Saying Goodbye for the Winter

The sky is beginning to lighten as the sun nears the horizon on this our last day at the cottage.  It was fitting that we had a dusting of snow last weekend.  It brings our time here full circle.  When we moved in at the end of August temperatures were in the 90s, the trees wore a full complement of bright green leaves and evenings were spent sitting on the dock watching the sun set.  Summer quickly gave way to fall. The leaves turned to crimson and gold, and the dock was pulled from the water to spend the winter high and dry on shore.  Last Saturday morning we awoke to a bitter north wind, temperatures in the mid-20s and snow on the ground.  Sunsets are now observed from the warmth of our little red cottage.

We have learned that the single, window air conditioner does an adequate job of cooling things off for sleeping in hot weather and the old oil furnace spews enough heat to warm our cold bones when there is frost on the ground.  With the aid of an auxiliary heater the sun porch can function year round if needed and the little red cottage can accommodate 5 adults and 2 children for at least 5 days without incident.  (Of course there was that little melt down over a Risk game on Saturday evening.)

Buying a cottage in western Pennsylvania was the last thing on our minds on that fateful July morning when we wandered cautiously down the lane for the first time.  Or perhaps it was.  Maybe the need to return to our roots has always been there, lurking in the recesses of our minds while we lived life in other places.  All I know for certain is that on that July morning I fell in love, with a little red cottage, on a lake in western Pennsylvania and it felt like home.