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The cottage trip went more smoothly than expected, with Carolyn's emotions only really getting the better of her once we were on the last stretch of the drive.


The cottage itself wintered well, with no apparent leaks or cracked pipes, and no-one having broken in since I sealed it up in the fall, which has happened a couple times in the past.  Being basically invisible from the road or any neighbours, its kind of a target for things like that.

The weather was fantastic, and something like 10 degrees warmer than the forecast I'd seen before we left, allowing for some naturism (again, its pretty secluded up there..), and making the outdoor chores enjoyable.

The lone black spot on the long weekend came when we attempted to run a load of the weekend's linens and towels through the washer, and finding that the winter cold and, likely more significant, age of the washer had cracked a seal in the drum leaving us scrambling to sop up a lot of water, without the benefit of a mop.

Its still very much up in the air as to what will come of the cottage in coming months as Carolyn's mom and siblings sort out their desires.  But low maintenance weekends like this one past make me more open to the outside prospect of taking on a second property tax bill.

Give the People What They Want

I mentioned a few posts ago that my friend had sold some of her artwork with Carolyn in it a little while back. Now Carolyn has been featured again in a diptych

© A. Ramsay

Again some great stuff, and awesome to see in full scale.

Edit: Blogger is pissing me off lately. In the preview the images are side by side, but as soon as I publish they end up stacked on top of one another, no matter what kind of floats I use. Annoying.

Immortalized

© A. Ramsay

A friend of mine takes photos and enlarges them into relief artwork in wood. A few months ago we found out she'd sold a piece with Carolyn carved into it, and now it seems it was my turn to be put into art.

I have no idea whether this piece is for sale yet or will be, but if for some reason you happen to be interested in a large portrait of me (obviously for the art, not the content), or similar pieces, let me know and I should be able to get you in contact.

Sniffle Hack Wheeze

I disappeared for the weekend with Carolyn to her cottage. Before leaving, I picked up a nasty cold/flu that's been making its rounds. I managed to load enough orange juice and vitamin C pills into my body to hold the worst of it off until Monday morning around 2 am, at which point I woke up and couldn't sleep again for two hours. Lack of sleep combined with elevation changes driving back home yesterday made my head feel like a dense ball of yellow-green phlegmy goo (not far from the truth).

A bit of turkey soup, and time seem to have the cold on its way out.

Back from the Bruce

The extended weekend up at Carolyn's cottage on the peninsula was awesome. Mostly quiet. Mostly nice weather. Mostly good food.

3 hours of rain in 4 and a half days is nothing to complain about, even when you burn your knuckles on the barbecue trying to keep the food from getting soaked with rain spilling off the roof.

In an effort to save money, I tried to keep the road tripping to a minimum, but we did manage to make it up to Tobermory to walk around for a bit and see the million dollar sailboats interspersed with more modest fishing boats and glass bottom boat tour boats. Carolyn told me she'd gone on one of the glass bottom tours once only to find that the 'glass bottom' was a couple feet square window, which you had to fight for space around with the rest of the passengers. Certainly not the image the mind conjures for the description.

We also made it out to the Georgian Bay side to hike a little ways along the Bruce Trail out to the cliffs near Devil's Monument. With Carolyn's vertigo at cliff tops, and with trails running within a couple feet of the edge, we decided not to push very far along the trail.


After turning around and heading back to the van, we decided to try the drive north along the shore to the lighthouse at Cabot's Head. Most of the drive was a one lane gravel road right along the rocky beach with little room to pull aside for traffic coming the other way. Hopefully the scratches along the side of the van aren't anything more than some roughing of the clear coat; I still have to wash off the dust accumulated from that part of the trip. When we got to Cabot's Head though, there was a sign that requested a mandatory donation. The last time I checked, I thought that was called a fee, not a donation. We decided to turn around and were happy with the scenic drive, mostly on principle, but also on lack of change.

The rest of the time up there was spent sitting around in the sun watching the swarms of grasshoppers and frogs hop across the clearing, drinking, and burning through the lumber pile.

I won't use the end of this post to talk about how the only meal really gone wrong was the blueberry pancakes attempted by Carolyn. That would be mean.

Nature of Things

Woof

Oh yea, we also adopted a dog.

Steve and his wife adopted one also.

They got along great for about 15 minutes when they met the other night. Lots of sniffing and marking, but not even a hint of a growl. Then, food was introduced to the mix, and that changed everything. A bloody paw on Sasha was the only visible wound from the melee that ensued; impressive given the noise the two of them made. Our dog, Tyson, has been listening to commands better since that all went down though.

Last night was a pretty mellow night of a few beers and busting open some board games with Carolyn. Overall its been an unusually low key long weekend.

Faxe'd in the Butt

Tasty meal...but moving the chicken off the grease hotspots that my grill tends to develop and still keeping it upright was a bit of a challenge. I think I'll go back to rotisserie next time around.

One Day My 1994 Dodge Caravan Will Be Celebrated

It must be spring cleaning day at the apartment up the street. There are cars lined up and down both sides of an otherwise dead street during the daytime. Stepping out on my balcony this morning for some fresh air, I noticed some classic cars all lined up and decided to walk up the street for a closer look.

It must cost a fortune in additional parking on the owner's rent to keep these underground, but for the most part they were in great shape, for as much as I know about classic cars and how they are 'supposed' to look.

Berlin

Picture Show

Fin.

Mailing It In

Mailing it in is trendy, but i fly in the face of cutesy. See: Tony, Nick, or Anthony.

Coon Lake

After the funeral on Monday, and some running around on Tuesday, Carolyn and I took off to meet up with some friends camping on Tuesday night. As it was we made great time for the typical four to four and a half hour drive to Algonquin, making it to the site near the far side of the park in a bit under 4 hours.

Driving the winding highway 60 in the rain after dark though was cause to slow down, and infact the two does that we had to stop for in the middle of the road ended up being the largest wildlife we saw the whole time we were up there. On my two previous trips into Algonquin park, there had been no shortage of moose sightings, but they managed to shy away from Carolyn for 5 days.

Despite a cool, windy and rainy weather system blowing through most of the time, we got enough of a break to get in some hiking and kayaking, and huddled around the fire with drinks to keep warm at night. Eventually the rain and wind was enough to start showing leaks at the seams, but having taken the van, I was able to clear out enough space in there to sleep comfortably. It ended up being so comfortable infact, that any similar car camping trips in the future will find me sleeping in the back.

There's a lot to be said for being properly prepared for a camping trip, and this time around was a much better experience than the previous struggle, but now its back to the reality of family drama in dividing an estate 12 ways, and finishing some semblance of a thesis.

Of course Carolyn noticed that this tree was well hung.