Pourvoirie du Lac Tessier!

Welcome to Lake Tessier—nearest town Clova, Quebec.

This past Memorial Day holiday, the Donovan-Garber clan took at expedition to the depths of the Quebecian bush for a week of fishing for hefty Northern Pike and Walleye.

The family drove all the way from Pennsylvania and picked me up at the Ottawa Airport in Uncle Joe's van—towing boats, gear, beer and even an 0n-board pisser. After two hours on the road, we arrived at our stop for the night—Maniwaki. Dad and I kicked off dinner Canadian-style with a couple Labatt's Blues. We stayed at the Central Motel—"Au centre de tout!", ("In the center of it all!). "In the center of many potholes" would be more like it.

The next morning, we continued north 2 hours on paved road, before a 6+ hour haul on a sandy dirt road—our destination, Lake Tessier. :)

Dad, Uncle Joe, Sophie and Gary—a first evening spin out on Tessie.

We arrived, checked into our awesome cabin and unloaded the boats and gear. We stoked the fire and snuzzled in with some Yuenglings for our first night.

Aunt Dee smiles and waves.

After breakfast the next morning with the sun shining, we got geared up and hit the fishin'. The air was crisp and fresh and it felt great to be alive.

My main view for the week.

Me, Mom (Sergio) and Dad cruising.

Teri, Sophie and Uncle Joe telling us that the fish aren't biting for them either.

We fished every day that wasn't pissing rain. We filled the cooler with beer and lunch and spent a lot of time pulling over for a wiz.

Me catching the view from a tree stand.

When we weren't out on the water, we spent some good times traipsing through the woods. We found a busted bus in the woods that smelled like death and had suffered some obvious vandalism.

Mom models the busted bus.

We followed an unmaintained trail down to a beautifully still and quiet lake. We found a little canoe in the woods and my dad tried to figure out how we were going to get our boat to this lake.

Mom checking out the pipe to see how much debris we have to break to get the boats through.

The boating-through-pipes experience. :)

I got the fun job of tying the rope to the trees above the pipe so we could pull ourselves through.

We fished the lakes on the other side of the pipe, without much luck. But, it was a fun adventure! Later in the week, we put all 3 boats through to try our luck. Spring hadn't sprung, so the water was cold and the fish were there in swarms, but not biting. We jigged and trolled and threw spinners with every type, size and color of lure, but in the end we only caught about 10 fish between all of us. Luckily, we caught enough Walleye to enjoy an amazing fish meal later in the week.

The cabin was really nice and had a lot of "stuffed animals" hanging around—coyote, bear, elk and more.

The cabin had hot/cold running water pumped right from the lake and generator-powered lights and electricity. Seriously deluxe. After we got it warmed up the first night, the wood fireplace kicked off some serious heat.

Aunt Dee and I got our art on.

I missed my fuzzy little buddies and my ding.

What's cuter than a box o' Cooper-style puppies on your birthday? Nothin'!

Dad with a baby Northern.

Even though, the weather and the fish refused to cooperate, it didn't stop us from fishin'. We were on the water for 4-6 hours most days. It was fun to spend time with my mom and dad. :)

Approaching the cabin from another session on Tessie.

Mom and me at the Welcome sign.

All-around a great trip. Fishing, fire, family, food, beers, cards, puppies, birthday cake, bush-whackin', scum baggin'—really a little of everything. Good times and a true adventure. :)

Me & My Buddy

Last week was a toughy. Work is pretty stressful right now for a hundred reasons. I worked from home for a few hours last week during some stove repair and my little buddy was the perfect fuzzy funny little pick-me-up.


Cooper has some funny hairs squirting out on the sides of and all the way down his neck that make him look like a raptor.

He is also sprouting mountain goat hairs out of his back.


Awwww!!! Baby Cooper!

Falling for PA

Remembering the terribly HOT and HUMID weather I experienced when visiting home in August '07 (100 degrees, 100% humidity and NOT raining), I decided to plan a pleasant-weather visit home in October. It was a perfect week—the sun was shining, it was a warm 75 degrees and the fall leaves were reaching their peak. It was awesome!

My mom and Jackie (Tom's sister) picked me up from the airport on opening day for Flyers' Hockey. We went right to Geno's for cheese steaks. YES! Go Flyers!

Red-tailed Hawk

I had a fun adventure to Hawk Mountain with my sister and little buddies. We saw a ranger program that included an up-close and personal meeting with a Red-tailed Hawk and a Great Horned Owl. The kids enjoyed the scrambly hike on the Escarpment Trail. I got a cool pair of hawk earrings that Tom told me are actually seagulls. Poops.

Great Horned Owl

Binoc-ing for birds of prey

Sierra ponders what makes the leaves change color

Melis learns about lily pads

Fall color in the Lehigh Gorge

My mom and I did a few little day trips, one of which was a day out in Jim Thorpe. We took a scenic ride on the Lehigh Gorge Railroad, had lunch at "Through the Looking Glass" and toured the Packer Mansion. Highlights were the yummy brownie and the Packer Mansion. I learned a lot about the Packer family, specifically Mary Packer. She was a woman quiet ahead of her time—she married to keep control of her family estate (since women by law, were not allow to own property) and also filed the first pre-nuptual agreement in Carbon county. SMART.

Me and the train teddy

Mom on the Packer Mansion grounds

Mom enjoying the Lehigh River & fall foliage

My mom, Aunt Nikki and I took a day trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennette Square. There were some gigantic carved pumpkins, lots of flowers in bloom and cool tree houses. I even got to spend some time catching up with my friend Kelly and her little buddies.

Lotsa lilly pads livin' large

Kate, Camille, Patti, Heather, Anne, Betsy and me

I enjoyed spending a sunny day in Philadelphia. Kevin and Kim met me for lunch at the Bishop's Collar and then I got together for wine and dinner with the good old gym girls. :)

Winos

Locust Lake is crunchy

Me and mom got out for lots of walk whilst I was visiting. One of my favorites was the hike we did over at Locust Lake. We trudged through leaves, shot the sh*t and posed for pictures.

Me and Grammam

Shexy, shexy ;)

Me, Sierra, Mom, Damian, Jim, Aunt Mary, Nanny, Ray

We ended the week with a pizza party at my Aunt Mary's new house! See you in '09, PA!

4-Month-Old-Ding

Cooper is getting bigger by the minute. He's so flippin' cute too. We can barely walk down the street.

Our little guard dog stands watch over our newly-planted lavender in the rock wall out front (then he drags mounds of moss all over the yard when I turn my back, damn little ding!).

Little Ding at 4-months-old.

Good times in the green grass with a little licker.

Handsome boy. He looks so studious. :)

Growing Like a Weed

Some new pix of Cooper. :)

Cooper lounges on the footbridge over the Hood River, while kiteboarders catch air in the distance.

Cooper & Dad learn to windsurf.

Front yard frolic.

Who's big now?

Baby bat.

Coop's favorite spot.

Cooper play around in Starvation Creek.

It's a BAT!

Clean little doggy. My first bath!

Coop poops out at a party. Dad makes a pappoose. Ha!

Campfire nights.

All wiped out again. :)