A cold one...

When you think of having a cold one at the cottage, most people thing "beer", but let me tell you, there's something far, far better:

Slushy drinks!

Frosty, slurpy, icy-cold slushy drinks.

These ones were lime yumminess. Mmmm.

And these ones were strawberry!

Now, before all you judgemental teetotallers poopoo our midafternoon boozing with the kids in tow, I want to make it abundantly clear that these are alcohol free (this time at least. I think general consensus was that the experience would only be enhanced by rum.)

It's not like we needed alcohol to have a good time.

(we found out the messy way that the awesome plastic cups hide a tasty reserve of slush in the bottom that tends to jump out when you're not expecting it, leaving you with slush on and/or up your nose.)

To the individual(s) who came up with the slushy drink plan... Pure. Genius. Definitely going in the "to be invited back" column.

Cottage life is serious stuff!

Cottage life is serious, serious stuff.

It's a lot of hard work, chores, and slaving away. Maintenance, upkeep, repair, and renovation. Yard work, housework, engine repair, and pest removal.

It's also a great place to kick back and relax, and sometimes have just a tiny bit of fun.

Like....using your friend's camera to take pictures of your nose hairs.

Or.... making smiley faces out of your sandwiches.

Or, writing love notes to your sweetie out of tzatziki.  Because nothing says "love" like gobs of tzatziki.

Do you remember those Sesame Street shorts when they'd paint letters or numbers on bread with condiments? No? Just me? Ok. then...

Cottages are also a place for trying new things, like rocking on a rocking chair for the first time.

Or for making Jiffy Pop over the campfire.

Or maybe for playing some board games. (Yes, that's my 6 wheat that's robbered. Arg.)

Sunset, reprise

If I keep this up I'm going to need to add a whole label category for sunsets. Here are a few beauties from this last weekend.

Enjoy!

Cool.

This one makes me think of swimming in lava.

Lava elephant!

So pretty.

It had been drizzling and hazy all day, but then the weather cleared up just as the sun was setting. The evening sky was aglow with pinks and purples!

Ahhh.

Pokemon cards + lake = bad

Let this serve as a cautionary tale to you all:

Don't drop your Pokemon cards into the lake!

If you do, your poor mom will have to pick each card out of it's plastic sleeve in your pokemon book and carefully lay them all flat on all available surfaces in the cottage. Ever after your cards will never lay perfectly flat.

The anguished wail that emerged from my 9-yr old son after his Pokemon book fell into the lake still continues to haunt me.

*shudder*

The park

There's a park on our island. Not just a park, but a park with playground equipment. The scary kind of playground equipment that was ripped out of neighbourhoods 40 years about because it was perilously unsafe. A tetanous shot waiting to happen.

Like this merry-go-round

And this teeter-totter.

And the slide and swing-set you see in the distance. Of course the kids are entranced because you never see playground toys like these ones.

It's a fun destination for the kids that is a short 10-minute hike from the cottage.

We have only one rule:
Stay in the centre of the path.
The long grass on either side contains abundant poison-ivy. It's very hard to keep cheerfully distracted kids in the centre of the path.

QUADRAPUS!!

If I could find a way to make that title drippy and swampy green in the blog, I would.

Something like this, but less gothic-y and more swamp-y:

The quadrapus is a new addition to the cottage, donated as a cottage-warming gift from some awesome friends.

Behold.

The QUADRAPUS!

Scary, No?

No?! Hmmm. OK. Not so scary. It's really called a "water spinner".

*yawn*

It's a quadrapus, O.K Coleman? What kind of marketing weenie came up with the name "water spinner"? It doesn't even spin! I don't care that you splatted green and white hibiscus blooms on it to make it seem tropical. It's a QUADRAPUS.

It's also a wildly unpopular toy. The kids hate it. Oh, yes. Hate.

As demonstrated thusly.

and thusly

and thusly

and thusly

and thusly*.

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*don't you hate when you say a word too many times and it start to lose meaning and just becomes a noise? Oh, that's just me? ahahah. Nevermind then.

Bendix

Learning, learning, always learning.

What's a bendix? Well it's not a store selling oddball housewares, for one.

This is a bendix. Or rather, these are. It's the wee gear thingerdinger* that pops up to engage the fly-wheel on your outboard motor to get it spinning and ultimately start your boat.

Knowing this, you might be able to deduce why I now know what a bendix is.

When the wee bendix decides to turtle and not pop up at the correct time, your boat goes "whiissssshhhhhhhhhh" "whiiisssssssssssssshhhh". When you turn the key.

Then the men neighbours start to prairie dog out of their cottages. "Boat trouble!?! Quick! To the Bat Cave!"

Luckily our bendix can be coaxed out of hibernation with judicious application of a screwdriver (which now remains in the boat, just in case). I've also heard that you can pry it up with a paddle, but I'd be worried about breaking the paddle, especially since the bendix needs to turn as it's lifting, or it doesn't budge.

Apparently WD-40 will also lubricate it to help it to move freely. We'll be trying that the next time we're out.

I swear, That Damned Boat is going to break the bank sometime soon.

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*gear thingerdinger is a technical term. As a technical writer, I'm well versed in technical terms.