 Interactive - Life At the Cabin |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By: Bridget Meary Meehan
Welcome to life at the cabin. My name is Nana M. Just another Newfie at large, living up away. Sometimes I feel that I have lived away for way too many years. I grew up in St. John�s. Whenever I get home I always go back to Cabot Street to walk around and see who I remember. They always remember me! I married a Yank and moved away when I was 20. We moved around a bit. Let me tell you, I know I have never felt that wonderful sense of community that growing up there (on Cabot Street) gave me. Everyone knew you. You had to be pretty bad to not be accepted. It always seemed that there was always room for one more. We were never alone, there was always a group of us going somewhere. I now live in a very small town where they know me when I go into the grocery store. I work for hospice here and people connect me with that caring for people. This is the closest that I have come to being "home". I bought a shanty near a lovely lake this year. It is a fixer upper�lol. It had been empty for a long time and was all overgrown. Lots of clearing and mowing! I am learning as I go and it has been an adventure. Learned to put up insulation, poly, how to use a house jack, submersible sump pump, and the list goes on! As the need arises I learn how to do it. Glad that I am a Newfie. My grandfather would be proud of me for sticking it out and buying a cabin. They call these shantys �cottages� here. I don�t think that my little place is grand enough to be called a cottage�lol. I prefer to call it a cabin. I hope to get that vinyl siding off of it and put log siding or cedar shakes so that it looks like one. When people find out where I live, they say that I live at the lake. Then, they ask what side of the lake I live on. This is a rich man/poor man thing. The west side of the lake is where the people with money built their places. The east side of the lake is where the poor people put their places. I tell them I live on the working people�s side of the lake. However, I do beg to differ that I don�t live on the water but I live on the Road. That means that I get plowed out in the winter! There is a West Lake Road and an East Lake Road, you see. The houses that line the lakeside don�t get plowed out, they have to hire someone to clear the way. Also, the ones who live on the water�s edge pay LOTS of property taxes. Mine are bad enough living two small blocks over from the water! I am afraid of what they will go up to when I start working on the outside of this place. A typical day at the cabin is fairly quiet, this morning I got up and got the fire going. It had not gone out but I had to build it up. The water pipes have not thawed out yet so I have to go to the well. I have two wells, one is connected to the pump, and one has a hand pump. Since they are both artesian I do have water no matter what. The weather has warmed up a bit so the water should be back on again soon. Today, I plan on walking over to the lake to get a few pictures of the ice fishermen. They are set up on the part of the lake that is still frozen. The north end is open water but the south end is solid. I forgot to buy peanuts for the blue jays and the squirrels when I went to the store. Rats! I have five bird feeders that attract a bevy of beauties. There are cardinals, sparrows, blue jays, squirrels, and a lot of smaller birds. The little ones get chased away by the bigger ones! They are stubborn though and don�t go hungry. One of my friends has tons of feeders and get all kinds of birds. I can�t tell you all the names! She has a book that she checks out. In the summer she has a lot of hummingbird feeders. For a gift, I got her a book on hummingbirds. It was just lovely! While I am typing here, I have some chili simmering on the stove. Been sneezing so I have to get some hot soup down. I have MS these days and infections make the symptoms worse. So rather than take antibiotics, I rely on hot, hot peppers to clear things up. Apple cider vinegar is good, too. If I drink it regularly it helps me stay healthy. Mrs. Hussey would be chuckling at me. (She was the nurse of Cabot Street.) Anyway, I better get back to my chili. I have included some pictures of my cabin on my blog. If you would like to visit there: www.journalofanoptimistlittleyellowhouse.blogspot.com - I hope that you like it. Sign me, Newfie at Large, Living Simply in Small Town America, Nana Hey, I forgot to tell you that Bridget Meary Meehan was my grandmother's name. I use it as a pen name.
|
| Copyright © 2007-2010. All Rights Reserved. |
| Privacy Policy • Terms of Use |
