Time to Close the Cottage for the Season

Closing time at the cottage is bittersweet.

I absolutely love Autumn at the cottage. I like that there are fewer people out on the lake and the quiet that goes with that. I love the changing colours, the birds on their migration routes stopping by the island for a snack of acorns or that sunset time when Canada Geese land in the water in front of the cottage in massive honking mass. We can feel the air pull us forward as they swoop a few feet over our heads and splash into the water.

I love cold evenings as an excuse to light a fire in the fireplace and cuddle to keep warm under a pile of blankets and quilts. I love baking warm dishes in the oven and sipping hot cider on the dock. The last of the smokey bonfires in the backyard turns into last chances to clean up some stray branches in the yard.

Sadly it becomes clear that it really is time to pack up for the year. The cottage is not insulated for year round use and it becomes hard to keep the place warm enough to sleep, even with a roaring fire.
When you wake up and find your water glass has a skim of ice on top you realize that winter is truly on its way. A bigger concern is when you try and turn on the taps and you discover the water in the pipes has become frozen. We have to worry about draining our hot water tank and getting the water pump out of the lake before it becomes frozen and damaged.

We bring in all the furniture and drapes off the porch and bring in the outdoor furniture and decorations that we want to protect from the wind and snow. We put a lot of quilts and fabric items in large rubber tubs and I try to bag up as much of the dishes and kitchen items as I can cut down on the washing in the spring and also as protection just in case any little critters find their way into the cottage despite our best efforts at rodent proofing.

We load our boat and bring home any food or clothes or hobby materials we might want over the winter or items that might be damaged by freezing like paint.

The boat ride to the mainland dock is short but then comes the job of lifting the boat out of the lake and onto its boat trailer. Finally, it has to be winterized, drained and then wrapped up in boat covers and tarps to protect it through the winter.

This year we finished with the boat just as we witnessed a spectacular sunset. It was such a fitting finale to our cottage season.

Fall view from the Front Yard

Ours was the last boat to come out of the water at the mainland docks

The Boat Launch in Fall

Sunset Farewell

The Little Ol' Wagon

Our friends Ann and Tom were moving from their family home to an appartment so they needed to downsize.  One of the items they kindly gave us was a children's wagon. We have had it sitting in our backyard and I used it for gardening supplies and it held plants in pots for one year. The wagon was showing its age plus wear from being outsdie and then last year the bottom rotted out.

Bob decided we should take it to the lake and maybe he could use it for hauling supplies from the boat to the cottage. His first step was to make the little wagon sound again and then to try it out.

 It is too late to paint it this year but that will be part of our "We will have to do that next year" List.

You dont have to reinvent the wheel, just attach it to a new wagon.

                                              Mark McCormack

I Love How Beautiful Fall is at the Lake

We load up the boat at the dock we rent on the mainland and head out through the bay into the lake.

It only takes a few minutes before we have turned the corner and are approaching our little island. Most of the year it is hard to spot our cottage but once the trees start to lose their leaves the white cottage starts to pop out. The large rock out from really shows up too.

Here we are approaching the dock and cottage and if you look carefully you can spot

our big white dog, Jasper, waiting for us. The line of white along the dock is a series of bumpers to protect both the side of our new dock and our boat.

Moondance for an Autumn Night

Looking across the bay during Moon Rise

Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

’Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

And I’m trying to please to the calling

Of your heartstrings that play soft and low...

              ~Van Morrison, "Moondance,

I couldn't find a good video with Van Morrison but I really do love listening to Michael Buble!

Fall in the Raised Bed Gardens

Welcome!

We have a little raised bed garden on the side of the cottage. It is a bit of a learning curve for us but we are having a lot of fun with it. The climate at the cottage tends to be quite variable and we are not always there to water it or protect it from chipmunks and possibly beavers.

One bed is mainly herbs and we also tried for garlic but that just didn't work out. We have been using the herbs a bit but, more often than not, I forget that that is a cooking option out here! The herbs actually do pretty spectacularly. We put them pretty close together and the Parsley and Cilantro kind of crowded the other herbs but they still did fine.

I tried adding some lettuce seeds, purchased at Dollarama, to the spot where the garlic didn't grow.  I keep reading about how you can have two crops a year of  spring types of plants so I thought I would experiment.  They have popped up and look cute but really, it could freeze any night now.

This is our poor little squash which is still making efforts even though it is too late for this year. 

 Not even one flower was sucessful this year!

Here we have the beginnings of a delicious pasta sauce at the Lake Cottage!

Fall on the Porch

I wanted to take these pictures because of the fantastic light that streams into the porch. I love to sit in this chair and read, have a cup of tea and just relax.

Jasper has his special place on the porch too.

The Tiny Tree

Persistence:

Continuing firmly or obstinately in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

When my oldest was just tiny she became attached to a tiny little sprig of a spruce tree that was growing in a small crack in the big rock that is at the front of our cottage. We never thought the tree would make it but bit by bit the tree has grown. It has forced the crack in the giant rock to get bigger and bigger. The crack gathers bits of moss, the lake washes over the crack and bits of material collect in the depression feeding and watering the tree.
It is exposed to the snow ice and winds  and sometimes in storms the lake washes completely over the rock with great force but that tree, still grows taller every year.

Our Fall Bedroom

Welcome to our Bedroom in the Fall. Here is what our bedroom is looking like this year.

We have family pics on the wall, my fall quilt and pillow shams on the bed.

The window looks out onto the screen porch.. 

Here is my side of the bed. The 3 pics on the wall are some of Bob’s nature Photography. 

The small dresser was in left in the cottage when we took possession. I love the round mirror and the dresser is the perfect size to fit between the closet wall and the open door.
My kids each stained a wooden candle sticks for me 25 years ago for my birthday. There is a .Battery powered candle , fall floral in a vase I got when we were first married. 

Last is that little copper bowl has a few pinecones and a red fleece heart ❤️ my 10 year old grand daughter sewed just for me when she was at the cottage this past August!