healey lake

It’s raining. The sky is a steely grey, almost the same colour as the wet asphalt. A grey fall day. September. Who would have thought that the last long weekend of the summer will feel so fall like? After a superbly busy night and morning (Steve’s been stressing over a mix of some film music and I’ve been trying to get Kaspar back on his feet!), we are on our way to meet some friends at a cottage. I’m so glad we have some time off, even if taking week-ends off makes us extra busy during the week! Kaspar is fast asleep in the car seat and I’m enjoying the luxuries of the modern world – a laptop plugged into the cigarette lighter of the car panel. Spectacular!

It’s ironic that we never managed to take a week-end off during the heat of the summer, but now for the second week-end in a row while it rains and gets cold at night, we are spending time out of the city. Grabbing the last opportunities of cottage living this summer!

We spent last Saturday and Sunday at Emils & Markus’s parents cottage. It was interesting having a 3 year old, a 13 month old and a 10 month old - 3 boys - all hanging out together. They did not interact in a way that would have made sense to you or I, but they watched each other intently and picked ideas up from one another almost immediately. It was interesting, observing the dinamic of these three boys! Emils, being the oldest, really knows the ropes. He keeps an eye on his little brother and was always ready to show Kaspar and Markus some new trick with a truck or ball or something. However, his own toys were not for sharing. In fact, they’re not even called toys – they are TOOLS! And don’t you dare try to suggest otherwise. Emils is a true workoholic, at his young age! He likes to put on his tool belt, grab his chain saw and go to work cleaning up the trees around the cottage, raking the earth, digging and building. He goes about it with such intent and serious attitude, that one cannot but admire this kid’s concentration and eagerness! Markus is about the same size as Kaspar, but he’s still crawling and has just begun to stand up, while holding on to something. This proved to be a bit tricky, because Kaspar is still far from knowing his own limits, let alone knowing the limits of another child. Markus had to be saved a few times from Kaspar’s grabbing hand or a toy flying through the air, aimed right at his head. Steve and I had the chance to practice our parenting skills with the constant reminders - “Kapar, be gentle!” or the favourite “No, Kaspar, hair is not for pulling!”

I’ve always loved going to Erik & Christina’s cottage, because it’s a real rustic cottage experience, with an outhouse, no hot water (only recently installed running water) and my absolute favourite part – it’s on an island. There is something magical in arriving at the cottage by boat! Kaspar loved the boat, too. He immediately got intot the sound of the motor of the boat and began humming along in tune. He loved turning his face to the wind and watching the white foam of the water left begind the boat. Even wearing the life jacket was not an issue anymore. Since we were last at the cottage, Eriks has built a perfect little guest house (they call it ‘bunky’ and steve’s convinced that such a word does not exist) where we were sleeping. I think their family has just outgrown the cottage during the last three years, so having the guest house built was just the next logical step for them. But was it ever amazing for us! It was beautiful… we had privacy and space and we could listen to the rain drumming a symphony on the roof od the little house, while we slept and in the morning we were woken up by the birds and the sound of little waves lapping the shore of the lake.

The week-end was cool and cloudy, but, as it often happens with weather issues, the sun came out a couple of hours before we were planning to leave. The Sunday ended up being beautiful, sunny and warm. I managed to sneak in a nice long swim, before packing the boat and Kaspar spent some time fishing around in the water with his hand off the edge of the dock. It’s great to have friends who invite us along to such beautiful places!!!