Cottage Daze

My summer at the cottage is about to officially begin, so you'll be seeing a little less of me here, and my photos will be more on the "wild" side.

I usually get up early when I'm at the lake, which is highly unusual for me, as I'm not a morning person. But the sun comes screaming into the windows around 5:30 a.m., and the light is perfect for photographs, so I can't resist.

I like to take the kayak out, with Buddy stuffed in the hatch, since he hates to be left behind and will chew up papers or Kleenex or underwear in protest.

I'll paddle slowly around the point to watch the sun rise over a lake as flat as a mirror. Sometimes, in the heat of the summer, the cold water creates a pink mist rolling on down to Black Bay. It's interrupted with the odd heron or a trout leaping out of the water, or a mother loon carrying her babies on her back. We have a resident kingfisher who pretty much ignores me while he dives for fish a few feet away from the dock. If I can capture a good shot of him, I'll be in like flint at the photography club I just joined. Seems one gets bonus points for capturing elusive birds, and the kingfisher is a notoriously difficult one. Who knew?

Our summers are so short and fleeting here in the Great White North that I soak in every bit, as though every day is my last, and I give thanks daily in gratitude. I normally take a long morning walk on our country road, but there's a bear hanging around and we have a huge raspberry patch on our property, so I'm a bit nervous this year. However, I can always sing as I walk, a guarantee to send any bears running for cover. After my walk, I come back sweaty and dusty, so I like to jump into the lake to cool off, sometimes with my clothes still on, sometimes - if there are no guests or fishermen lurking about - with my clothes flung off in the bushes. Then it's reading, board games till the wee hours, or if I'm alone, I'll write for hours.

This is where you'll find me 99% of the time:

And this is what I'll be looking at:

I'll be in touch. Honest. If you don't see as much of me, it's because I'm out fishing.

The end