Helen grew up right here in NorthWestern Ontario. Her dad always took her along hunting, fishing and blueberry picking. All his favourite pastimes. A true love of the land was fostered in her.

With her partner Tom, she continues to explore the outdoors while trapping, snowshoeing or off fishing again. She is drawn to nature.

She wants to take you with her to explore it!

Its just a short walk thru the woods from our camp to Blueberry Broad Diversions. Helen offers paddle excursions and paint days there. Wrap it all up and have a Paint, Paddle and picnic ” Super Fun Time”.

Have you tried a Stand Up Paddle board or Kayaking? Helen is a great instructor who will give you the right techniques to make your paddling adventures enjoyable.

She is also a self taught artist working in Watercolour and Acrylic paint. Her work has been shown at Naked North Art Gallery and at many events in the area. When guiding you through a paint class she is patient and generous. You have a free hand to experiment with much encouragement from Helen. Emphasis is on play.

We are fortunate to have her so near giving our guests even more ways to enjoy Canadian summers.

You can check out Helen Grymaloski at https://www.blueberrybroad.ca/

or wander thru the woods from Sleepy Dog to find her in her studio or look for her very popular booth at The Trout Forest Music Festival in Ear Falls.

I met her by chance once, a long time ago…. before I met Tom.  She was visiting her daughter Sally and so was I.  

 Arthur Williams met her by chance too…..

Irene was enjoying a good read on a Hyde Park bench when Arthur noticed her. He commenced to courting and soon she was  emigrating  to Canada. So began her adventure in the Wilds of NorthWest Ontario.  An English War Bride from downtown London transplanted to remote Wine Lake eventually to run a tourist camp.

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• A uthor

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Irene Williams, was all about Camp 

She was a wonderful Cook. Imagine this…no professional training cooking 2 meals a day for a crowd,  everyday of the week, all summer, no running water and she made it all so delicious.

When Irene’s doctor ordered her to slow down and take it easy she picked up a pen and began her memoirs.  As a published Author She captured so many stories about life at camp contained in two books   “The Last Resort” and “The Second Last Resort”.

Irene was so incredibly loving and kind. Her children are a testament to this love. They are hard working caregivers in service industries.  The thing I remember most about meeting her was she was catching and releasing house flies.   She hated harming a living thing , not even a fly and isn’t that a beautiful Mother.

She was a Pioneer, helping carve out a tourist camp in the wilderness with primitive equipment,  no running water, and generally making due.  It was an experience just to get out to camp by canoe for some of the first years.

If you would like to know more about Tom’s mum, the Adventure Queen come and visit us.  We keep a copy of

“The Last Resort” in every cabin.

 Or contact us at Sleepy Dog Cabins and get your own copies of these books $10. each plus shipping.  We are in our third reprint.  They are a great read! 

Walleye are by far the most popular species found in our waters.  Many agree that they are the best tasting fish in the world.  How wonderful then that they are  fun to catch, easy to clean and can be prepared in a so many different ways.

Spring Fishing

Many anglers dream of walleye fishing all winter and can’t wait to get started right after ice out . One of the easiest time to catch walleye is in the Spring from opening weekend (third Saturday in May) to mid June. By the time opening weekend arrives, the walleye are done spawning.

If there is a river or current nearby, that’s where you’ll find walleye. They’ll swim very shallow and close to shore. Try a minnow on a hook or casting with small floating Rapalas and Junior Thundersticks. You can use a jig but expect to get a lot of snags. If you are fishing a lake and there is no river or current in the area, the walleye are most likely hanging out in sandy areas along the shore or sandy points leading off rocky points and shoals. The males will stay close to shore and shallow, but in the heat of the afternoon, big female walleyes will head out deeper, into about 10-15′ of water. If there are large muskies or northern pike the females will be less likely to hang around the spawning grounds during the day for fear that they will become lunch for those bigger predators. They will return to the shallow areas in the evening. For great information about finding and catching walleye, check out a trusted fishing blog or website.

Fish for walleye with a light jig (1/8oz) and cast along the shore. The walleyes are quite aggressive in the Spring so you can pretty much jig any old way. Some say retrieve it quickly and aggressively, some say long slow jigs work best. Try bright coloured jigs such as Chartreuse in the day and in the evening when they are feeding, try blue, silver or brown. Experiment with different techniques and see what works best for you. Remember that if you are used to fishing warmer waters, remember our Canadian lakes are quite a bit cooler and the fish will react differently.   If you are looking for the big females in the afternoon, try the dark water just where the sand bars drop off or try trolling 30′ from the shore in deeper water using down-deep Husky jerks.

In any case, be prepared to have some great Wabaskang Spring walleye fishing.

Pizza.

 Liz made it sound so magical, but she didn’t say pizza.    She said….fresh baked bread from an outdoor brick oven.  What was a brick oven?

Back in the day I was a home schooler, taking my kids to play groups with other mums.  It was then that  I first heard of the art of baking  Outside !!!! 

Years later the topic popped up again.  One of my besties uncle was actually building an outdoor oven right in his own back yard.  It involved a good deal of research on his part and it didn’t look easy.  There was a lot of calculating.  I monitored the situation.

I expressed my interest on this topic to one and all.  It paid off.  Helen my artist neighbour friend had recently heard of a Brick Oven Building/ Baking course at The North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota, 556 km away.

It took a year of waiting for the course to be available.  I guess this gave me time to ratchet up my courage and then apply for the class in June.

What a diverse group we were, a farmer, a New York baker, a Korean with lots of money and not lots of english, a potter, an outdoor adventurer,  a husband and wife  psychologist team and the very entertaining instructor Dude who was a huge fan of The Big Lubowski.  I love workshopping!!!

I got back from that adventure… just barely,  my van started acting up……….( VW – Vortex for your Wallet).  I was keen to make our oven.

The  statistic for success from the course is that 5% of the students will actually build.  It was super fun and do-able as a group  with a fearless leader and all the right tools, but on my own it grew more daunting.  Well not exactly on my own,  Tom is one amazing builder…with wood! We pondered on how to proceed.

One day in August I was headed to town with my friend ( the one with the uncle),we were VW-ing down the Trans Canada highway in NorthWest Ontario (her wheels, this time).  Now, to the horror of most of my friends, sometimes I pick up hitchhikers.  There he was, my Brick Oven Instructor at the side of the road, thumb out!!!  I made her stop.

On that ride to Dryden we sealed the deal that he would come and teach at our very own Sleepy Dog Cabins  Brick Oven Building Workshop .  So whadya know  we got ours built.  I have yet to get serious about bread baking but o boy Pizza Night is a whole lot of fun.  One of our faves is “Shore Lunch” pizza featuring some fresh caught Walleye.

Back to our fabulously fascinating guests….One of whom is Steve Winker, a guy livin the dream, RVing around North America while fishing, exploring and indulging in his  hobby of photography.  It has been such a pleasure to get to know this easy going, talented fellow and follow his adventures.  Perhaps it’s ironic that I don’t have a photo of him to post here!

Steve has been so generous to share some outstanding moments  he captured while vacationing here at  ” thee place to be on Wabaskang Lake!!!  He excels at Nature Photos.  ” Check out his website Where’s Winker to see alot more of his fantastic work (play) and get inspired for your next trip here or anywhere.

Here’s a free tip….don’t ever forget your camera and use it!!!

                          The Photography of Steve Winker

Most times I am the dear one who stays in and keeps the home fires burning.

Yesterday , however, I bicycled to Dutchie’s Store and got myself a 2014 Conservation Fishing License!!! Yeh me!!

AAAnnnd last evening I went out Walleye fishing.  What great fun.  A wonderful couple staying in Cabin 4,  Brian and Judy, took me out.  Not that I couldn’t go out myself,  it’s just so many other things call me, so to speak.

Has this been happening to you?  Seriously, I thought I had too much to do and wasn’t even wanting to go after the invite.

I am so glad I took that time.  Drifting in a boat and casting is so calming and rejuvenating.   It’s actually amazing.

So was the 23″ Walleye and then the 24″ Walleye  I caught and threw back.  I sure enjoyed releasing such beautiful specimens of fish.  We also caught our limits of  tasty eaters.

I am going again soon!!!!

We are so fortunate to have the BEST view on the lake.  Anybody and everybody who visits (and we love visitors) comments on Our Million Dollar View.

Tom has taught me so much about taking time to observe mother nature and it is so easy to do here.

Today we watched as  our Seven Swans A Swimming – yes we have 7 Tundra Swans at the narrows, were approached by a she wolf.  Of course Tom always grabs the binoculars and notices what’s going on first.  The wolf must have taken a dip in the cold water before we started watching because he saw her shaking off  a whole lot of water.  Cautiously   she walked along the ice edge  and the bevy of swans now began to swim toward her unafraid it seemed maybe even confrontational.   We knew the wolf was a female because she squatted to pee before she moved off.

It looked like she was crossing over to the small island directly in front of us but changed paths and came closer and along our shoreline.  As we  watched her crossing the lake and an otter caught our eye next.  Way off up the lake and undetectable to the wolf.  LUCKY and  Tom assures me that one lone wolf could not take on an otter.

Thrilled by all the activity I grabbed a set of snow shoes and ventured out.  I arrived at the narrows  before the otter did.  I was fortunate to see it’s progress across the snow and  ice… hop, hop, slide a short time then slip into its open water destination.  I took my camera and made a little video but alas it did not pass Mr. Williams high standards so here’s a still shot.  You could hear Canada Geese cronking nicely and the swans joining in.  I will try again another day to capture all our water fowl on film, stay tuned.

Did you know that a group of swans is a herd, team, lamentation or bevy and

 when in flight they are a wedge.

Tom and I are always seeking out art.

 We make a point to enjoy as many galleries as we can…private, public, modern, medieval, no matter.

 To see the imagination of artists is a thrilling thing. It helps to spark our own ideas and art.  

We have a whole lot of fun making camp  a beautiful place to be for the enjoyment of you  our friends and guests.  This trip we have seen some truly great metal fish.   I hope Tom gets back to making one or two of them.  He has made some beauties in the past.

If…. you have some great fishing

related    art

we would love to see it.

  I hope you add some style and flare

to what ever  project you take on today.  Make your efforts count everyday till you get back up to Sleepy Dog and explore the art of fishing.  

Many good stories that are told at Sleepy Dog Cabins are about fishing…of course!

Living up the Red Lake Highway makes you very familiar with  moose stories too.  Stories about meetings and close encounters.

This is one of them.

It was a dark and stormy night…… and Tom was heading home, back up Highway 105.  Maybe it was 1991. And actually it was dusk, that difficult to see transition light and it was raining hard.   He had a load on, a trailer full of windows and he was making poor time with it.

He was on a windy stretch of road following behind a small car that was already down in a bottom.   Tom , from the top of the hill  could see  a very large cow moose trotting out of the bush and heading on  over the road.  The moose was not visible to the car. A trick of elevation and bending highway.   It didn’t look good.  There was not enough road to spare and she was at a good clip.  Okay…… brake lights….. the large creature had been spotted.  Now Tom watched with dread as the  driver tried to manuever right then left to no avail.

 Blam!! 

The little white car nosed between  long legs and the cow bounced off the hood of the car, rolled over the roof , bounced again on the trunk, landed on her feet, and kept on going across to the ditch and down the other side.    It was incredible to witness.

Pulled over on the shoulder and full of adrenalin the guy jumps out and hollers

” Did you see a Moose”?

“Mr, all you did was  slow it down.”

It was an unbelievable event that Tom witnessed.   A very lucky thing.

He has retold this story many times when  ditch donkeys are the topic of conversation.

We recently met a fellow in Florida, who learned we lived up

in Perrault Falls, Ontario and he wanted to share his

memorable close call with mother nature.

Jim was driving the newest company car  up the 105.  It was raining. An evening when you questioned if you should be on the road.  Out of literally no where  jumps a huge cow moose onto the highway.  Jim thinks he can squeak by on one side.  That’s what the moose decides too.  Changing tactics, he shifts to starboard.  Moose deviates as well.  Too late! The road was running out.  Only thing left to do was to minimize the damage.  Jim decides to position the vehicle so the front post of the frame will help take the weight of the beast upon impact.  Now there are no degrees of separation.

The nose of the  small Ford glides under her long legs.  Then the creature rolls off the hood onto the roof , and  down off the trunk.  Incredibly shaken Mr. Robinson eases over to the side, jumps out.  No moose anywhere!  Wrecked car!  Surreal.  Lucky guy!   The next vehicle had already pulled over.

“Did you see a moose?”

Twenty three years later  and 3096 Km away from the scene of the incident the two strangers , Tom Williams and

Jim Robinson meet again !

Also kind of incredible!!

For our first, very own video we are pleased to introduce  Gracie Baron the super model as she engages in sport fishing.

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              Going fishing Friday?……..take your kid!

               Stay tuned we will give out some of the best fishing tips

               and  maybe some of Tom’s ideas on

                       How to Make a Fortune!!!!!

It sure was fun fishing at Homosassa Springs with these beautiful girls.

It is not often we get to partake in the sport of fishing.  What we  do truly enjoy is empowering and outfitting our guests to get in a boat, get out on the lake and drop that line in.  It is so worth it.  Just look at the smiles on these faces.   Please, please take your kids fishing they will always remember it.