July 5, 2009. Western Head, N.S. The Cottage.

We love our little cottage, even when we are working there to get it set up for the summer. Yesterday Ken and I took all the belongings from the garage here that we store over the winter out to the cottage. We spent all morning putting the place in order, both inside and out. Organizing the cottage pleases me and I am not sure why. I like putting everything in it's place and putting clothes in the dressers, placing the outdoor furniture in the right spot and the food in the pantry and refrigerator. In the afternoon we got lucky and the rain poured down cats and dogs, so were required to drink a cup of tea and read. Later in the day, the sky cleared, so we finished our outside work, then sat on the deck by the water and watched for loons, who never appeared. But drinking a glass of wine watching the clouds was delightful. Now the little cottage is ready for the summer.

Today, Ken and Vinal were to install the dock, a very complicated task. Ken suggested that Bobby, a young friend of Vinal's, might like to help install the dock, so he came too. Gill and Mary decided to help too, so Cliff, Betty and I supervised from the chairs on the deck, while the other five installed the dock. By noon, it was almost completed. Of course, Gill fell in fully clothed, and Bobby fell over up to his neck. Ken had figured out a new system for installation, that did not require him to wear his wet suit and work out of the water. It worked well, except for minor glitches. He used the raft to install all the other parts of the dock, working from the raft, rather than standing in the water. Betty brought lunch for all, so all eight of us pooled our resources and ate a hearty lunch up on the deck by the house. Next we must put the raft in place and install the boat sling, but we will do them after the water falls a bit. At the moment, the water level in the lake is very high and Vinal is fearful os falling in the water as he can not swim. The rest of the cottage and dock is ready for action.