A Day at the Cottage

I was taking part in a "A Week in the Life" journalling project last week, which was suggested by Ali Edwards.  As you may recall, I also did this last year (you can read about the results here) although that week was in April.  This year, Ali thought (and I heartily agreed) that it should be a different week of the year and she picked the last week of July.

I haven't put my pages for the week together just yet but thought I'd post a sample of what one of the days looked like - namely, this past Sunday at the cottage.

It started off with me cooking breakfast for my sister and me, scrambled eggs and hash browns made from leftover potatoes from the night before - oops, forgot to take any photos of that part of the day but did get this shot of people paddling by in their kayaks:

After we ate, we headed over to the tennis courts, where our certain of our cottager neighbours come every Saturday and Sunday morning to play.  Everyone who shows up gets to play and we rotate in and out as needed, depending on the numbers.  Usually the courts are busy from 9 to noon.  Here's a picture of me on the courts (taken by my sister Janine, thanks sis!), having just hit what I'm sure was a fabulous shot:

And here I am on the bench with Kathy, who was sitting off because she had just whacked herself in the leg with her racquet in a previously bruised spot and given herself a bit of a bump:

It was sooo hot and humid that we had to jump right in the lake as soon as tennis was over.  It had been cloudy all morning so the water was just a little cool at first but so refreshing once we got used to the temperate that we didn't want to get out, except that it was time for lunch.

After lunch, my mom, my sister and I played Yahtzee.  I actually won, which is very rare against those two.

We all decided a nap was in order after the heat and the exertion, followed by watching a movie (it was too hot to do anything outside!) - "The Jane Austen Book Club", very cute, I recommend it!

Eventually it was dinner time. My sister barbecued steak and we had corn on the cob, this past weekend was the first I'd had so far this season.  One of my absolute favourite things about summer, the taste of corn on the cob slathered in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper - mmm.

After dinner, I needed to dip my toes in the lake again.  The water was much warmer after an afternoon of sun. 

We sat by the shore and watched the sun set,

then headed indoors to watch a couple of episodes of "Third Watch" (season 1).  Such a great show.

Went to bed around 11:30 p.m. but couldn't fall asleep as there was this strange banging noise going on outside somewhere nearby.  Our investigations outside, i.e. walking around our property in our pyjamas with a flashlight, revealed nothing, until we noticed the renters next door outside of their cabin.  A trip over to say a friendly hello and we were told they had put the remains of their rib dinner in the garbage can by the road and thought something had been trying to get at the leftovers.  We explained about the resident (black) bears and the fact that it was Sunday night, usually the night before garbage pickup (bears not being too aware of holiday Mondays and the resultant postponement of the garbage truck's arrival) and the mystery was solved. 
Sure enough, here's the scene from the next morning:

Check out how the lid of this heavy duty metal box is bent straight up!!

All in all, just another typical day in cottage country!