Around the House

Here is my last post of our vacation, I'll take you on a tour of our cottage.  

This is our least favorite room.  It's dark, has no view, and has pretty ugly furniture left behind from the previous owners.  But... it does have a cozy fireplace (did you notice the cross built into the chimney?) This room is the original portion of the cottage which we've heard was a vicarage.  We're still seeking to verify what we've been told about the history of the cottage from a couple of sources.  In a little while, this room will probably look VERY different.  Stay tuned.

This is Lottie's room taken from the room pictured above (her room is the original front porch).  This was taken the day we were moving in so it looks rather sparse.

 The kitchen. After painting.  Before decorating.

As you might imagine, this is our favorite room;  it is sunny, pretty, and has a beautiful water view on three sides.

A beautiful screened in porch with a perfect view (they call it a "Muskoka Room" up here).  We ate pretty much every meal out here together as a family.

Our dining room, before we started painting.  Goodbye purple!

This is our Amish cookstove. I didn't use it this trip... as you might imagine, it also acts as a heater and would have made the living room unbearably hot.  Of course, my mom had to go antiquing to find just the right accessories.

Here I am on a daily basis, reading in the hammock with a beautiful view and enthralling book. In case you're wondering it's an eno hammock which we love and highly recommend, they are so comfy. 

Dad prefers the rope hammock. But one false foot movement and down you go.

Here is our adorable cozy boathouse.  The room above is my parent's bedroom.

Taken from our porch

I know this isn't a very artistic photo but it gives you an idea of how clear the water is. Its about 4 feet deep on the right. We could see about 10 feet down. 

The evenings were the prettiest. The sun shining on the water reminded one of the "Lake of Shining Waters" (Can you tell which book I was reading?)

A still, quiet morning in Muskoka

Halfway through our trip we had a beautiful full moon that rose in front of our cottage

Our favorite sound in Muskoka is the call of loons. They have a beautiful, haunting call. We saw them nearly every day.  But one morning this darling little family decided to visit right in front of our cottage.

This isn't my video, but it gives you an idea of what they sound like.

When this family swam by Mama loon was with the babies and the dad (I assume) was a ways away. They called to each other across the lake, and eventually met up. 

The view of our cottage early one morning from across the bay.

Muskoka Faces

Anatomy of a jump

On our evening boat rides to watch the sunset it was quite chilly and we had a delightful time wrapping up in blankets and thinking of our friends at home sweating in the heat and humidity. 

My mom's cousin lives just 20 minutes from the cottage so we had a lovely time seeing them on a couple of occasions.  My mom was the flower girl in her wedding about 45 years ago!

My mom's parents came and stayed with us for several days. Because three members of our family had already left it was great to have more people in the house and we loved showing Nana and Grandpa our new place.

Grandpa celebrated his 81st birthday with us. I'm approximately a 1/4 of his age.

My Nana and Judy, who was a flower girl in Nana's wedding 55 years ago!

Me reading, again. I estimated that by the end of the three weeks I had read approximately 60 hours. 

During our last week my my mom's aunt and uncle, and cousin came for the day. 

Andy, Donna and Charlotte

Charlotte and I with Uncle Jack and Auntie Barbara, creator of the world's best Scotcharoos

The ubiquitous group photo

Charlotte likes to tame the chipmunks with peanuts. By the end of the trip she could feed them out of her hand. Auntie Barbara also likes to tame chipmunks, she used to have one in her yard that would sit on her shoulder. 

Vacation Food

Not a particularly interesting title but tis true. 

Cooking on vacation can be a challenge, we can't bring our pantry with us and we don't want to buy a new one for just three weeks. Thus, we are left with limited cooking options. But, thanks to the local farmer's market, we had plenty of fresh fruit. Peaches especially--we bought lots of peaches and never had a bad one.  Blueberries too!

Only on vacation do you have time to shell peas

Homemade blueberry pie

Having corn for the tenth time

One of my favorite breakfasts: oatmeal, yogurt, honey, milk, and fresh fruit. Instead of heating up oatmeal, I just let it soak. 

We had some relatives come over for a day and my dear great Auntie Barbara made these scotcharoos. No one can make them like her!

Sunset over Georgian Bay

One evening Mom, Lottie and I drove 10 minutes from our cottage to the coast of Georgian Bay to watch the sunset. It was spectacular, even if the wind was at least 40 mph. 

Just for fun I haven't edited these pictures (except for the ones of me), they are straight out of the camera, no color enhancing. That way you can better appreciate the natural beauty.

Explorer Charlotte

For you photographers out there this pictures is taken on the "cloudy" white balance setting

And this one is with the "sunshine" white balance. I didn't change anything else.