, Addison Menton and Tessa Guerra, daughters to Kerry and Jay, and Anna and Anthony. Congratulations to the newly weds, Josh and Casey Lowes, Phil and Joanne Kupecki, and Jamie and Dawn Norris.

A brief paragraph for all those who are not familiar with our establishment. All our cottages have full bathrooms and full kitchens with all the equipment. However, kitchen and bath linens and paper products are not provided. There is a double bed in each bedroom complete with bedding, an automatic propane furnace and a double sofa bed in the living room. Every cottage has a screened porch, picnic table and full-size gas barbecue.

As a reminder, our deadline for confirming the bookings you held last year is MARCH 1 for ALL cottage bookings. PLEASE NOTIFY US NO LATER THAN MARCH 1 BY PHONE OR MAIL. IF YOUR LETTER ARRIVES AFTER THE DEADLINE, YOUR COTTAGE MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR YOU. In planning your summer reservations, be advised that our summer season starts the last Saturday in June, which is June 28th this year. If your week was the third week of the summer last year, you would have arrived July 14, 2007, which corresponds with July 12, 2008.

A note for our guests, passports will not be required at the U.S. border this year. Beginning January 31, 2008, U.S. and Canadian citizens 19 years and older if travelling by land, will need to bring government-issued photo identification such as a driver's license as well as a birth certificate or naturalization card as proof of citizenship. Kids 18 years of age and younger require a birth certificate or naturalization certificate only. Passports, of course, meet both requirements and are still required if travelling by air.

Rita and I would like to thank you all for your continued loyalty over the years and for referring us to your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you in 2008.

Regards,

Brian, Rita, Nick, Brie, and Jill