Cottage Memories – Chronicles of A City Boy’s Life In The Country…
Check out my humorous “Cottage Memories” columns, as they appeared in Cottage Country Lifestyle Magazine, published 6 times yearly in Ontario to serve the Kawartha, Peterborough and Haliburton areas. Watch for more to come!
Wood Rules
Everyone should have a position on wood. Mine is flat on my aching back. Prior to my proneness, I took wood for granted. It stands in forests. Rests in stacked piles. Clutters roads after storms. It gets trimmed, tapped, sprayed, stood under, standed in, carved, built with, cut and burned. Wood is a fact of rural life. And now, a hard fact of mine.
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about my take on heating a cottage with firewood, click on this link:1CottageCountry_Fall2022
Up In Smoke
The wife likes a good barbecue, especially during Christmas Holidays. I suspect my being outside contributes to making it good, not the quality of my grilling. Maybe she still hopes that practice makes perfect. I can hear her and any guests cheering me on from inside, wine glasses in hand. Outside, I’m slowly turning my bod into smoked meat.
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about my BBQing ordeals, click on this link: 2CottageCountry_Christmas2022_35
Little Brown Shack
How does that old song go – “Little brown shack out back so dear to me”? Billy Ed Wheeler knew whereof he sang. Outhouses help us take indoor conveniences less for granted. And when modern facilities aren’t up to the task, it’s either that outback shack or a swift visit to the bush for me. I’m still picking out the thorns.
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about living with an outhouse, click on this link: 3CottageCountry_Winter202329
Pump Perils
Pumps are the great cottage equalizer. No matter how much design, decor or dinaro has gone into your abode. When the pump stops, the world crashes to a halt and castle transforms to hunt camp. Enterprising realtors could charge one dollar for the structure and many other thousands for a working pump. The ad could read: “Two thousand square foot pump house for sale.”
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about my experiences relying on a pump to provide water at the cottage, click on this link: 4CottageCountry_Spring2023 39 (1)
Take No Prisoners
Spring’s here along with the onset of bug season. Insects are the bane of my cottage existence. Or at least the wife’s bane, which she gladly shares. I used to mostly ignore bugs: they don’t take up much space, get sick or need petting; don’t want to play or go for a walk, and don’t incur vet bills. I’ve never stooped and scooped for an insect either. But the biting ones love humans, and that’s where the wife and her bane changed my life, because she’s prime meat. I mean, who else gets bug bites in December?
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about my sorry life with flying insects, click on this link: 5CottageCountry_SpringIntoSummer2023_online
My Summer Hang Out
Cottage bliss is a lazy summer afternoon in a gently swaying hammock. Aficionados of hanging out appreciate a hammock’s stress relieving powers. For me, the appeal is work put on hold – although it can be difficult to ignore the wife’s “To Do List” tacked to a nearby tree trunk. But hammocks don’t make good beds. Anyone who has been forced to sleep or tried napping in one can testify to its shortcomings.
To enjoy my Cottage Memories column about my hammock perils, click on this link: 6CottageCountry_Summer2023_ 39