Summertime and the Livin' is Wonky

 I have been feeling panicky about how long it's been since I blogged, which is silly and I don't like it. I will not belabour the subject.

End of school year! Start of summer!

Last year I was so utterly exhausted and enervated at the end of the school year that the thought of packing up and heading to our friends' cottage for Canada Day weekend made me weep (I know - what an ingrate). I forced myself, of course - Matt is so good at assuring me that I will feel better when I get there and I almost invariably do. And it was fantastic! Remember the hose shower? Wait, I can't link to the hose shower post because I can't find it, which is extremely weird because I have a very clear memory of writing it and people commenting on it. (Margot and Michael's cottage is at the top of a mountain (sort of) and you have to go down a steep switchbacky trail to get to the water and then back up again and it is VERY DIFFICULT for those of us who are not in tip-top shape, and last year a few of us realized there was a hose on the lower deck, so started a "Hose shower" thing on our way up to shower off the exertion and fear sweat, and, well, you can imagine the "let's get these hoes showered" and "into the shower with you, hoes!" hilarity that ensued.)

This year I am maxed out on one antidepressant because last year was so rough, and it has helped quite a bit. I was fine packing up and cooking a bunch of stuff until the night before, when I briefly didn't want to go, but I'm a socially-weird introvert, so it has to happen at LEAST once.

The weather wasn't idyllic, but it was all great anyway. The cottage has a huge screened-in room on one end, so even when everyone has to be inside and there's 15 of us, it's not squishy. People play ping-pong or board games or read or sit around talking or prepare food and it's very nice.

Or, you know, fight each other for the privilege of crushing ice with a mallet

The day we got there was warm but drizzly. The next day was clearer but windy and cold - I went in the water because once I went down that twenty-minute precipitous peril of a trail there was no way I wasn't swimming, but mostly we sat on the windy dock and watched the clouds. Monday was perfect and we swam and sunned and made dinner before heading home.

Cold

Matt and I brought our tent to sleep in. The first night I took a sleeping pill (just an over-the-counter) because I always have trouble sleeping the first night away anywhere. This was a mistake. I had restless legs all night, I had to get up to pee three times before I fell asleep, which was after it was already getting light. But then I slept in a few hours so it was okay. The second night was better, but my air mattress didn't feel as firm as it did camping last year, so we need to figure that out before camping this year because I NEED the magic of my double-height air mattress to be in full effect.

I made the drink from my birthday weekend that inspired me to buy coconut tequila and it went over really well. We paired it with Tony's pineapple upside-down cake. When I tried to google how to make the drink I could only come up with a coconut margarita, and I didn't want to use coconut cream. I then realized I could google the restaurant, look at the menu, see the ingredients of the drink and then look up cocktail proportions. Isn't it great when you start off so dumb that then figuring out something incredibly simple makes you feel like a genius? 

Tony made hurricanes. These went over...well, they went over like something that requires helmet and padding, as Collette said (HI COLLETTE). Some people said they could taste the tropical juices. Most people said they got a rum forward, hint of rum, top notes of rum, with a finishing rum bouquet. Thank goodness we only had one each, aside from whoever stole Michael's (regret to inform you that we cannot release any names while the investigation is ongoing).

Due preparations for the brisket.

The gracious hosts.

Killer sunset.

Canada Day

Sort of incognito, don't want to be Canadian too loudly

The heartbreaking optimism of being one switchback down the trail.