Music Night

The chalkboard!

Just about every year that we were at the Ramparts, we hosted a "music night" for John's cousins, aunts, uncles and their families.  Music night has always been a great time to re-connect with family that we don't see very often.  Typically there is a potluck meal, some swimming, nice conversations and usually a jam session that has evolved into a sort of musical variety night.

John and Wally playing a tune

There are lots of musical people in the Runciman/Freeman clan.  So for example, this year we had a couple of guitars, a fiddle, two bagpipers, a saxophonist, a flugel horn, and several beautiful voices.  Unfortunately, none of those was me.  So I just concentrate on making sure that people have what they need and are enjoying themselves.  Frankly, with Heather's amazing cheesecakes I don't know how anyone couldn't be enjoying him/herself, so really it's a fairly easy job for me.

Uncle Mac on Fluegel Horn

I should say that John's cousin Walter, who is a member of a Kingston drama theatre, usually recites a funny poem, or monologue.  This year he had us in stitches with a recital about "The Stolen Copper-Coated Clappers."  I don't know where he gets this stuff, but I think we should start charging admission!

Dynamic Duo, Walter and Heather

The gathering was a bit quieter than usual this year with John's brother Ross and his family not in attendance.  Ross and Karen's children have reached the age when they are busy with other things, and so to get time to come "east" gets trickier.  Also, their eldest son, Will graduated from Queen's this year, so Ross and Karen were in Kingston twice this spring for events surrounding that celebration.

Our family was joined by Mary Ann Horne who is actually related.  I think she and Ev share a grandfather.  Mary Ann has a lovely home on the North Shore of Loughborough Lake and we were delighted that she could join our gathering.

Kate on Soprano Sax

I'm attaching a photo of the chalkboard that is in our cottage.  John rescued it from the garbage and I must say that we are having fun with it.  That is the only photo I have of music night at the moment, the rest being on my camera at the cottage, but I will attach more when I get a chance.

We head back to the cottage today (Yayyyyyy!!!!!!)  I don't know when I will next be able to post, as our cottage is not on the internet, but I do get into the wee library in Battersea occasionally, so will be in touch.

Pippa and the Porcupine

Can't resist those sunset shots.

Pippa

As you can imagine, Dermot and Pippa LOVE the cottage.  They basically spend the entire day running around, chasing chipmunks, digging holes, fishing, lifeguarding and other doggie pursuits.  They have the most incredible hearing.  When a chipmunk chirps, a sound that is so integral to the landscape that it doesn't even register with me, the dogs jump into high gear and take off at full speed in the direction of the chirp.  Happily for the chipmunks, Dermot and Pippa have tiny little legs and rarely get a piece of the chippy.  Our older dog Sula, when in her prime, could catch chipmunks and squirrels.  We had a tail-less chipmunk living in our woodpile who we think barely escaped Sula's jaws.

Dermot ready for action.

Now I know that many dog owners are not exactly objective when it comes to their pets. That said, Dermot and Pippa are the most wonderful little dogs.  They are gentle, active and fun with just the right amount of attitude (Pippa--Dermot doesn't have much attitude).  They are so sociable and like to curl up  and be with us.  The big bonus for us is that both Dermot and Pippa are relatively quiet.  They rarely bark.  So imagine our surprise when one morning they are over beyond the marine railway, on the edge of our property, barking like demented things.  I put on my flip flops (the dumbest "shoes" ever invented) and headed over to check things out.  As I arrived Pippa was diving under a large rock.  From my angle above the rock I could see the tail of a porcupine.  Yikes!!!!  Naturally I called John, who presumably is wearing more sensible shoes and is more willing to tackle a porcupine.  It turned out that the porcupine was dead, having got stuck in the space under the rock, but its quills were still barbed.  By the time John got Pippa out, she had about a dozen quills in her, including a couple attached on the roof of her mouth.  Ugh.

Pippa begging to go out!

Bruce was with us at the time, and he and John recalled their grandfather, the local doctor, cutting the ends off the quills to let the air out before removing them.  Pippa was a trooper and barely whimpered as John took the pliers and yanked the quills out.  By the time the last one was coming out, three of us had to hold her still.  I'm hoping it's a lesson learned.  Dermot, stood back and watched the whole process with his ears back and his tail between his legs.  He's a sensitive little guy with more sense than to tackle a porcupine!

You may be wondering about my reference to "lifeguarding" above.  Jack Russells are definitely NOT water dogs.  They have fallen in a few times, and although they can swim, it is with little buoyancy and considerable upset.  Once we started diving in off the dock, Dermot and Pippa started hanging out at the end of the dock and barking at us--basically saying, "Are you nuts?  Get out of there now!"  After a while, when they decided that barking wasn't working, they started trying to deter us from jumping in by grabbing our calves--ouch.  So we had to tie them up while we were running and jumping in, and now they more-or-less leave us to it, but we get the sense that they don't really like it.

What's going on at the waterfront?

So, despite the need to be careful of water, rocks and various creatures, the cottage is a great place for little dogs to get an action-packed day of excitement, visitors, chasing and digging.

Wrapping up the school year

May 2013--the swimming dock has just been lowered
and is ready for its first swimmer

Many of you probably know that this June was a particularly busy time for me.  In addition to all the regular end-of-year work, such as report cards, I was taking two courses which consumed vast amounts of time.

Kate was the first one in--May 24 weekend--brr!

On top of that, I have moved to a new classroom to accommodate my new grade-assignment (Grade 4)!  At one point Kate said to me, "Mom, you haven't done much baking lately," no doubt as she munched on yet another store-bought cookie.  However, we got through all of that and managed to head off to the cottage on the 30th of June.

This was early on too.  Here, Anne, Donna, Aunt Virginia
and Kate are taking a break from renovations.

John and the girls actually took the Westy (you may remember the Westy from my other blog???) up to Loughborough Lake on the 29th and were there with bells on, and more importantly with food in the fridge, when I arrived on the 30th.  What is it about cottage life that allows you unwind the moment you arrive?  It's not like there is no work to do.  For example, we've had plumbing problems which have resulted in John crawling around in the greebly crawl space under the cottage looking for leaks.  He has got our 20 year-old AEG washing machine up and running.  This involves some hocus pocus with the electrical panel as it is a European machine.  So nice to have a washing machine at the cottage!  He put up the "pulley," which is a wonderful contraption that we brought back from Scotland with us in 1993.  It is a slick way to hang wet clothes indoors when the weather requires.  Essentially, it is a clothes drying rack that you can hoist up to the ceiling. I'm at home in Guelph at the moment, but when I get back to the cottage I'll take a photo for you to see.  There are all kinds of jobs we have done, too numerous and boring to mention.  The end result, however, is that we are more-or-less ready for company!

John's brother Bruce was the first to arrive.  Bruce is great.  He is easy-going and affable, brings his own boat and works so well together with John.  Bruce helped John with a variety of projects, but I'm happy to say, also got some time in fishing (he caught some big ones).  Kate accompanied Bruce a few times and was thrilled to catch a Large-Mouth Bass as big as the fake one that sings that we have on the wall.  Fortunately for the fish, Anne is allergic to fish, and so it is catch-and-release and the only evidence we have of their size is the odd photo--I'm sure they haven't been doctored!!

Can you see the little fish that have
captured Dermot's attention?

John's dad joined us for two nights while Bruce was visiting.  He enjoys fishing and seemed to enjoy being with us at the cottage.  Unfortunately, John's mom was in hospital at the time and so didn't make it up.  We're hoping Bruce will return in August, and perhaps both parents can join us then.

And so the summer begins.  We have unwound.  We are relaxed.  The weather turned hot and we've been swimming--a lot.  The girls have been slalom water-skiing and are really honing their skills.  We're reading books and sleeping in.  We've joined the local library.  We marvel at the sunsets and the stars.  Cottage life....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Our new cottage

The winter sunset viewed from the cottage. Really some of the best sunsets on the lake! 

I have recently been editing and creating a new draft of my book "Westfalia Wanderings,"  which is a hard-copy of the blog I kept of our travels in Europe last year.  Naturally there are some great photos included, and I got thinking about how much I enjoyed actually creating the blog for an audience.  I've never been much for journalling, but somehow blogging has captured my attention.  So here is a new blog for anyone who might be interested in hearing about life with/at a cottage.

Pippa and Dermot enjoying some rest after a long day
of chipmunk-chasing.

This past January, John and I purchased a cottage on the shores of Loughborough Lake in South Frontenac County, near the village of Battersea, north of Kingston, Ontario.   We have a happy history with this lake, as John's grandfather and then his uncles owned a large, old cottage just along the shore from our place.  That cottage is known as "The Ramparts." Every summer for about 20 years John and his family would gather at the Ramparts for some high-quality cottage time.  His brothers and their families along with John's parents would all arrive for a week of fun, renewal, and connection.  Sadly for us, the cottage was sold out of the family in September 2011 and so began our search for our own cottage.

Kate laying hardwood.

Although we looked at a number of cottages, on a number of lakes, wouldn't you know that we ended up a stone's throw from the Ramparts?  Our cottage is lovely, private, and is all ours!  Our adventures with the cottage began when we took possession in January, and promptly set about making some improvements.  We really wanted it to be liveable when summer arrived.

We have been trying to come up with a name for the cottage and the name we keep coming back to is "The Shire."  That's because several doorways, and bits of some hallways have rather low clearance, making it seem like a cottage fit for Hobbits.  As you know, John is not exactly Hobbit-sized, so the first job he did was to raise the height of some doorways, allowing easy clearance even when wearing shoes!

Anne painting.

We have done a lot of painting and have removed really very old carpet and replaced the floors with lovely, local maple hardwood.  Along the way we have had some help from family and friends.  Kate and John did the flooring and for the really big job were joined by our Australian friends Dorothy and Richard.  Thanks Dorothy and Richard!  What a difference it makes to have help and camaraderie on jobs.  John's cousins Nancy and Dale arrived one afternoon to help paint (how nice is that?)  and his other cousin, Heather came and spent hours cleaning yukky closets, bathrooms etc.  We really can't thank these guys enough!

Renovating is such great father-daughter time.
Note Hobbit-height ceiling behind John.

The garage--great storage!

I should mention the garage.  Our cottage has a garage!  When we were looking at places in October, Anne and Kate were with us.  When we walked into the garage Anne said, "Okay, take a picture."  When asked why she responded, "This is the moment Dad decides to buy this cottage!"  She's not far wrong.

Love that new flooring

So I will include some photos of the cottage and of the renovations.  I have some catching up to do on the blog as we have been at the cottage most of the summer.  I''m hoping for several quick posts in succession.  I also hope you will enjoy reading about our adventures on Loughborough Lake.  If you have received an email about this blog, then please consider yourself most welcome to join us at the cottage--we'd love to have you!

The girls' room.

The main room as viewed from the loft.