November 26: It is just slightly more than a month since I closed the cottage for the last time this season. As it turned out, Roy and I were at the cottage to do the closing on the same day that 2 guys showed up to install the kitchen countertop. It’s a small place and things were a bit chaotic, so it felt somewhat unsatisfying to me to turn the key and leave at the end of the day. Almost as soon as I arrived home, I discovered that I had left a bag of frozen food sitting on the (new) counter when we left. I had also neglected to gather up a couple of other things that I wanted to bring home for the winter.
So, roughly a week later, I returned and collected the (now empty and cleaned out) freezer bag from my good friend McCart, and spent a short time having lunch and “saying goodbye” to the cottage once again. It was harder to do so than last year for a bunch of reasons.
The weather was really wonderful right through the beginning of October. With virtually no rain and lots of warm days, it felt more like mid-September. It was warm enough that I was swimming every day during the first week of October, and it felt like there was still a few weeks of cottage time left to enjoy; the closing date snuck up on me.
We made really good progress this summer and the place felt more like a cottage and less like the “work camp” we had endured last year. With the kitchen now pretty much operational, and the main rooms becoming more comfortable, I was able to have folks up for a visit and that made it feel more “cottagey”. It also meant that I was personally happier at the cottage this year as my vision for the place started to appear more clearly. I became quite reluctant to leave.
But all good things come to an end, and this year in cottaging is no exception. As I start the long, slow slide into the slumbers of winter, I have many months to imagine what we might be able to do to make the place better. There’s a ton of work still to do and it will all be waiting for me in May when we open for next year. At least with opening up, you only have to do it once….