Building The Love Shack

It’s another beautiful day here in Southern Ontario. It’s hard to believe it’s November. The sun is shining, no jacket required. I was out in the yard doing that pack away/end of Summer clean up, enjoying the sun on my face and the sound of leaves crushing under my feet, when suddenly if felt like I was having Deja Vu.

Didn’t I just do this. Didn’t I just spend another day, putting away the barbeque and taking down the dining tent.  Putting the tables and chairs way. Raking up the leaves. Wait, I know when it was, last weekend at the cottage.

They say that sixty percent of all cottages are bought by people over the age of fifty. I now have the reasons why. When you buy a cottage, you definitely have a second home. It requires time. I know for sure, I would not have been able to do with a house full of kids.

There is grocery shopping for both houses. Two frigs to clean, and dishes to wash at both places.

There are two lawns to mow. Two sets of gardens to maintain. Two sets of house repairs to do.

You also have more bedrooms to clean, another bathroom to clean, more laundry to do, and garbage to be put out at each house. There are more windows to wash, more floors to sweep and more dusting to do. Yes, even unfinished, I still have cleaning to do.

And then there is winterizing both houses.

I never really took into considerations when we bought the cottage, that not only would it be a great place to get away with family and friends, but that it also would require as much care as the family home.

Am I complaining? No, not really. The Love Shack is still my labor of love. The drive there and back is still my quiet time. I love the back roads of Southern Ontario and watching the farmers life’s as I drive by. Then there is the lake, that beautiful lake.

We have only a few more weeks left to work there. Winter will creep upon on us fast and we won’t be able to get into the cottage. The road will be covered in snow drifts. There is no plow, as it is a private road.

Most of our Cottage Friends, have closed up for the winter. Some, the retried ones have headed to Florida, doing the Snow Bird Migration.

Down at the lake, and at the cottage, there is tranquility that is created by the unbelievable quiet. The sounds of the cottagers, the children laughing, the music playing, the dogs barking, and all those family sounds, are now gone for the year.

You can hear the sound of lake from a long distance away, as it breaks against the rocks. The fall winds are blowing off the lake, you can hear the wind hollowing through the trees. The sunshine is still warm on your face, but followed quickly by a cool breeze.

The Canadian Geese, along with the flocks of Sparrows, have started to migrate south to avoid the winter. The Purple Martin’s and the Monarch Butterfly have already headed south with the Snow Birds. The Segal’s have remained. I am not sure when they will leave.

 

You can still find the squirrels and the rabbits getting ready for winter. The Woodpeckers are still banging on the trees. The occasional Red Fox can been seen running in the fields, and the deer are peaking their heads out the woods, now that the noise from the cottagers  is gone.

We will be one of the last ones to winterize the cottage. Still working away to get as much as we can done for the year. Then we too will say goodbye to Cottage Country.

Well, until Spring, when we come back to open the cottage and get it ready to start all over again. Right about the same time we start getting the family home ready for Spring.

And then it will be Deja vu, again.