Jacques Pigeon

We Wish you a Merry Christmas and, in these Uncertain Times, a Serene Year 2025.

It is certainly difficult to be optimistic when we are bombarded daily with stories of wars, tyrants, cruelty and famine. For the holiday season, I suggest we sit down and remind ourselves how lucky we are to live here in…

Jacques Pigeon2024-12-162024-12-16 St-Paul 3 Comments

Is Climate Change Reducing the Duration of the Ice Cover on our Lakes?

The answer is a definite yes. Over the past 25 years, according to climate scientists, the ice cover of the Laurentian lakes has decreased by approximately 15% to 20% in terms of total duration, with ice melting beginning on average…

Jacques Pigeon2024-12-072024-12-07 Environnement 7 Comments

A Beautiful Fall Day for Fish Stocking at Curran and Black Lakes.

A beautiful fall Sunday it was! A bit cold, but the vibrant fall colours made it disappear! First stop as at Robert and Laurie’s dock at Curran Lake for the delivery of 350 rainbow and 250 speckled trout as in…

Jacques Pigeon2024-10-142024-10-14 Association 3 Comments

St.Paul’s 11th Pray and Play was a roaring success. Have a look at these pictures!

This year’s 11th Pray and Play was a roaring success! Church was full. Service was lively with Rev Nick Brotherwood, Jim Finch and Robert Percy animating the service. The weather was absolutely divine for a day of golf, camaraderie and…

Jacques Pigeon2024-09-252024-09-25 St-Paul 5 Comments

Eastern Purple Bladderwort is an Indigenous Carnivorous Plant that Thrives in Black Lake. Why is this?

No environmental topic brings France and I more questions that aquatic plants. There is a reason for that. There are all kinds of plants in our lakes and they move constantly. They show up one year, disappear the next and…

Jacques Pigeon2024-08-292024-08-30 Environment 4 Comments

Yes, we have found Chinese Mystery Snails in our lakes. But their Presence does not Pose Serious Problems Now. Here’s why.

Before answering the question, some context is necessary. In early July, we were informed of the presence of snails at Black Lake, most likely Chinese Mystery Snails. To find out for sure, we called on a biologist from the MRC…

Jacques Pigeon2024-07-312024-07-31 Association 8 Comments

Celebrating Eleanor Hammond’s 100th Birthday and her Legacy: A History of Dunany.

Eleanor Hammond, a longtime summer resident of Dunany, celebrates her 100th birthday this month. When her daughter Judy contacted me about this wonderful event, I asked her to write a short bio of her illustrious mother and to describe how…

Jacques Pigeon2024-06-052024-06-05 Association 11 Comments

2024 Summer Activities in the Dunany Area.

Looking forward to another great summer in Dunany? Here are some of the activities available in the area with still more details in the Activities section on this web site. The Dunany Studio Artists Group New members are welcome to…

Jacques Pigeon2024-05-052024-05-06 Association 6 Comments

Our lakes are healthy. One of them, more fragile, under surveillance.

The data collected last summer in our lakes show that three of them are clasified as oligotrophic, that is to say in very good condition. They are Black, Clear and Curran. However, the data from Boyd Lake raises some concerns…

Jacques Pigeon2024-04-022024-04-03 Environment 10 Comments

In 1868, the Tragic Death of Mary Boyd, a Young Women from Gore Creates a Scandal. Listen to this fascinating Podcast!

This is a really sad story. Mary Boyd lived in Gore in the 1850’s, not far from the lake that bears her surname. She moved to Toronto to be employed as maid for a wealthy family, that of Dr Duncan…

Jacques Pigeon2024-03-112024-03-12 General 1 Comment

A Short Story about the Dunany School. Where was it located? When did it Close?

I am writing this article comfortably seated in my home which was built in 1940 by Leonard Gain, the then local contractor. He inhabited it till his death with his wife wife Minnie – née Clifford – who he married…

Jacques Pigeon2024-02-182024-02-19 Culture 9 Comments

Dunany under the Ice: Memories of the Big Ice Storm of January 1998.

It is January of the year of Our Lord 1998. Between January 5 and 10, 100mm of freezing rain fell on southern Quebec. In Dunany, it’s a carnage! Brian Gauley, the contractor who looked after our house in our absence,…

Jacques Pigeon2024-01-102024-02-22 Association 5 Comments

Our Best Wishes for 2024 and a Christmas Gift for Each and Everyone of you!

What a decade! It started with the great COVID pandemic. Then we saw Trump’s MAGA insurrectionists storm the Capitol. The following year, Putin invaded Ukraine for no reason and sent there his most cruel and murderous mercenaries. As if that…

Jacques Pigeon2023-12-172023-12-17 St-Paul 8 Comments

Who were the First Inhabitants of our Area, and to which Nation did they Belong?

We have been calling them Algonquins but they now prefer to be known as the Anishinaabe nation. They occupied most of the Ottawa (Adawe in the Algonquin langage) River watershed which was, in effect, their heartland. Historically, their language –…

Jacques Pigeon2023-11-032023-11-03 General 10 Comments

Celebrating St.Paul’s 10th Pray and Play with enthusiasm and good news for our Church.

Our Community is built on three pillars: Church, Country Club and Association. Last Sunday, September 17, both the Golf Club and the Association were there to support St.Paul’s Pray and Play 10th Golf Tournament which generates essential revenue for the…

Jacques Pigeon2023-09-192023-12-20 St-Paul 7 Comments

How to Reduce the Risks Associated with Climate Change in Dunany.

Last year, during the derecho on May 21st, a cottage at Clear Lake was completely demolished by the fall of a large tree, swept away by violent winds. The two people inside were only slightly injured. Fortunately. But they had…

Jacques Pigeon2023-08-022023-09-01 Environment 8 Comments

The Key Issues Facing Quebec’s Lakes: Invasive Exotic Plants, Navigation, Governance, and Climate Change.

France and I participated in the Forum national sur les lacs on June 7th and 8th, held at Mont-Tremblant. In the following lines, I will share with you the main challenges and initiatives undertaken during this summit to better protect…

Jacques Pigeon2023-06-152023-06-15 Environment 5 Comments

SPANK is back! Details of this summer’s program are here. And there are more activities for you. Lots more!

Welcome back to SPANK! The Dunany paddling tradition rides again in 2023, with a back-to-basics four-event schedule, one on each of our lakes: Black, Boyd, Clear, Curran. This picture was taken at the first ever SPANK on July 10, 2010.…

Jacques Pigeon2023-05-062023-07-27 Association 3 Comments

Our lakes are very healthy. Curious as to how we come to this conclusion? Read on!

Our planet was born 4.55 billion years ago. The Laurentians appeared about 1,2 billion * years ago . Our lakes, about 10,000 years ago. Our association celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. And our lakes are all still very healthy.…

Jacques Pigeon2023-03-132023-03-13 Environment 10 Comments

I asked ChatGPT what are the best ways to improve the quality of the water in our lakes. Read what the hot Open AI robot gave me.

Most of you have probably heard about artificial intelligence AI. The most talked about product these days is called ChatGPT. It is a large language model that can generate human-like text, trained on a massive dataset of written works from…

Jacques Pigeon2023-02-082023-02-08 Environment 22 Comments

The DCA Wishes you Great Holidays and Suggests Help for Brave Ukrainians without Heat and Electricity.

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas festivities start on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on January 6, as reckoned by the Julian calendar. The Christmas celebrations end on January 19, the date of the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus, known in Ukraine…

Jacques Pigeon2022-12-162022-12-16 General 5 Comments

About our Lakes, Loons, Mussels and Beavers.

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