Better late than never

A few weeks ago we drove up to the cottage for an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving weekend.

The whole family gathers with a couple of close friends for dinner and walks in the woods. It is my favourite weekend at the cottage. This is the weekend that keeps me chasing the dragon of the perfect long cottage weekend.
The weekend includes everything that is priceless about having a family cottage. The Ontario landscape, fresh air, space to explore and the family to explore it with. We relive Thanksgiving turkey hijinks from years gone by. Like the year it snowed 6 inches and we lost power intermittently so that we had to move the turkey from oven to barbecue and back again every time the power flickered. The old folks estimate that the bird of 1991 still had more mileage on it than my family who had driven over 1000 km to the cottage did.

There was also the first year we barbecued the turkey over an open fire. With a broomstick...and lots of beer for the person responsible for turning the spit.

But mostly I love the majestic foliage. It takes my breath away.
Inspiration springs eternal in fall. The moss is lush, the forest explorable and Echo Rock gets climbed from the woods instead of the lake giving us a completely different experience of a rock that we've been climbing all our lives.

It's too cold for swimming which inspires creative exploration of the forest which had been ignored throughout the hot summer.

The fresh air knocks everyone out in front of the fire, books get read, knitting gets knit and quiet moments are fully appreciated.
After all, when you wake up from your nap you are engulfed by the almost two dozen people waiting to snuggle, 'discuss', cook and opine with you.

Ah, c'est la belle vie!