chasing the comet

Jeff checking the position of the comet through
Starry Night Pro about an hour before we head out.


As some of you may already know, Jeff is an avid hobby astronomer; I blame our friend Andy for being at least partly responsible. One of his goals during our cottage visit is to view the NEAT (acronym for something, can't remember, sorry) comet through his telescope.



By the time we got across the lake, the clouds had
moved in. :-( The "X" marks the approx. spot where we had
expected to see the comet.


Sadly, the weather hasn't been cooperating. Last night it looked clear, but we were wrong (see above photo). While Jeff fiddled with the telescope on the beach near the Portage Store and cursed the skies, I sat on a life jacket nearby, comfortable and somewhat sleepy in my two sweaters and Gortex jacket, a thermos of hot mint hot chocolate and bag of chocolate mini-brownies by my side in case of chocolate craving emergency.



Jeff cooks far more at the cottage than at home. Dinner
he served Tues. night: scallop, white onion and
mandarin orange salad, with asparagus on the side. Yum....


Lazy day yesterday. I had two (yes, TWO!) very satisfying naps up in our cabin, finished reading Strangers In Paradise (thanks, Rand). Even did some work on two articles, one of the digital photography articles I mentioned before, and an interview with a potter in Muskoka, worked on Market Watch. Took another sauna: jumped in the lake FOUR times, and convinced Jeff to jump in with me the first time. Experimented with Corel Painter some more:



Very quick sketch I did of Jeff (he's wearing a
baseball cap on backwards) when he was at his computer.


On the way out of the boathouse last night to crash for the night, Jeff spotted a big beetle just outside on the deck. Anyone know what kind it is?



Anyone know what kind of beetle this is?


As I was taking the photo above, we both heard a loud noise in the darkness of the forest. At first we thought it might be an animal, but then figured it must be a big branch falling somewhere.

Still, I was a wee bit nervous going up the hill to the outhouse in the dark later that night, but nothing jumped at me on the way there or back. After years visiting the cottage, I'm usually fine with those nighttime walks, but every so often the thought of bears does cross my mind.

When Jeff and I went on a Nahanni canoe trip, we learned to make a lot of noise on trails to avoid surprising grizzly bears, and I've carried that habit with me when I'm a bit bear-leery. Just to be clear: it's very VERY rare for bears to attack humans in Algonquin Park, and as far as I know, there have only been five human fatalities resulting from bear attacks.

Still, sometimes a tiny irrational, primitive part of my brain takes over when I'm out there in the middle of the night by myself, and every tiny scuttling sound out in the forest magnifies itself into an image of a drooling night-creature who wants to eat my head.

(Hm. Make note to self: Stop reading Stephen King books while at cottage.)

The only time I've been REALLY scared out there on that trail up the hill to the outhouse was years ago one night when I was POSITIVE I heard something big moving out in the forest. I went back to the boathouse to tell Jeff, who laughed at me and said it was probably a squirrel. At my insistence, he came out onto the path with me to listen.

Jeff (after a pause): "Ok, that's bigger than a squirrel."

Jeff (after another a pause): "Bigger than a raccoon, too."

[As if sensing us, the irregular noises pause out in the forest, then Something quite clearly STARTS PADDING TOWARDS US! Jeff grabs my hand and we run faster than I remember ever running before, back to the boathouse. Amazing how long you can postpone going to the bathroom when you have to.]

We never did figure out what was out in the forest that night.

Speaking of forest, Jeff and I are off on a hiking adventure this morning! Gorgeous weather: clear blue skies, gentle breeze, sunshine. Maybe tonight Jeff will get to see his comet after all...

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

first dip!

Squirrel on my feeder yesterday afternoon.


Had a sauna yesterday afternoon. I never used to like the cottage sauna that much; I found it too claustrophobic and stifling. Now it's one of my favourite cottage activities, go figure.

For me, it's an essential part of the first dip in the lake each year, making it possible to work up the nerve to jump into the chilly water.

So I sit and sweat and fry and sweat some more, and when I start feeling like one of those aliens on the movie "Mars Attacks" when their brains are about to explode, Jeff takes a peek to make sure it's clear (I'm sans swimsuit). Given the all-safe signal, I run outside, down the stairs onto the dock, then jump off the dock into the chilly lake, pulling my knees up to my chest. As usual, have a brief moment of "waitasec! I change my mind" mid-air, and then I hit the water.

I know the water's going to be cold, but HOW cold always catches me by surprise anyway. YOW. My skin goes numb immediately; the first time, my entire body always feels like it's contracting with shock, frantically sending my brain the urgent message, "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!"

I gasp involuntarily, and when I breathe out again, it comes out as a shriek. Highly amused (he didn't go in the lake yesterday, but then again he already went in last month), Jeff is waiting by the edge of the dock to help me scramble up, and I am back in the sauna moments later. My heart is pounding, and for few seconds I can't feel the heat in the sauna at all; I'm floating in a cocoon of winter.

Then, very gradually, my limbs thaw as heat seeps back in. I lean back against the cedar planking, eyes closed, feeling the lake water evaporate off my skin.

Wow...that was AMAZING.

So I go back in another two times. :-)

I was wrong about it being too early to put in the water system, by the way. Jeff decided to put it in yesterday, or at least hook it up to the kitchen in the boathouse. Yay, this will make cleaning up after meals much less of a pain.



In recent years, Jeff has usually been the one
who puts in the water system at the cottage.
It was only with enormous reluctance that
JBR finally admitted that his son was able
to take over this cottage chore.




The foot valve, a vital part of the mysterious
process that is The Cottage Water System. It stops
water from flowing back out the intake.




After dragging one end of the water pipe up the hill,
Jeff pours water into the pipe as part of the priming process.




Jeff drags the other end out into the lake and drops the
end into the water, weighted down with a big rock
(the end, not Jeff).




Then he connects the unweighted end of the pipe to
the water pump, which is attached to the boathouse.




More primingstuff.




Connecting things up with the boathouse kitchen.
Cooooold water!



Uh oh! Something has gone wrong with one of the old
pipes under the sink!




The problem appears to be in this connection thingy.




Using special tape and ingenuity, Jeff successfully
manages to repair the connection thingy. Yay, we have
hot water in the kitchen now!

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

at the cottage

Cottage thermometer this morning.


I'm typing this at the dining room table at the cottage. Jeff is still asleep. It was pretty darned cold when I woke up this morning (see thermometer above), so the first thing I did was build a fire, heat up some water for tea and porridge.

Jeff and I arrived last night, happily avoiding the predicted thunderstorm. Jeff's been massively busy with work lately, and we've both been very much looking forward to this coming week. Lots of reading and napping, I suspect. I have to do some work, but since this is our first real holiday together in a while, I'm going to be spending more time off the computer than on.

We have electricity but no running water; it's a bit too early to put in the water system. This means that any hot water will need to be heated up over the stove. No showers, either, but that's ok...bathing in the sauna is one of my favorite things at the cottage. :-)

Reminder: Please don't send me any big files this week. No high-speed Internet access up here, just a regular dial-up phone line. I'll probably be checking e-mail once a day, but may not respond this week.



I took this photo by leaning over the edge of the dock
and snapping a photo of my reflection in the lake.


So good to be up here again. It's incredibly quiet compared to the chaos back in the city. As I type this (sometimes dictating to Viavoice to give my arms a break), I can hear a crow cawing in the distance, birds in the forest, water heating up on the stove in the kitchen, the crackle of the fire behind me. Light ripples across the ceiling above my head: the reflection of sunlight on the lake outside. So much open space and sunlight! It's one thing I really crave in our city condo.

Water in the kettle's boiling; I'm going to go make some cinnamon spice tea.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!



Boathouse this morning just before I typed this Blathering.

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

Friends Finale

My sister is home from her book tour in Newfoundland, which sounds like it went really well. CBC interviewed her as well as several newspapers, and the Toronto Star should be running her interview soon as well; and I will post here when I know more.

Congrats to Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff, whose "We're The Cubs Fans" song aired on The Dr. Demento Show on May 2nd! I can't wait for their new CD to arrive in the mail. You can order Aliens Ate My Homework as well as hear samples from ALL the tracks on this CDBaby page.

Holy cow, these guys are good at parodies as well as their own original songs. Speaking of their original music, if you haven't already, do buy your copy of Manhattan Sleeps (samples from all the tracks available on that page as well), which is one of my all-time favorite filk CDs.

Many thanks to my wonderful husband for finding me the programmed online timer reminder I've been trying to find: Do This Now does exactly what I need! Every 30 minutes, I have a pop-up text reminder: "REST YOUR ARMS!!" as well as a spoken reminder.

Yay for technonerdboys. :-)

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

amanda snyder and me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHELLE!

I know Amanda Snyder was late, but I think that she deserves a LJ user pic prize for the following "Debbie memory" entry, which I found highly amusing: