The Chaos Before The Serenity

Every cottage season has its work projects. That's just the nature of things when you've inherited vinatge property with "rustic" buildings that need attention.

And every once in a while the attention required is, um...... significant. Such as when you discover the supporting beams across the entire back of the structure have rotted away. And while there's joy in taking certain risks, the thought of the toilet crashing through the floor while one is seated upon it, isn't exactly the kind of adventure you hope to write about in the cottage log.

So this year, my arrival to this place of serenity has been somewhat chaotic. Outside walls have been ripped away, indoor amenities have been removed altogether, and six people are trying to work and live and fit into the same space as I normally have mostly all to myself.

Its all going really well. I guess if you can get along with relatives in a crowded, construction messy cottage, with no one having a shower in going on four days, having had to make extra trips into town, and hiking up the back hill to the biff...and you're still laughing and playing Scrabble and racking up points for how many mosquitoes you've squashed before bed...then that's probably the best kind of family to have.

Everyone's working very hard, contributing their bit and working as a team. Colin, Ken's nephew, has excellent skills for this kind of project and has basically taken the lead. Some of it is just simply brutal grunt work, like crawling down in very squishy places under the cottage. But it's coming together. Every once in a while, someone stops and says giddily, "It's happening! It's happening!!!"

So this is the chaos before the serenity. Making memories.
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