The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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Ocean or Lake? I’ll take ocean every time

Camping or Hotel? Hotel please

Fishing? Not a huge fan

Canoeing? Eh

With that information in mind, you would never think that I would enjoy a long weekend at a small cottage on a lake with minimal amenities. But you, silly naive reader, would be so very wrong.

We just spent four days at “The Cottage” up in the Connecticut River Valley. The house has been in my wife’s family for the past five decades and she spent a good portion of her childhood summers there. We make it a point to make it up there at least once each summer. Admittedly, we are not an “outdoorsy family”. However, we do appreciate all that Mother Nature has provided and thoroughly enjoy not having a TV, not having video games, not having Internet access (OK I lied) and making our own fun.                

Here is a shot of the cottage from a neighbor’s dock.
 
And a shot of the front of the house facing the lake.
A nice old big canoe used to wander the lake and venture into the dreaded swamp area.

We may not be avid fisherman and I may not to be able to tell you the difference between a small mouth or large mouth bass, but we had fun feeding the Sunnies and trying to catch them with a net.  

And having the morning coffee or ten, sitting out on the lake is pretty damn cleansing and therapeutic.

We will find a way to incorporate baseball no matter where we go.

The small “beach” is big enough to bring out the sand toys and set up home base for the day. 
Kicking it old school trying to catch fish. Who needs a friggin pole, try doing it like we did. 
Total fish caught = 0

More proof that neglect is some times the best thing you can do for your plants. These have been untouched for years.

Not sure what these flowers are, but we loved watching the bees and dragonflies pounce all over them.

The kids loved the lily pads but we weren’t able to see them fully in bloom.

I love observing all the nature and shit going on and then hitting up Google to learn more. An educational moment for the children and I look all smart. These kick butt creatures are “Widow Skimmer” dragonflies.

Four straight days spent mostly outside in picture perfect 80 degree weather does the body and mind good.

I enjoy watching the kids explore, getting excited finding quartz in the lake or almost catching a minnow in their buckets.

I enjoy watching my wife relive her childhood, reading through old books that have been left behind or looking at the wall of measurements that has countless lines marking all of the children as they have grown throughout the years (quick note – I am still the tallest of all and damn proud).    

We all love The:

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11 Responses

  7. NICE!! I love the cottage, too! And the lake and the canoe and the wild flowers and the fish…! I think I might have to go every weekend if this beautiful property were in my family!

  8. Gorgeous! We go to my husband’s family camp in Maine every summer for a week. It’s on a lake in the woods and I look forward to it more and more every year. I ‘used’ to be an ocean person but have been much more drawn to the tranquility and serenity of lakes in the past several years. We love the fishing, swimming, boating, etc. and the old camp is without modern amenities, and it does a lot of good for our souls, too. So nice to see some of your summer fun. Those ‘neglected’ flowers are doing better than most ‘overly tended’ ones!

  9. What a beautiful place to be able to visit each year. The ‘cottage’ looks more like a house. I think it is wonderful that your children will have such great memories of their summer vacations spent there.

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