Morning at the Cottage….coffee, views of the beach and a ladybug

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….morning is my favourite time at the cottage

Sleep! I sleep so well at the cottage. I think it has to do with the darkness, the silence and the fresh air. I rarely stay up past 11:00 and I sleep soundly for 8 to 10 hours.

I love mornings. I make coffee, prepare a simple breakfast of cereal and berries, sit in the sun on my deck and leisurely enjoy eating my morning meal, all while I’m still in my pyjamas. Often I read a good book and relax with a second cup of coffee.

Currently I’m rereading Half Blood Blues. I’m pretty sure I didn’t finish it the first time. Most of the ladies in the book club really liked this book. I’m giving it another go. Much better, so far.

Everyday since Sunday I’ve been walking along the back road or on the beach. Today I decided to go for a long swim. I can honestly say that I have never had such a great swim and it’s the longest distance I’ve ever covered. The conditions were perfect.

I look forward to going back on Saturday. I’m sharing some of the views I see when I’m on the beach at the end of our road. The beach looks out over the north bay of the island. It was an exceptionally beautiful morning and as usual it was quiet and under used. Weekends is another story.

Normally this thorny thistle is an unusual and somewhat unwelcome addition to a sandy beach; however, upon closer inspection I discovered a lovely little ladybug nestled on one of its spiny branches.

Off to the Wilderness

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….makes me laugh when I say it because there’s more wildlife here in the city than at my cottage!

We don’t have these at the cottage!

I won’t be posting for a several days because I have no access to electricity. There is electricity on the island just not at my cottage. If K has his way there will never be electricity in our cottage unless we invest in a renewable energy source. More on that another time.

I’ll be at the cottage by myself. I’m hoping I’ll have time to reflect, re-energize and refocus on my weight loss goals. I’m holding steady at my 20 pounds plus weight loss but I need to move forward for the next 20 pounds. Long walks/runs on the beach, swimming, raking the lot and cleaning the cottage should help with the fitness goals. I’m bringing my kettle bell as well.

Cooking for myself and not worrying about other people’s dietary needs is helpful as well. The only problem is I tend to forget the time up there and eat at odd hours. I’ll be fine as long as I get in my three meals before it gets dark. I also have to make a concerted effort to stay hydrated. The spring water we draw from is excellent but it wasn’t working when I opened the cottage last weekend so I’ll be bringing large bottles of water just in case.

I do have a phone at the cottage and a battery powered radio so I’m not completely isolated from the rest of the world. And before you think I’m living the life of a hermit I do have neighbours and there’s always someone close by.

I need to get a move on. I still have to buy the water and propane to run the fridge and BBQ. Looking forward to a few days of R&R.

Cheers!

The Cottage is Open!

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. very little evidence of mice or water damage.

Every year I dread opening the cottage because I don’t know what lies before me. In years past I’ve had coolers full of water and dead floating mice or acorns strewn all over the place because squirrels had inhabited the place over the winter.

For that reason I don’t like going up by myself to open the cottage. Since June was so incredibly busy at school and with my aunt being in the hospital, I didn’t have a chance to get to the cottage earlier this year.

My good friend L, drove up with me on Saturday. I picked her up before 9:00 in the morning and we arrived at the ferry dock by 11:00. The drive across the island was uneventful and we saw little evidence of new cottages going up. The lot next to ours has been leased for 3 years now but building hasn’t started.

The outside of the cottage looked fine. The lot needs to be racked and a few branches need to be cleared from the winter fall out. After we removed the plywood that covers our main door we carefully entered cottage. Surprise! It was exactly as we had left it. There was very little evidence of mice. I forgot that we left cloves all over the place so initially I didn’t know what I was looking at. Apparently rodents don’t like cloves and will avoid the areas where they’ve been left out.

I think some water may have come in after the snow melted off the roof but the bowls and coolers that we left out were empty. So far I’ve found no dead anything. L and I moved the propane fridge outside (I don’t trust it), set up the BBQ, emptied the water barrel, swept the deck and the outhouse and took all the cushions out of the plastic garbage bags and set up the couch.

When we had finished all of this we had a nice picnic lunch on the deck and then we headed for the beach for a nice swim. The weather has been so warm this spring and especially in the last 2 weeks that the water was actually swimmable. Georgian Bay is such a large body of water that most people don’t go swimming until August because it usually takes that long to warm up.Yesterday the water was refreshing and a nice break from the sweltering heat. It was difficult to pack up and leave.

Did I tell you that we only went up for the day. We caught the 4:00 ferry back to the mainland and drove back to Toronto so that we could attend our book club meeting.

A Moveable Feast: the Restored Edition

The book that we were discussing was Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. Most members in the club hated the book and rated it very poorly. L and I, on the other hand quite liked the book and had a completely different perspective. As it turns out, the two of us read the restored edition that was published in 2009. This new edition had new chapters added, chapters moved around and sections of the book were replaced with Hemingway’s original drafts that the editors in the past had changed.

This restored edition is apparently how Hemingway wanted the book published. During our discussion it became clear that the two books are considerably different or at least different enough to give the reader a completely different perspective on the man himself. L and I quite liked the Hemmingway we read about and the rest of the group despised him.

Earlier in the year we read The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. I loved the connections I could make between the two books. McLain’s book is historical fiction and based on Hadley’s and Hemingway’s marriage and life together in Paris. In the restored addition of A Moveable Feast, it was abundantly clear that Hemingway truly loved Hadley. The group that had read the original version did not share the same conclusion.

I rated the restored addition of A Moveable Feast 3 1/2 out of 5.