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Mid week again already. The weather here in my little seaside village has been hot, hot, hot ! 30C (86 F) with lots of humidity. Yesterday there was barely a breeze coming in off the water, so you really felt safest hanging out in the shade. I went to the grocery store at lunch time to pick up a giant bottle of dill pickles (2L) on special this week and while I was there I also picked up whipping cream and a basket of local strawberries.
The grocery store was filled with summer people. Flip flops and beach cover ups and the smell of sun tan lotion. It's funny because I always feel envious of them. They're at the cottage and they've just taken a break from the beach or from their favourite chaise lounge, dog-earing a page in a paperback that they can't wait to get back to, as they scoot into town for more ice, steaks for the barbecue, potato chips or maybe strawberries to make strawberry shortcake for dessert.
I remember that heavenly feeling of being at the cottage, from many 2 week vacations spent in a rented place in beautiful Prince Edward Island. These grocery store shoppers are living in that cottage state of mind. It's that easy, breezy, lazy from the heat feeling. Skin prickly and tight from the sun and the dried remains of evaporated salt water. At their cottage gaudy and colourful beach towels hang on makeshift clotheslines. Tall glasses of ice filled beverages drip condensation on arms of Adirondack chairs. Adults nap in hammocks with the daily paper from the city resting on their chests. Kids scream and splash and race around in water up to their knees and the older kids plunge into deep water off the big wharf. We've had day after day of hot sunny weather. It's summer.
I have to remind myself that I'm also at the cottage ... I'm at the cottage all year round. In fact I live in a winterized cottage.
It is all just a state of mind. And oh the states this mind can get itself into.
And for today ... I'm in a cottage state of mind. I'll be ... at the cottage.
And sweet Nessie's just arrived for his early morning mad pats and deep purrs.
I looked hard for that little cat.I also looked with great interest at Prince Edward Island and the fact that it is the Anne of Green Gables centenary.Thank you so much for the link. Oh how I wish I could whisk my mother away from Australia to the centenary. She adored these books, and bought me a copy when I was about eight or nine.She found me sobbing uncontrollably in the shade house one afternoon."Mum. Matthew died, Mathew died" I wailed, inconsolably. "I know, I know" she said.Your Island link provided an article written here in Melbourne about Anne and the Centenary.I don't mean to go on about this at the expense of the rest of your wonderful post, but did you realize that here in Australia,so far away, many lived vocariously the life on Prince Edward Island, so close to you?
ReplyDeleteMust be nice to have that summer time frame of mind. I long for the escape of a summer cottage, somewhere far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But I think what I really want is a break from the responsibilities of my life, to be seven again and hanging out at my Gramma's house, or to be seventeen and spending the summer couch-surfing at my friend's.
ReplyDeleteLovely! I've been fighting a fervent wish for a vacation, but went ahead and indulged it full stop upon reading this! I've got to find time to get to the beach.
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfectly lovely post...oh how I wish I could be in Nova Scotia. Mom was there 4 years ago and declared it so delightful it made her cry.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post...it lifted my spirits!
Love,
Sue
I love Susie Q's comment above. Wow. I suspect I'd feel the same way and yes, I too, loved the Anne of Green Gables movies at least. I'd love to se that entire region.
ReplyDeleteVery compelling photo, btw.
ahhhhhhh 'tis a mirror.....
ReplyDeleteI don't envy them at all..the poor cottage people... I feel sorry for them........... they can only scrounge 2 weeks out of 52 for a vacation... and part of that is driving or flying to the getaway spot! What a pain. acckkk!!
Now, you on the other hand... a cottager all year 'round...... the sea within walking distance... sea treasures to find any day of the year..... the ice cream shop nearby.. Win and the cats for most excellent company.......sigh..............I do envy you the solitude and the amazing scenery......
Your post reminded me of the wonderful hours I spent in childhood reading Anne of Green Gables. I've been to Halifax once, many years ago.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely for you to have your very own beach cottage.