Canada Day Weekend with Friends

How does one relax at the cottage? Really, this should not be a difficult question to answer, but if one is a home owner or vacation property owner, you know that there is a lot of work required for general upkeep. So when you come to the cottage, there is generally a long “to do” list to get through.

Luckily my circle of friends include Dion, Ken and Marlene. Not only are they lovely, wonderful people, they are also extremely handy around the cottage! The three of them had five days at the cottage this week and when I arrived at the end of their stay, the entire “to do” list was done!

This list included basic things like fixing of a cottage step, windows and shutters, which are things that few people would notice (one generally only notices these things when they don’t work). But some of the bigger things, such as getting new mattresses and building new Muskoka chairs were immediately noted and very much appreciated or admired.

I think that Muskoka chairs are the symbol of an Ontario cottage. Our grandfather built 5 chairs, based on 3 different patterns many years ago. These white chairs have seen many sunsets and campfires over the years. But as with most things, there is a finite lifespan that these chairs will continue to provide comfort and support and they are currently falling apart.

Summer of 2010 we started looking around at all the available Muskoka chairs that are for sale. Ignoring the myriad choice of colours, we started sitting in every chair we saw for sale. Every time we were shopping with Dion, we got the comment from him that he could build a better chair. As we never purchased any chairs last summer, we took him up on his word. Upon arrival to the cottage, Dion and Ken had produced two gorgeous cedar Muskoka chairs.

Not only are they well-crafted, they are extremely comfortable to sit in. I think they look perfect on our deck at the cottage. (Note: I am sure that if you express an interest, he is willing to sell more upon order.)

With our new mattresses at the cottage, we have also improved the comfort for our guests’ sleep at night (and our own!). Also, our dock is in the process of being rebuilt and extended. With the expected dimensions of the new floating dock to be 8’ by 14’, I think that we will be shortly having our morning coffees down our new dock on the new Muskoka chairs.

I am not sure that life gets better than this.

We were lucky enough to have our friends celebrate Canada Dad weekend with us. The list of peeps at the cottage this weekend is: Ezra, Melanie, Ruthanne, Jennifer, Dion (girl-boy), Princess Pretty (Sara), Joanna and Christina.

Hot topics of conversation included: lichen (Ezra), pickles (Dion & Ezra) salt water crocodiles armour (Ezra), birth control, root beer float, the proper construction of Giant Smores, a Skillet Cookie, Ezra’s restaurant called “à la Dion”, the Capri Island (and being a beached whale on Capri Island), poop & pulling fingers, how to train your dragon, the difference between dragons and reptiles (Ezra), Kobo, competitive Sudoku (Dion & Christina – Christina won), cooperative crosswords (Jennifer, Ruthanne, Dion, Christina), power tools (Dion & Ezra), clubbing chipmunks (not really, but it was discussed) and the Notable Sawyer (Ezra).

Tonight, we didn’t get a rainstorm as predicted, but we did have a pretty pink and blue sunset.


Once again, I don’t think life gets better than this.

Happy Birthday Canada!