Summer and Fall Happenings

Summer Happenings for the Sailors

We often say to full time cruisers that we quite enjoy our other life....the six months that we spend home in Ontario. We live in a condominium in Bayfield, Ontario and cottage 10 kms (6 miles) north of there. We spend very little time at our condo even though we are close to a beach but instead are happiest living in a rustic cabin right on the beach. I leave the luxury of a big bathtub and come to the beach to shower under a tree. You would think I would have had enough solar bag showers living on Celebrian!?
This summer Rob is getting close to putting siding on our shed building while we wait for the excitement of putting concrete piers under the main cottage. Our other big news is the installation of an incline railway trolley. We used to think it was something we wouldn't need until we were unable to climb the hill (approx. 100 cedar stairs) but the fact is that we need it now as a freight car as we work away at renovating and maintaining these old cottage buildings. My family began camping here over 100 years ago and then in the 1920s and 30s began to build little cabins....we are still in those cabins even though they have had replacement windows, doors, siding, steel roofs etc. My 88 year old mother spent 3 weeks here this summer and climbed the 100 steps when she left to return to her nursing home....clearly it doesn't make sense to wait until you can't climb to install a lift.
Highlights of the summer so far have been ....

...our annual beach bash. This year's theme was Caliente Caliente Caliente (Hot Hot Hot) and even though we didn't have the best of weather days everyone had a good time.
...Rob's hard work on the shed ...fixing all of the windows and painting and installing them ...installing new siding...a re-birth for this old building
...mom's visit at the ripe age of 88 for three weeks in July
...great summer theatre in Grand Bend..Camelot, Evita, Oliver and more
...installation of our trolley which has been kept busy steadily hauling bricks and mortar up hill and tools and supplies down
...a few good windsurfing and dinghy sailing days
...lots of planning work for renovations...windows, doors, and design options
...mid September raising of the main cottage...up 4 feet while we put 17 bigfoot cement piers under it
...new Jotul free standing gas stove to be instauled on Oct. 6th....looks just like a wood stove
...installation of a propane tank at the top of the hill with a line feeding the cottage for the new Jotul and my mother's vintage Moffat stove
...home inspection audit for energy grants
...hydro lift of our two hydro poles...
...new septic system and the list goes on
...work, work and more work

We keep ourselves busy but we enjoy what we do.