…as the sun was setting we set off for a walk along the beach
After the Rain
10
Category Archives: About Me
A Perfect Weekend to Lay a New Floor at the Cottage
…it pretty much rained the entire weekend
For years I’ve wanted to put down a nice light coloured vinyl floor in the cottage. When the flooring went on sale I quickly snatched it up and started to put it down by myself a couple of weeks ago. I bought a very small amount to see how easily it would come together and decided that with a little bit of help it was a doable project. So, last week after coming back from the cottage I returned to the store and bought 10 more boxes.
After two solid days of work we managed to lay down all the flooring we had. It was hard work but very rewarding. I’m still recuperating two days later.
The other good thing that happened this weekend is that we purged a lot of items that were on an old handmade open cupboard that was meant to be temporary (kept it for over 30 years) and we cleaned out the old storage bins under the counters. We made room in the antique oak cupboard and filled it with some of the dishes from the old cupboard. The remaining items went into the new storage boxes for now. We took the old shelf outside. It looks so much better.
Cottages at Night
…I’ve always loved how the cottages look from a distance after the sun goes down
Even our cottage that has no electricity is lit up at night with oil lamps and battery operated lights.
An Evening Walk on the Beach
…this past weekend I went to the cottage
After an afternoon of sharing a meal with the neighbours and playing a long game of Crib Wars I went for a walk along the beach. It was a somewhat cloudy evening so there was no sunset to speak of but I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
Feeling Overwhelmed
….not sure why but it has affected my blog
I’ve been writing and posting on this blog for over 10 years. I rarely miss a day and as of late I’ve been missing a day or two a week. Sometimes the issue has been with internet connections not working because of severe weather or just being crazy busy with life. This last week however I had not posted in a week and I left my emails go unanswered. Yesterday I finally responded to over 50 comments that were left on my site. I feel that I’m letting my followers down.
Yesterday I told my husband that I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been cat sitting for a sick neighbour since Mother’s Day and we were dog sitting for 10 days while our daughter and daughter-in-law were on holiday on the East Coast. This holiday weekend I stayed home from the cottage to attend the Lawn Bowling Canada Day BBQ and be around when Andrea returned to pick up Olive. The cat and dog situation did not go well because they just didn’t get along so Tober spent more time in his house and didn’t come over at all. Today he is back.
Summer has barely started and I feel like it is almost over. Two days a week I’m baking at the Montgomery’s Inn, I belong to a book club and our meetings keep getting changed because of conflicts with people’s schedules. When a date was finally agreed upon I was the one with a conflict because our evening meeting was changed to the afternoon and I had already made a date with a friend. I told the group to go ahead without me. Lawn bowling is taking up some of my days as well. I’m part of the Golden Girls and five times this summer I’m scheduled to play in a tournament. Earlier this week when we played we got caught in a sudden storm and I was drenched. We had our Canada Day BBQ on the weekend and that was fun and much drier. I also play bridge with my neighbours and Mary wanted to host a garden bridge party. Unfortunately all the dates selected didn’t work for me and I had to decline.
I could go on about the BBQs I’ve attended , planning a trip to go to Calgary in two weeks, trying to maintain my garden, going to the dentist, and trying to keep the house somewhat clean but I don’t want to bore you. What I’m not doing is making art and I think that is part of my problem. I love all the things that I do but the most creative activity has taken a back seat. Kevin is painting up a storm but I haven’t been able to pick up a brush or pencil. I have to learn to say no and I have been doing that more often but I’m still busy. This weekend I’m making time to go to the cottage and I’ll bring a book and some art supplies.
So I’m sorry that I haven’t been getting to my emails but I’ll try to do better. I’ll try to post at least one story a day. It might just be a photo of a flower or my husbands weekly art challenges but I need to get my groove back.
My Happy Place
…yesterday I went north to open my cottage
With the help of my dear friend, Liz, I drove to the cottage to open it up for the season. I always dread the first visit because it is often a lot of work. This year, however, the cottage was very clean. There was very little evidence of mice. They hadn’t run over the dishes or gotten into the cupboards.
We raked the leaves off the deck and the pathways, set up the BBQ, filled the water barrel, made the beds and put away the clean linens, blankets and pillows that I had brought home last fall to clean. When most of the work had been done we made dinner and took a walk on the beach.
This morning we woke up early and Liz actually went swimming. June is very early to be diving into Georgian Bay but Liz did it and actually swam for about 10 minutes. She went for a second swim later in the day. We went for another walk along the beach but this time we walked to both ends and took lots of photos.
It was difficult to leave because the cottage truly is my happy place and the day was perfect. I can now go back up knowing that everything is in place and most of the hard work is don
At 5:30 we caught the ferry to go home. I wanted to be home for Father’s Day so that our daughter, daughter-in-law and I could take Kevin out to celebrate this special day. As the ferry headed for the other side I noticed that it took a turn and was headed west instead of south. We soon discovered that we were in pursuit of a disabled boat with three passengers. When we reached them they climbed on board but before that one of them fell into the water. Thankfully he was all right. Then the crew tried to tie the disable boat to the ferry. After some trying moments they succeeded and we headed back to the island to drop off the exhausted boaters. Eventually we were headed back to the mainland and arrived about 40 minutes later than expected. Being a Saturday night the rest of the trip home was quick and uneventful.
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Nostalgia
…thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting weekly prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/06/14/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-nostalgia-2/
As I get older I become more and more nostalgic. All kinds of things remind me of my past. Baking bread at the inn reminds me of our first trip to San Francisco where I first tasted sourdough white bread and my box of buttons reminds me of my mom and her button box. I even created a series of paintings called Needle and Thread that brought back memories of my childhood.
Thursday Trios – June 15, 2023
….trios of art tools, rocks for weaving and hand-made bookmarks
If you have any trios to share I’d love to see them. Just copy my link and paste it into your post and I’ll leave a comment when I get back from the cottage (no internet).
Opening Reception for Our Group Art Show
…Saturday was the official opening reception for Artist’s Choice at WAAC
Last week I helped install this wonderful show. There were close to 90 pieces of art that needed to be hung. The installation team worked really well together and after about five hours all the pieces found a new home in the Dignam Gallery at WAAC.
On Saturday I went to the gallery to gallery sit from 11:00 to 1:00 and then the reception took place from 1:00 to 4:00. The turnout was amazing and I spoke to many visitors who asked about my art. Here are some of the highlights of the day.
Here are some of the artists and their guests.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Fresh
… thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/06/10/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-fresh/
There’s nothing like bread fresh out of the oven. Every week, on Wednesdays, I head over to Montgomery’s Inn where I help bake the bread for the Farmers’ Market. The bread is prepped the day before, except the sourdough, and hand kneaded and shaped before it goes into the wood fired oven.
Mama Cormier 