March Break at the Cottage

March Break at the Cottage

Typical cottage entertainment--unplugged!

As I sit down to write this blog I am struck by the difference between this March Break and the last one here at the cottage.  Last year it was all about renovations, tearing out the old, manky carpet, laying flooring, varnishing beds and painting.  The weather was still wintery, but temperatures moderate with lots of sunshine to warm things up.  This year there are no renovation projects underway--just discussions about possibilities.  It’s nice to truly relax and unwind.  However...

Rocket and Buster

We are here with our two dogs, Dermot and Pippa and their four puppies.  Rocket, Buster, Bandit and Isla are 6 weeks old and BUSY!!  They, like their parents, love the cottage.  They run around like demented things, chew anything in sight, clamber all over each other, our feet, our shoes.  They are getting better at doing their business on the provided mat, but we still spend lots of time cleaning up after them.  We do have a nice little “puppy yard” for them, but when awake, they want to be dashing about.  Can’t blame them really.

Yesterday was sunny and warmish--on the plus side of zero anyway.  We haven’t had many days like that this winter.  In fact, this is the snowiest winter I can remember since childhood.  The snow has been magnificent.  It has also been the coldest winter I can remember, it seems like there were weeks and weeks of -20*C weather.  Despite the cold, I have been out cross country skiing a few times with my friend Arlene, back home in Guelph.  Here at the cottage, John and Anne got out on that gloriously sunny day and skied around the islands and up to the Ramparts Cottage (ruined by the current owners apparently).  Kate, whose feet seem to be growing exponentially does not have cross country ski boots that fit.  She was able to get out on snowshoes though and toured around with John (on skis), and claims that snowshoeing is a much more intense work-out!!  

Once again we are here with the delightful heat of the fireplace insert, but no running water.  It is amazing how little water you can get away with using.  It makes me re-think my wasteful ways when at home.  Of course, we do have a huge lake, albeit under about 2 feet of ice, so water is there, available and just has to be hauled up the steep, snowy hill.  Easy?  John chopped the hole in the ice with the chain saw.  Frankly that sounds really dangerous to me.  I think I’ll get him an ice auger for Father’s Day (I’m sure he’ll be thrilled!)  

What a great Dad Dermot is!

Anne and Kate are working on a 1000 piece puzzle of the cover of the Abbey Road Album, something they rarely have time to do at home.  It is really coming along.  The games table that John made is working beautifully, and even if they don’t finish this time, they can leave it all set up for when they arrive next time.  Simple pleasures.

Today John, Anne and Kate went over to Uncle Mac’s for a visit and a trip back to the sugar bush.  With the cold weather, the sap wasn’t running much, but it was still a lovely time, and always great to see family.  What was I doing at the time?  I was back at the cottage, puppy-sitting and doing homework--ugh.  At least it is done for the moment, and we can travel back to Guelph tomorrow without me panicking about all the work I have to do!  So we will stop en route at Aunt Virginia’s for breakfast, and then in Cobourg to visit with John’s parents.

I must admit--I love every opportunity to come to the cottage.  It is so serene here, so quiet, so pretty.  We all sleep better too--comfy mattresses? Fresher air? Less stress?  All of the Above???  Nice.

The Moon from our Front Porch

New Year's Eve

New Year’s Eve

All worn out

It has been a lovely, somewhat lazy few days at the cottage.  We had a chance to reconnect with family and friends.  Anne and Kate spent time with their camp friends, Jenny and Anna.  John and I were also invited to dinner with Jenny’s family which was so nice.  The conversation was interesting, at times hilarious, and we feel that we have a lot in common.  Also I must say that it was an absolute treat to have a break from cooking and doing dishes in this environment of no running water.  Anne and Kate ended up sleeping over at Jenny’s and I’ll include a photo of Anne after her return.  I gather they didn’t get to sleep very early.  

We all spent time unwinding:  reading novels; playing crib; watching Top Gear DVDs and napping.  To me that’s just what a cottage break should be.  Naturally John got a few jobs done, like taking down some trees at the shoreline.  Obviously that job can’t be done in the summer as he needs to stand on the lake ice in order to access the trees.  Hauling the logs up to the woodshed for future use kept us all warm even on a sunny but -15*C day.  John also painted a wall in the kitchen and it looks great!  

Dermot and Pippa, loved their stay, as usual.  They found some interesting holes to dig, chased the brave squirrels who ventured by and just generally ran around.  On the cold days they wouldn’t stay out too long, but did go out often.  In the evening they’d collapse on the couch in front of the fire.  They too love to unwind at the cottage.

Can you just sense the joy in this photo?

John is still searching for a name for our cottage.  The sunsets are magnificent so he is thinking about something that honours that.  Everything we’ve come up with so far is goofy, so we’d gratefully receive any non-goofy suggestions.  Either that or so goofy that it is truly funny.  

We will head to Cobourg in few hours.  We’ll spend Hogmanay with John’s parents and then head home to Guelph on New Year’s Day.  A nice way to finish another wonderful stay at the cottage.  Happy New Year everyone!

Dermot takes a break from running on the ice

Christmas at the Cottage Part 1

Christmas at the Cottage

We have arrived at the freezing, although happily not frozen, cottage for a few days of winter fun!  Getting here and getting settled involved some serious resilience, but I’m sure we’re all better people for it.

Pippa and Donna trying to keep warm

I have to say that we were a bit smug when we bought our new, 2013 Toyota Highlander this past spring.  We really had no choice but to retire the 17 year-old, 430,000km wagon we had been driving for 13 years.  A 4 wheel drive vehicle seemed in order, I mean we really didn’t want to lug groceries, water, clothes, bedding etc. etc. up the laneway, over the hill, up the ramp and into the cottage, if we could avoid it.  The Highlander is equipped with all sorts of snow-defying gadgets.  It has this function that if you press and hold the brake pedal while on an incline it goes into this “pull me up” mode and crawls up the hill without the driver’s assistance.  It has the best snow tires that money can buy (well, now they’re the best after a major glitch which resulted in me having 3 flat tires--but that’s another story).  The list goes on.  However, what the Highlander does not have is 5-inches-of-crusty-ice-on-top-of-soft-snow defying gadgets.   Yes, the recent ice storm which wreaked havoc across Southern Ontario, and still has major areas without power, stopped us in our tracks at the foot of the laneway to the cottage.  So once again we were lugging!  Happily we didn’t have all that much to bring in.

Anne and Dermot join us in an attempt to keep warm

Once in the cottage we set about getting set up, turned on the power (no problem there--unlike in Toronto), Kate built a fire and the place began to thaw--SLOWLY... painfully SLOWLY.  We began to reminisce about the place we rented near Athens that was made of concrete and was absolutely FREEZING the whole time we were there.  We were laughing about the weiny little heaters that were running full blast and then would pop the breaker.  We remembered about John having to go outside to a post at the road to flip the breaker back on.  We outlined all the clothing that we wore to bed in an effort to keep warm and chalked it all up to the fact that the Greeks seemed to have the whole idea of keeping cool in the hot summer months down to a science, but keeping warm in the winter was a whole different ball game.  I guess there was a certain amount of smugness there too.  The one advantage to our trembling in the cottage over trembling in Athens, is that we knew the cottage would eventually get warm!  And it has!  I’m very cosy as I write this.

John hauling wood with plywood
covering the water hole!

Naturally we don’t have any running water while we are here but mountain man John has chopped a hole in the ice and is hauling water for our daily use.  He looks cute in his Austrian wooly-ear-flap hat and Swedish snow-shedding cargo pants and work gloves.