January 2010

Hi Clearlakers!

Happy 2010! With the mild fall we had, the lake has just frozen over in the last two weeks. There are still a few ducks left, but until recently, we were busier than Toronto's Pearson Airport with thousands of ducks arriving and leaving everyday.

Rita and I were lucky to have our own little duck fly back to us as our youngest, Jillian, now 24, arrived back home at Thanksgiving. She spent the last year and a half in Leeds, England, where she was a primary teacher. Thanksgiving turned out to be an exciting time here as our other daughter Brianne, now 26, became engaged to a wonderful young man, Chris Ball. We have spent a fair bit of time with Chris and his mom and dad, Kim and Al, and feel blessed to be able to extend our family to include them. The fall wasn't as good for our son Nick, now 31, a diehard Steelers fan. His mood has gone from elation to frustration after last February's Super Bowl win to not even making the playoffs this year. Rita and I are sitting back and shaking our heads as our adult kids lives play out before us, but isn't that what makes life so special? Those things that make us shake our heads become the memories most cherished.

Opening weekend for instance, Frank Lucci was just relaxing and casting off the shore in front of his cottage, and next thing he knew, he landed a walleye weighing in at over 7 pounds. The weekend was cool and wet but quite a few of Terry Wilkinson's crew also had their limit of fish to take home. Victoria Weekend, known for its fun, fellowship, and tales that are told watching hockey playoffs, also produced a shake your head scenario. Dennis' son Charles, was marching proudly to the fish hut with a stringer full held out in one hand and an unsheathed knife in the other. He swung the knife hand a little too close to his body, but I'm sure his thigh will be all healed up when we see him again this May. June saw temperatures in the mid-80s when we welcomed our American families for their summer holidays. This is when the property came alive with baseball and football in our recreation area. All the equipment was well used as we heard laughter from the groups playing shuffleboard, horseshoes, bocce and ping-pong. Some nice dads grabbed a free coffee in our store and took the kids to the swings, slide and merry-go-round letting mom sleep. It was fun watching kids grow as they enjoyed the independence of being able to come to the store with their change and choose from jars of penny candies. Little ones like Juliana Kolencik fished determinedly for hours off our gas dock. Her only goal was to get a fish large enough to get her picture displayed in our "candy and ice cream store". Friday afternoon, after using her last worm, she came running up with a one pound bass, almost half her size, and not nearly as big as her smile. With the arrival of families, came our summer activities staff, Kris, Brittany, Shauna, and Angie who organized kids' games on our weekly Sunday and Thursday bonfire nights. Kids like Logan Cline, made sure mom and dad packed special dark clothes for the games of Chase, Capture the Flag and Bloody Murder. Monday night was Movie Night when kids and families came together to watch a double bill and consume plenty of popcorn in front of the big screen outside.

The most popular activity of all is the free, twice-weekly waterskiing and tubing. We had a lot of folks who challenged themselves for the first time tubing like Tatiana Pysmsnnyy, Jo Jo Aquinno, Nico and Chris Lavine, Stephanie Aricci, Grandma Georgina Abela, Logan Cline, Travis Westra, Nirasha, Shenuka and Sheveen Weerasekera, Ann and Marian Fernando, Thusan Perera, Kunjidha and Upula Jayawardena. Some first time knee boarders were Lea Gurish, Zack Conquer, Emily Morton, Karen Bondy, Mathew Altobelli, Sally Van Horne, Tyler Forsythe, Luke Eriksson, Lochlan Pringle, Nicolas and Sue Paone, Brooke and David Steinschifter, Jared and Julia Coutts, Carolyn Quinn, Warren and Jacob Sullivan, Dinesh Weerasakera, and Ryan Wing. Of special note was Shelby Dixon's prowess on the knee board, as she was able to spin around 30 times during her turn and Jamie Laventure who has mastered slalom skiing at age 10. Skiing takes a lot out of a person, so hats off to those who try after a 38 year absence like John Rivera Sr. Brave first-time skiers were Maddy Waxman, Stephanie Conquer, Amanda Perrault, Amanda and Brandon Pantaleo, Zack Ridgewell, and Alyssa Quinn.

Fishing was fantastic in 2009. Kids fishing off the dock were heard to squeal with delight, "That was my 21st fish today!" These fish consisted of mainly perch and bluegill which are prolific in our lake but also the odd crappy or game fish were caught as well. The results for our Annual Fishing Derby are in, and the Largest Walleye for the year was caught by Frank Lucci of Hamilton, Ontario, at 7 lbs. 6 oz. besting Glenn Lowes fish by only 4 ounces. Tony Chimirri, Rick Rogers, Alex McGuigan, Jacob Cietwierowski and Steve Cowie also receive an honourable mention. The Largest Muskie of 2009 was caught by Cameron Mitchell of Courtice, Ontario, with a 51-inch monster. He narrowly beat Gino Patterson, Dave Lewis and John Rivera Sr. The Largest Bass and the Largest Ladies fish were caught by Dawn Norris of Waterdown, Ontario, with a 5 lb. 8 oz. lunker. She wins both categories. Other notable anglers in these categories were Amy Dubuy, Angela Tuck, Sara Girotti, Greg Housten, Dave Morris, Brian Morris, and the Scott brothers, Bill and Jim. Starring in the Largest Kid's category for 10 years old and under, was Rachel Abela of Scarborough, Ontario, with a 4 lb. 2 oz. bass. Other very successful fisher folk include Tristan Rose, John Douglas Pogue, John Henry Venema, Riley and Travis Ross, Brady Fuerth, Brandon Epp, Megan Bell, and Marco Ciavarella.

We said goodbye to some of our Clearview family, Jim Willson, Andy Pasero, " Coach" Dick McPhie, Wallace Murray, Rosabelle Houle, and "Nana" Mary Francis Pickett. We were blessed to welcome some new additions, Lea Nichols, Gracie Lee Lewis, Dylan Allen, Talia Pasqua Guerra, Alex Delphia, Madalynn Berlynn Long, Alexis Pearson, and River Montieth. Congratulations to Carly and Wayne LeBlanc and Robin Allen and Kevin Charboneau on their marriages as well.

Keeping you informed of new and clarifying old regulations for 2010, boating licenses are required to operate any motorboat in Ontario. If you are an American with your own boat you must comply with the regulations in your state, unless you are staying more than 43 days. For persons renting boats that do not have an operator's certificate, we have boater checklists that when filled out and signed will meet that requirement. Passports are required by American guests if they want to get back into their own country. Kids under 16 travelling with their parents only need a birth certificate. Regarding fishing, for our Zone 17, Walleye are limited to four fish under 18.1 inches; Bass, six fish of any size; Muskie, one over 44 inches; Perch, 50 fish; and Bluegill, the limit is 300 fish.

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 26th this year. If your week was the third week of the summer last year, you would have arrived July 11, 2009, which corresponds with July 10, 2010.

Rita and I thank you for your continued support and loyalty over the past years. It's great to see our friends come back year after year and to have the opportunity to continually make new friends. Last year we had some scattered openings throughout the season, which was new for us. Please have those friends and family who we have not been able to accommodate in previous years get in touch with us. We will do our best to try and look after them and have them join our Clearview family as well.

We wish you all the best in 2010.

Regards,

Brian, Rita, Nick, Brianne, & Jillian