Killarney...As a girl she had attended Camp Tanamakoon on Cache Lake. Many years later, on her last...
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Welcome! It’s time to relax. Kick back, stand back, get some perspective, recharge, regroup, reconnect, take a break, and above all – be yourself. Everyone knows it’s important to take time off, so why do we find it so hard? After all, when we finally do get away, we say, “Why don’t we do this more often?!” So come. Breathe easy. We’ll do our best to help, but there’s nothing like a walk in the woods, sitting by the lake or paddling up a quiet river to soothe a restless mind. And there’s time – just for you. Time to do what you want, when you want. Read, snooze or explore. You’ll think of something. Killarney Lodge. No meals to prepare. No dishes to wash. No clocks, radios or televisions. No email. Just you. In beautiful Algonquin Park. With us. What could be better? Avian books feather our nest Peter Watson is a frequent guest and good friend to Killarney Lodge. When the time came to find a new home for his moth- er’s collection of almost 100 books on birds and nature, he thought of the Lodge. Both his parents had been avid birders during their long marriage and extensive travels. “They grew up with strong attachments to the outdoors, as both their families had cot- tages dating back to the late 1800s,” says Peter. “They developed an interest in birds independently and it became one of their shared passions. As they travelled the world they went bird watching, kept birding lists and acquired books.” His mother, Joan, a trained artist, had a special attach- ment to Algonquin Park. As a girl she had attended Camp Tanamakoon on Cache Lake. Many years later, on her last visit to the Park, we had the pleasure of having her stay at the Lodge. We’re honoured that she entrusted us with her avian books and invite you to browse through this remark- able collection, now in our guest lounge. All quiet on the G8 front Last June world attention was focused on the G20 summit in Toronto. But for us, the big event was the G8 leaders arriving in Huntsville a day earlier. We’d been warned that barricades, tanks and armored personnel carriers would cut through our peaceful neck of the woods, and that a section of Highway 60 would be blocked. We imagined traffic jams and pat-downs – and a moose placidly munching a water lily while watch- ing tanks roll past. But while leaders and soldiers came, activists mostly stayed away. We remained unaffected, except on a single afternoon before the summit when 20 report- ers – from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, USA, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan and China – came for lunch and a paddle. Not just any paddle. At the request of the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources, Algonquin Outfitters had dropped off 20 paddles, 20 life preservers and three 25-foot war canoes. The plan was to head into the lake from the dock, but a strong wind persuaded Park guides to start from our bay. (Otherwise this might’ve been a different story.) So they showed the journalists how to carry the boats to the beach, and coached them out onto the lake. We know our visitors enjoyed lunch. But judging by the degree of multilingual excitement, paddling a war canoe trumped homemade soup. Imagine. William’s tart and Poppy’s salad Over the winter we invited consultant and certified chef de cuisine William Wallace to review our menus. He applauded our staff and praised our fusion of country cooking and culinary finesse. We loved his attitude and his ideas – and we think you will too! Some changes – such as anointing Alberta strip loin with caramelized onion Cabernet butter, maple-roasting salmon, and sourcing local artisanal cheeses – are subtle but inspired. But when William suggested apple-stuffed French toast, Campagnarde salads, antipasto plates and smoked salmon with red onion, capers, lemon and dill, we knew we’d met a kindred spirit. Just the description of shitake, oyster and cremini mush- room cream with wild thyme oil and Grana Padano cheese on penne made our vegetarian editor swoon. Following the success of our all-vegetarian soups last year, we’ll have them every day this year. We don’t have space to list all of William’s tweaks and additions, but we will tell you there’s a new chil- dren’s menu and a new salad named for Poppy. For those who read the dessert menu first, we have a new banana cream tart, crème brulée and a gluten-free chocolate almond torte. But we really have to go now – we’re hungry! If you want to know more, just look on our website. How to make an entrance A good renovation improves a structure; a great reno- vation looks as if it has always been there. When guests return and see the new entrance- way to the dining lodge and reception desk, they often wonder if and what has changed. Even when they know the shelter is new, many can’t remember what was there before. Sometimes we hear “It’s beautiful,” and just as often, “Holy cow” (to paraphrase), and “Look at those posts!” It was our idea to build the portico but – as is often the case – the design was Luke’s. He said, “I have the perfect posts for it,” and he did. They were growing in his back yard: gnarly and twisty trees awaiting a greater destiny. Now they help shelter guests from sun and rain. It’s hard to keep your hands off them. Go ahead ... you know you want to. Septuagenarian gets a lift Eventually everyone, and everything, needs a little help – and 75-year-old log cabins are no exception. Logs closest to the ground tend to absorb moisture, so sometimes they need to be replaced. How do you replace logs that support a wall? The answer is, of course, “very carefully.” More pragmatically, we rely on our resourceful head of maintenance, Luke Luckasavitch, and his never-say-never team. A few years ago, they had the idea to purchase four inflatable air-lifting bags, the kind that firefighters use to save people trapped under heavy vehicles or debris. How do they do it? They slide the bags under structural beams and gradually lift the cabin by inflating the bags with a compressor. The damaged logs are replaced and the cabin is carefully set down. Cabin 4 was the last and trickiest cabin to set right. “There was lots of head scratching, beard tugging and careful considering,” says Poppy. “But our guys did it.” Not only that, they also replaced the deck and the bath- room. With a little luck the cabin will be good for at least another 75 years. A loo by any other name Updating our functional but aesthetically challenged bath- rooms is an on-going project. Last summer we revamped the washrooms in Cabins 22, 27 and 28. This year, we plan to do the lavatories in Cabins 20, 29 and 12. “It isn’t just a matter of replacing fixtures,” says Poppy. “Usually we redo the floor and walls and replace the plumb- ing. Sometimes we enlarge the room.” “Updating Cabin 20 is a challenge because it’s always in demand,” she adds. “So we’ll work on it* first in order to make it available as soon as possible.” * the water closet, that is. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Ex Libris International media warriors venture out on the high seas of Lake of Two Rivers. Chef William Wallace with culinary talent. K i l l a r n e y LO D GE 2011 Resting on our posts and laurels.
Transcript of Killarney...As a girl she had attended Camp Tanamakoon on Cache Lake. Many years later, on her last...
Welcome! It’s time to relax. Kick back, stand back, get some
perspective, recharge, regroup, reconnect, take a break, and above all – be yourself.
Everyone knows it’s important to take time off, so why do we find it so hard? After all, when we finally do get away, we say, “Why don’t we do this more often?!”
So come. Breathe easy. We’ll do our best to help, but there’s nothing like a walk in the woods, sitting by the lake or paddling up a quiet river to soothe a restless mind.
And there’s time – just for you. Time to do what you want, when you want. Read, snooze or explore. You’ll think of something.
Killarney Lodge. No meals to prepare. No dishes to wash. No clocks, radios or televisions. No email. Just you. In beautiful Algonquin Park. With us.
What could be better?
Avian books feather our nestPeter Watson is a frequent guest and good friend to Killarney Lodge. When the time came to find a new home for his moth-er’s collection of almost 100 books on birds and nature, he thought of the Lodge.
Both his parents had been avid birders during their long marriage and extensive travels. “They grew up with strong attachments to the outdoors, as both their families had cot-tages dating back to the late 1800s,” says Peter.
“They developed an interest in birds independently and it became one of their shared passions. As they travelled the world they went bird watching, kept birding lists and acquired books.”
His mother, Joan, a trained artist, had a special attach-ment to Algonquin Park. As a girl she had attended Camp Tanamakoon on Cache Lake. Many years later, on her last
visit to the Park, we had the pleasure of having her stay at the Lodge.
We’re honoured that she entrusted us with her avian books and
invite you to browse through this remark-
able collection, now in our guest lounge.
All quiet on the G8 frontLast June world attention was focused on the G20 summit in Toronto. But for us, the big event was the G8 leaders arriving in Huntsville a day earlier. We’d been warned that barricades, tanks and armored personnel carriers would cut through our peaceful neck of the woods, and that a section of Highway 60 would be blocked. We imagined traffic jams and pat-downs – and a moose placidly munching a water lily while watch-ing tanks roll past.
But while leaders and soldiers came, activists mostly stayed away. We remained unaffected, except on a single afternoon before the summit when 20 report-ers – from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil,
Argentina, Chile, USA, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan and China – came for lunch and a paddle.
Not just any paddle. At the request of the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources, Algonquin Outfitters had dropped off 20 paddles, 20 life preservers and three 25-foot war canoes.
The plan was to head into the lake from the dock, but a strong wind persuaded Park guides to start from our bay. (Otherwise this might’ve been a different story.) So they showed the journalists how to carry the boats to the beach, and coached them out onto the lake.
We know our visitors enjoyed lunch. But judging by the degree of multilingual excitement, paddling a war canoe trumped homemade soup. Imagine.
William’s tart and Poppy’s saladOver the winter we invited consultant and certified chef de cuisine William Wallace to review our menus. He applauded our staff and praised our fusion of country cooking and culinary finesse. We loved his attitude and his ideas – and we think you will too!
Some changes – such as anointing Alberta strip loin with caramelized onion Cabernet butter, maple-roasting salmon, and sourcing local artisanal cheeses – are subtle but inspired.
But when William suggested apple-stuffed French toast, Campagnarde salads, antipasto plates and smoked salmon with red onion, capers, lemon and dill, we knew we’d met a kindred spirit.
Just the description of shitake, oyster and cremini mush-room cream with wild thyme oil and Grana Padano cheese on penne made our vegetarian editor swoon. Following the success of our all-vegetarian soups last year, we’ll have them
every day this year. We don’t have space to list all of
William’s tweaks and additions, but we will tell you there’s a new chil-dren’s menu and a new salad named for Poppy. For those who read the dessert menu first, we have a new banana cream tart, crème brulée and a gluten-free chocolate almond torte.
But we really have to go now – we’re hungry! If you want to know more, just look on our website.
How to make an entranceA good renovation improves a structure; a great reno-vation looks as if it has always been there.
When guests return and see the new entrance-way to the dining lodge and reception desk, they often wonder if and what has changed. Even when they know the shelter is new, many can’t remember what was there before.
Sometimes we hear “It’s beautiful,” and just as often, “Holy cow” (to paraphrase), and “Look at those posts!”
It was our idea to build the portico but – as is often the case – the design was Luke’s. He said, “I have the perfect posts for it,” and he did.
They were growing in his back yard: gnarly and twisty trees awaiting a greater destiny. Now they help shelter guests from sun and rain.
It’s hard to keep your hands off them. Go ahead ... you know you want to.
Septuagenarian gets a liftEventually everyone, and everything, needs a little help
– and 75-year-old log cabins are no exception. Logs closest to the ground tend to absorb
moisture, so sometimes they need to be replaced. How do you replace logs that support a wall? The answer is, of course, “very carefully.”
More pragmatically, we rely on our resourceful head of maintenance, Luke Luckasavitch, and his never-say-never team. A few years ago, they had the idea to purchase four inflatable air-lifting bags, the kind that firefighters use to save people trapped under heavy vehicles or debris.
How do they do it? They slide the bags under structural beams and gradually lift the cabin by inflating the bags with a compressor. The damaged logs are replaced and the cabin is carefully set down.
Cabin 4 was the last and trickiest cabin to set right. “There was lots of head scratching, beard tugging and careful considering,” says Poppy. “But our guys did it.”
Not only that, they also replaced the deck and the bath-room. With a little luck the cabin will be good for at least another 75 years.
A loo by any other name Updating our functional but aesthetically challenged bath-rooms is an on-going project. Last summer we revamped the washrooms in Cabins 22, 27 and 28. This year, we plan to do the lavatories in Cabins 20, 29 and 12.
“It isn’t just a matter of replacing fixtures,” says Poppy. “Usually we redo the floor and walls and replace the plumb-ing. Sometimes we enlarge the room.”
“Updating Cabin 20 is a challenge because it’s always in demand,” she adds. “So we’ll work on it* first in order to make it available as soon as possible.”
* the water closet, that is.
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Ex Libris
International media warriors venture out on the high seas of Lake of Two Rivers.
Chef William Wallace with culinary talent.
KillarneyLodge 2011
Resting on our posts and laurels.
You don’t want to be annoyingHigh on the list of modern peeves are cellphone calls in pub-lic places. Loud, one-sided conversations provoke eye-rolling
and glaring, irritation and tension, in those forced to overhear. And a cellphone ringing in a
tranquil setting is even more jarring than in the city.
“Killarney Lodge is all about relaxing, and nothing sets people on edge faster than someone’s cellphone going off,” says Poppy.
“Sound travels further over open space,” adds Eric. “And when it’s quiet,
any sound, especially an unpleasant one, stands out.” So we’re joining the ranks of polite society everywhere
and asking guests to turn cellphones off outside their cabin. Better yet, leave the darned thing in your car – or even at home.
Reservations on the webMany guests have politely and reasonably enquired when they would be able to reserve a cabin online. In other words, when in the good-golly name of progress were we going to join the 21st century?!
We had some reservations of our own: 1) We like personal contact, talking to our
guests and getting to know their preferences.2) Each of our cabins is unique and it’s not easy to
describe them without getting bogged down in detail. But the time has arrived: reservation programs have
come a long way and we’ve run out of excuses – er, reasons. After a good deal of study, Eric figured out how to present our process in a simple and straightforward way.
In other words, as of this spring you can go online, enter your dates and the number of guests in your party, and view
pictures and locations of various cabins. Then you can determine which cabin types are available and reserve the one you like online.
You can still reserve by calling our toll-free number, emailing or
even writing us a letter. We’d still love to talk with you, but one
way or another, we’ll confirm your booking within 24 hours.NOTE: If you would like to book a specific cabin, multiple
cabins or bring a dog, please contact us directly.
Taking food to the bank Not that long ago we had to send all our leftover food to the dump. Seemed a shame, but we couldn’t keep it on-site and risk attracting wild beasties. Then Algonquin Park started its composting program, which at least put our vegetables to good use.
Now we have an even better solution. Instead of feeding the Earth (and Luke’s pigs – another story) we’ll feed people!
After every meal we freeze our leftovers – vegetables and rolls, desserts and soups, chicken and fish – and twice a week we deliver them to the Huntsville food bank.
The food bank is happy, their clients get to eat freshly made food and we have the pleasure of helping our commu-nity. It would be hard to improve on that!
We thought we knew himIt’s official: we’ve joined the sandwich generation. This year we installed a revolving door for the kids and helped both our mothers downsize into new digs. Consequently Eric kept closer to home than he usually does, but, to our surprise, he didn’t mind.
He spent the winter shuttling between Toronto and the Lodge, camping out in our unwinterized house and visiting
his 90-year-old mom in Huntsville. He mastered the new online booking system, caught up on paperwork, and thoroughly enjoyed the solitude. One
night he slept outside – in a bivy sack, in minus-31-degree cold – just because he could.
Eric did manage to get away a few times; even had a close call while skiing in British Columbia with daughter Samantha. When he fell into a tree well (a space as deep as 10 feet, close to the trunk where the snow has melted away), he got tangled in branches and couldn’t reach his emergency whistle. Luckily, Sam saw him go in and rallied their guides to help him out.
Back in Toronto, Eric astounded Poppy by joining her in a four-day sewing “boot camp.” He wanted to learn the basics to fix camping equipment, but the class was constructing skirts. Unabashed, he made one for Poppy – complete with zipper – and promised Charlotte one for her 21st birthday. Some might say that takes more courage than trekking across a Patagonian ice cap!
Reaching new benchmarksSome of you have watched the kids grow from bright, ener-getic youngsters into smart, confident adults. It hasn’t always been smooth, and they’re sometimes reluctant to see them-selves in the newsletter – but they love the Lodge and they put up with us. Here’s what we’re permitted to divulge this year:
Samantha (Sam), 25, was beyond ecstatic when she was accepted into
the prestigious Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. After pushing, prodding and pok-ing large animals for the last several months,
she still glows with enthusiasm. As well as learn-ing how to treat cows, horses, pigs and sheep, she
made great people-friends. She’s looking forward to working in a Toronto emergency animal clinic this summer, but she’s really excited about a two-week
marine veterinarian course – in the Cayman Islands. Way to go, girl!
Alexandra (Al), 22, enjoyed her stint in Cape Town last year so much that she spent the first half of winter earning enough money to go back for the second half. After coming home in April, she’s planning to work until she can return to South Africa once again. She may continue her education there, perhaps in hotel management. Travel and hospitality ... hmmm, sound like good ideas to us!
Charlotte (Char), 21, has just finished four years and an honours degree in art history at Queen’s University in Kingston. Academically and socially, her undergraduate years were an eye-opening and dramatic experience (she got into
theatre). Having saved money from a part-time job at Queen’s, she’ll spend the sum-mer in Europe with her best friend, and end up with Christina’s family in Greece. A master’s degree may be in her future; the question is, in what?
Jonathan, 20, was benched for most of the winter because he had to wear a cast after complicated wrist surgery. So instead of hockey, Jonathan practised patience and pain management. He was not happy. On
the other hand (sic), he brought his grade average into the 80s and was thrilled to be accepted into university. And he devised a way to hold a pole so he could go skiing with Eric for a few days – clever lad.
We’re not allowed to disclose more, but we can report that adults are easier to live with than teenag-ers. Not only do they solve their own problems, sometimes they help us with ours. Life is good!
See you soon,
Killarney LodgeBox 10005, Algonquin Park,
Ontario P1H 2G9
Telephone: May to October (705) 633-5551
Winter (416) 482-5254Toll-free 1-866 473-5551
Web site:www.killarneylodge.com
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Jonathan, Al, Char and Sam in a rare moment together.
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MASH noTeS We Love To GeTWithout television, internet or telephones, we got
to know our three teenaged daughters again at Crowe Cottage ... and we liked them! Thank you.
– Gabrielle & Steven
I’ve been coming to Algonquin Park for 93 years. Thanks to Killarney Lodge I still can.
– Phyllis, 97
Eric walks on water in the winter.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
