-
Disconnecting at the cottage
It’s a warm evening at the cottage. We finish dinner and start to discuss our post-dinner game choices. There are three generations this evening as my Mom is visiting. A boardgame? Cards? My niece proposes another option: “Anyone want to go for a swim?” She is a mermaid at heart. “I’m in,” I reply. The two of us quickly change into our bathing suits and head for the lake while the others settle on Euchre. Floating in the water I ask my niece what she likes about the cottage. “Freedom,” she says. “I get to do what I want. No school, parents telling me to do things.” I get it.…
-
Chasing waterfalls
I love hikes. It’s tail wagging fun. My family takes me on many. Sometimes I encounter squirrels to chase. Bunnies here and there. I like that a lot. I can be speedy when I have something to chase. Sticks are good too. Here’s something new I learned that are super fun to chase. Waterfalls! We took a short car ride to get to this hike. I am not so crazy about car rides. Except when my whole family is together. If only one person is in the car I am in trouble. We are going somewhere where they poke and prod me or where they cut my hair. Either way,…
-
Wildlife encounters at the cottage
Four hummingbirds were fighting over the last dredges of sugar syrup this morning. When the battle was over I refilled the red plastic feeder. Third time this week. A steady stream of tiny shimmering birds have been zipping over for a snack. It’s so popular they knock each other out of the way. Even without any sweet enticement I have been fortunate this summer to spot plenty of wildlife at our Little Straggle cottage. On a walk in the woods, I had a staring contest with a lone fox. He spotted me and stood utterly still in the forest. I admired his lustrous red coat and full bushy tail before…
-
A savvy beaver
I am fascinated by this photo. The slender hourglass shape carved by the beaver is striking. It looks fragile, yet perfectly balanced. I have seen many pointy tree stumps completely chomped down by beavers, and others with a few nibbles, but this trunk stood out as it was so very close to completion. Another bite or two, chomp chomp, and it surely it would fall. I took the photo a couple years and keep thinking about it. There must be meaning, a message, a hidden truth, to be uncovered in this finely chiseled trunk. But what? Then at the cottage this week I saw a beaver swimming across the lake.…
-
Cottage time … and time again
I am floating, suspended in the deep green, cool, clean water. Drifting. My body relaxed, head back, ears submerged in the water muting out any sounds other than the quiet of the lake. There is no other body of water where I have passed so many idle hours. Lazing on an inner tube, extremities dangling languidly into the water. Plunging into its refreshing embrace on a hot day. Swimming leisurely along the shore. Little Straggle Lake. I have been coming to this little lake my whole life. Literally. My parents owned the cottage before I was born so my first trip was as a baby. My husband and I now…
