Wallpapers

Another summer on the River has come to a close - reluctantly, as summer’s warmth lingered far later than in years past. It’s always difficult being away but as last winter, I’ve left the Internet Camera running (click on “CAM” in the menu bar) so that you can visit the River anytime you wish during daylight hours. Hopefully, no gremlins will get in the way and it will run flawlessly until spring.

Last spring I left you pondering this image of a place very dear to my heart. Coincidentally, the view overlaps the Internet CAM's, aiming slightly more to the south. It is a spot I affectionately call “the dining room” as that’s its primary function when weather allows. In sharing this image, I hadn’t expected any correct IDs except from friends and visitors who know it well and therefore could not be counted, yet amazingly Bill Stock of Glen Cove, NY who has never been on the island was right on the money with this response:

Fellow Thousand Islanders,

I was quite certain that very few 1000 Islanders would recognize last month’s scene as it is literally the extreme western tip of the region, exposed to the waves and weather of Lake Ontario, where only very brave or very foolish boaters venture unless it is extremely calm. I was wrong. A surprising number of correct IDs arrived, again with several interesting stories, but alas only one, Hugh Cowan, can be the winner - for this:

And I thought last month’s photo would be tough to identify. Not so, it would seem. Several correct answers with good stories again makes the decision the tough part. I seem to have put myself into something of a hot seat trying to select winners, judging by all the complaining I’m hearing from the “non-chosen”. My further role as sensor at least allows me to shield our winners from the intense jealousy and verbal abuse of all these sore losers. In truth, it’s all very much tongue in cheek and I appreciate that so many of you seem to enjoy these monthly postings sufficiently to want to participate.

Last Month's Wallpaper

I’m hoping that those of you who didn’t win last month’s photo ID won’t be discouraged from trying again. There were many worthy stories which made the call unusually difficult, but I thought this one from Jack Patterson of Axeman Island which salutes a departed and special friend of the River, deserved the laurels:

"Could I not know the land of my birth, having come to the river every year since that event in 1938? NO!! And while I had to ponder the scene for perhaps ten or so minutes, it eventually came clear.

Last Month's Wallpaper:

Last month’s scene was an incredibly difficult one and as I suspected, no one correctly identified it, despite the fact that several were convinced they knew exactly where it was. That’s precisely why I picked it. It is so very obviously the 1000 Islands that it could be almost any one of them, but no place else. 

Why is it so immediately recognizable as here? I guess for the simple reason that most of the islands are the granite roots of ancient mountains that make up the Frontenac Arch and each has been carved and polished in much the same way by the glaciers of numerous ice ages.

I’ve often noted when exploring islands that each seems completely different with its own unique character, as is the view of the River from each, as though it's an entirely different place, yet in many ways they are all very similar. Don Ross’ book “St. Lawrence Islands National Park” describes a typical 1000 island. When I first read it, I was convinced he’d written it while sitting on mine, but the description applies to most of them.

As it happens, this one is Savage Island, one of a group of seven near the mouth of Jones Creek and roughly opposite Crossover Island Lighthouse. Out for a morning row in my skiff, I couldn’t resist landing and capturing the calm as the sun burned its way through the fog.

Last Month's Wallpaper: