Rediscovery

Last week I went on a 4 day biking/hiking/yurt camping trip with M(27) and E(20).  No, they're not robots like R2D2-- they are my daughters- initial of first name and age. Initials to keep it mysterious.

In the course of those 4 days I rediscovered a few things that I think are pretty important:

1. My daughters are AWESOME and I am madly in love with them. (Same is true for my son and I know we will solidly reaffirm this when we walk the France Camino Trail together, right A?) I say this rather sheepishly because I know we are all crazy for our children and think they are wonderful, no?

Gary Larson

But really - they are phenomenal--hard working, adventurous, humorous & fun, spiritual, athletic, talented, capable, intelligent and beautiful women.

E & M on Burnt Loop, Tobermory

E, who loves to live on the edge, felt it necessary to get up at 6:00 a.m. (it's still dark do you mind?) to hike back to the grotto & cliffs overlooking Georgian Bay where we had been the day before, so she could sit, meditate and swim again, (it was 4 degrees outside and the water not much warmer) in the bay. I told her she could easily wait until 7:00 or 8:00, but she was determined. And trust me there is no stopping her! M took me hiking on an alternate trail and talked rocks, trees, philosophy and life with me.  Her  depth, calm and positive energy totally distracted me from E's dangerous adventure.

2.  This province has some exquisite scenery. I had been here before and but had not remembered how truly magnificent the landscape and Georgian Bay in and around the Bruce Peninsula are. Biking and hiking (ya, ok and swimming in the SUMMER!) in that environment are just plain good for the soul.

(See that little head in the water- that's E the day before).


3. People love to build inukshuks--the more the merrier. What is with this craze? This was on a deserted beach on the lighthouse bike route. There were more than 7 inukshuks on this beach. Why?

Spot the inushuks

4. Women can learn spatial reasoning in a short amount of time. We had three bikes with three curly handlebars and jeez was it a challenge to get them on the  bike rack. Mr. Lovely had put them on initially and the first day it took us 40 minutes to get them back on. As we were packing the wee trunk to leave the yurt campground - I said I  sure could use Dad now and M said- "Mom, you are a strong, capable woman--you don't need a man to help you with this." It was true. You shoulda seen how I packed that trunk. It was a thing of beauty. And it took us less than 5 minutes to get those bikes on the rack. (We only had 8 minutes to check out--a cash penalty is quite the motivator!)

5. Dogs will chase bikes.  Do you mind? I'm just riding my bike along the road-living my life--don't take me down man. We got chased by 2 different dogs (and growled & barked at by a different pack of them by the side of a unpaved road). Super scary! My normal retort of "bite me" when something is annoying me doesn't really work in this situation.

Color Angst continued

So I bet you are on the edge of your seat dying to know what happened, ok maybe not, but at any rate I'm going to tell you.

Well we then went on a reconnaissance mission by canoeing around the lake to get examples of other cottages that had nailed it. Admittedly many were so far in the woods we couldn't really see them but  guess what? This mission was a bust. We were not blown away by anything- some were downright hideous ("hey, that's just your opinion, man")  and some were ok, but tepid and limp (not good in anything) -overall nothing moved us. That's right we need to be moved, dammit!

We had been looking at bark from the trees to have something that would blend in with the forest, when Mr. L hits me with the idea that blending in is no good- he wants something more fun and lively. Really? Fun and lively? Okaaaaay. Go on. Well he wasn't sure so he went out to sit on the tent platform and meditate on it.

and after about 30 minutes came up with this:

A pine sprig- do you mind? No, not the pine sprig -the orange bit in the middle of the pine sprig- that's the ticket- the fun and lively color. Oh my! So then commenced the research of matching that middle of the sprig color with maibec's colour (it's called saddlery ok!) and then finding images with that color, get in the boat and then the car, to haul it to the Timbermart, to see their samples- only to find out we could have ANY color we wanted because they could mock up anything and being directed to the Bennie Moore chips.. NOOOO. It stops here! I can't take MORE choice- I can't deal with what I have. BRUTAL- I know you can feel my pain! I bet you are in pain too if you are still awake.

Luckily when we got back to civilization, the actual samples I had requested had come in so we had more to work with and with the help of a friend and here's the kicker- she's a designer( YAY!!!! why did we not think of this before) picked out colors. Timber for the siding (darker one) and Pepperwood for the trim (lighter one).

Notice how they both have a bark theme.

These are actually pretty neat colours in that depending on the light they can be either, grey, green or taupe.  My friend actually looked at the color scheme in the house as well as she said all colors had to be copacetic. Who knew? We also picked a cool wasabi green for the door trim and wood. This decision is done- it's over- Mercy me.

Too Many Choices

Have you ever had to make a decision and been faced with so many choices that your eyes glaze over and you become paralyzed like a deer in the head lights? This, of course, is after getting a migraine so big you think your head will cave in.

Try going in go for lunch in an American road house without an idea of what you are in the mood to eat, and be faced with their 12 pages of mostly obscene offerings and you'll get the idea.

Mr. Lovely and I were recently trying to pick siding for our cottage-(it's never had siding so we were "ascared" that one day the walls would just start leaking) and figured we were ahead of the game in that we had a the product - maibec, a wood siding, that has a 50 yr. warranty ( imagine making a claim on the 49 1/2th year), that comes in many styles and colors and so all we had to do was to pick a couple of colors- easy peasy. Not so much. For one thing Mr. Lovely and yours truly have very different tastes. While we both wanted something exciting and exquisite (who doesn't?) what constitutes that is another matter entirely.

First we went to Maibec's color charts in their catalogue, which was helpful in providing fanciful names and categories but not so helpful in actually pinning down a color.

Then we looked at nine million cottage images online- from  online cottage magazines, designer cottages, to architectural websites, cottage listing through realtor.ca, to island properties images- if you could google it and it had the word cottage in it- we looked at it.  And of course we did love some, (cause some are nine million dollars) but then we figured that ours would not look like them. Good figuring, no? Then we also finally clued in that not all cottage environments are alike- so that colors that worked on a rock faced Georgian Bay island might not work for our cottage in the woods on an island. Yes both islands, but no, not the same "type" of island. You see how complex this is.

We had been to the Rona and looked up the samples on their board and in fact ordered samples that most closely resembled "tree bark"to be sent to us in the mail cause "stoopid" Rona wouldn't let us take their board up to the cottage. Also how do you divvy up the colours- do you do one colour on the whole thing, or a different one for the trim and moldings or a third for some other feature and where do you put these colours- windows, trim, fascia, all or just some and what is even the correct spelling for the word color- is it color or colour and who really cares?  What a commotion! What an ordeal! Do you mind?


..... to be continued

Bliss Consciousness

 No wait- hear me out. It isn't necessarily flaky.

So I figured I was having a pretty awesome summer- I was working like a maniac when I was in the city but on the weekends we would get up at the crack of dawn, (or so), hop in the beamer, and head up north to our island cottage -a mere 3 hours to the marina.  Worth it because once there, I got to have white wine with lunch, (on our  screened in porch which has a panoramic view of the lake), nap! yes (did I mention we got up at the crack of dawn), lop some dead branches to make the trees look even more beautiful, swim, canoe and /or kayak, imbibe g&t(s) on the dock, loll over a romantic dinner watching the sunset- into bed by sundown, read (was rereading To The Wedding by John Berger- a fantastic novel filled with the most luscious images of an outdoor wedding you will ever read-Mr. Lovely and I read the last chapter to each other one morning over coffee- the writing is gorgeous!)-  then up again with the sun.. coffee at coffee beach, some physical work like repairing the screen door of the "love shack"(our 100 yr old log bunkie named by my sista when she stayed there with her hubby- ya tmi) and then.. well you get the routine. DELUXE NO? Well yes!

the "love shack"

Sometimes I even took a Monday off, so I wasn't too troubled when I saw that my calendar was filling up with real estate closings, (sole practitioner, new staff) and I might not be able to take a full week off. Mr. Lovely said- well I'm taking a week off regardless so you decide. Harsh!

So I  did decide to move heaven and earth-(well it felt like it!)- to get a week off to go to the cottage. And it was worth it because on day 8, I experienced what Mr. Lovely termed "bliss consciousness".

So it's like this-I normally feel pretty darn good at the cottage (see routine above- not too shabby-do you mind?) but I still watch it- like if I want to chill but feel like I haven't got enough exercise I push myself to work out or if I want a carb for breakfast, (always!) I eat a yogurt with fruit instead cause I feel I should.

But on the 8th day I didn't. I wanted some pumpernickel with imperial cheese and Henrietta's marmalade made with 5 types of fruit and grand marnier and I had it- 2 pieces, while thumbing through a Cottages mag- and it felt GREAT! It was dreamlike- the complete happiness I felt. I lay on the couch midmorning, (gasp!)  cranked open the windows, and just felt the breeze roll over me. Later I took out our newly caulked wind and the willows rowboat and rowed to F Bay where I snagged some truly amazing driftwood off some crown land (thanks your majesty) for my driftwood sculpture (well one day!) and swam in my clothes off a rock cause I was just so HOT and who cares, right? And so on all day long- it was divine- "hakuna matata" (c'mon you know you've seen the Lion King). And I figure it was because I knew I really had no worries that day- I knew I didn't have to check my email, or contact my office cause it was the weekend, we had no guests (I love my guests but you can't just lie down in the middle of the day- now can you) and Mr. Lovely was off doing some man project with our neighbour so I just could free float. And, (and I think this is the kicker), I had been mostly relaxed (except for one major swearing episode where some deal was not going my way, temporarily) for the last 7 days in an environment that I loved, so I was primed for bliss.

So hip hip for taking a longer vacation- I think we need to.
Mr. Lovely says I can now try to live in bliss consciousness but who is he kidding. Back at work- not a chance but I know it's there and hopefully I can get there more often!

Ever have bliss consciousness- tell me about it.

ps. I have not blogged in so long I mostly forget how to download photos so not very good visuals but will try to get up to speed next time.