What Cottage Life is Really About

The Smells, The Sounds, The Feel of Cottage Life

Summer is turning to fall. I’m sitting on the deck at the cottage; shorts and t-shirts are replaced by pants and a hoodie. The blooms in the garden are slowly surrendering to the cool nights and short days; it’s almost time for their nap. The birds, chipmunks, and squirrels though are busy as ever. I breathe a long, slow sigh of …. Ahhhh bliss. I snap a picture to try and capture this moment –

What Makes Cottage Life So Different

Pictures may say a thousand words but they will never tell the whole story. What the picture can’t describe:

• The breeze that makes the leaves of the trees dance
• The chips, chirps and calls of the birds as they flit from branch to feeder in polite turns (and the demands for peanuts from the blue jays)
• The delicate tinkle of the wind chime made of fishing lures in the tree (or the one lower in the garden made of a baking pan and kitchen utensils)
• The feel of the sun on my skin as I sit on the deck watching the action and Brian takes a nap
• The sound of live jazz music from a neighbour and his friends playing in the garden down the road.

I think, no matter how big or small, how remote or “connected”, whether it’s new or if your cottage has been in the family for generations, this is why we come. This is what the cottage life is really about: slow, presence, connecting, breathing. Whether we’re fishing, having a swim at the beach, out for a hike, or an after dinner stroll in the neighbourhood to watch the sun set, the lively times with friends and family or the moments of silence together on the deck – when no words are required or desired – this is why we “do cottage.”