Book Reviews for a Summer of Dockside Reading
Lakeside, dockside, poolside… whatever your perch, we have Beach Read for you. Our summer book previews and reviews cover all kinds of genres, from Historical and YA to Murder, Mystery, and Literary. Pull up a sun chair, it’s going to be a read-worthy summer.
A New Form of Wellness: Art Bathing
For me, summer in Muskoka isn’t complete without a visit to the Muskoka Arts & Crafts (MAC) Summer Show—on July 15-17, 2022 at Bracebrdige’s Annie Williams Park. I’ve missed the opportunity over the last two years as the show was cancelled due to… well, I’d rather not talk about the pandemic. But I know what will happen when I pass through the Show’s entry gate this week: a form of wellness will wash over me, as it does during a swim, in a yoga class, at a spa visit, or while participating in a wilderness retreat. I call it the art of bathing. Or, Art Bathing. Art Bathing?
Snap Chat: The Story Behind these Astounding Wildlife Photos
Catching Muskoka wildlife on camera is a tricky thing. You need patience and calm, an enviable camera, clothes that don’t swish. Photo duo Heather Truscott and Cheryl Nicholson of Heartstone Photography are learning by doing. Friends since childhood, the pair spend their Muskoka weekends walking the woods, paddling the lakes, hiking the trails. Algonquin. Arrowhead. Muskoka Lakes. They stop, wait, listen. When they spot a deer or a special bird, a groundhog, a chipmunk, they raise their Nikons and shoot… in a kindly way. The result are these arresting wildlife photos published regularly here in MuskokaStyle. Oh, and Heather and Cheryl tell stories too—the stories behind the images: what it took, and more importantly, what it meant to capture these beautiful, natural, fleeting moments on film. Stop by often, this page is updated regularly with new pix. Now, get to it. Read and Look:
What Sparks An Artist’s Ideas?
Have you ever wondered what sparks an artist’s work? How they’re motivated or inspired? Where ideas come from? There are as many answers to those questions as there are artists. Wendie Donabie reflects on where ideas come from and how to capture inspiration when it hits.
Why this Small Town is Filled with Writers
MuskokaStyle writer and book reviewer Kaitlyn Sutey asks herself an age-old question: How can a writer fall in love with a hometown so deeply that they spend years building a whole fictional world around it?
TikTok’s Coastal Grandmother Meets Muskoka’s Cottage Grandma
You’ve met her a million times. On Netflix. At Cineplex. In a booth at the Rosseau Farmer’s Market. She wears a brimmed hat and a white linen shirt. She bakes banana bread, grows peonies, and plucks Pino Grigio from a silver wine chiller. She’s a Coastal Grandmother. A what now?…
Cheers to Beer: Craft Brew Reviews
Welcome back Bo! MuskokaStyle’s own beer aficionado loves beer so much he’s “sacrificing” his svelte body again in Summer ’22 for our benefit, tasting craft beer and offering his thoughts, impressions, and ratings. Bo’s tasting notes appear often in MuskokaStyle.
Escape the City, Open an Art Gallery: An Artist’s Dream becomes Reality
Escape the the city, open an art gallery. It’s more than one artist’s dream, but Muskoka’s Wendie Donabie figured out how to make that dream her new reality.
Finding the Key to Happiness in Muskoka’s Artistic Community
It’s been a miracle. Author David Bruce Patterson made the move to Muskoka as a man of 60 searching for a place to belong as well as some happiness. He found both in cottage country’s artistic community.
What this Muskoka Woman is Reading this Summer
Kaitlyn Sutey loves books, especially when read on a dock, on a lake, in a Canadian paradise called Muskoka. Here’s what she’s reading here this summer. Tag along, it’ll be fun reading together.
A Cocktail Party Plus A Poem
Our resident mixologist, David Bruce Patterson, loves a well-crafted cocktail only slightly less than he loves a well-crafted poem. David crafts both for us, from season to season, here at…
Subscribe to Summer
Summer Quotes
“I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer…”
– Jay Gatsby
Follow us
