Sorry I haven't been around much; I've just got back from 10 days at the cottage.
Which - of course - is a good thing; though much of that time involved doing everything within my power to keep to hyperactive septagenarians away from power tools.
See; our cottage lies on Buckhorn Lake; in the Kawarthas of southern Ontario - one of the most beautiful vacation and relaxation regions on Earth. Our family has held this land - a double-size property - ever since the Lakes were flooded almost a hundred years ago; and a cottage (This very one...with extensive rebuilding over time) has stood here for more than eighty. It was the first cottage on this lake, and MAN does it look it!
Anyhoo; it was owned by my grandfather, with the second cottage (a cabin, really) belonging to my Dad. Unfortunately; as Grandpa slipped into his dotage he began developing a packrat mentality around the cottage. It fell into disrepair; and got cluttered up with tons of junk over the years. When he passed away a bit more than a decade ago, it passed to my Dad and we went to work with gusto on it. We've replaced the roof, flattened the outhouse, put in indoor plumbing, leveled (as much as possible) the floor, took a chainsaw to many of the trees on the property.
The problem is, now Dad's just about the same age as Grandpa was when he started slipping and though his mind's nowhere as feeble; his body is.
And - it must be said - he's never exactly been the best renovator in the business.
Enter Pete - his best friend. Between them about 150 yrs. of life experience. Pete was - looong ago - a handyman; and has helped enormously in the rebuilding and I must say that while I'm pretty good with this sort of work I've learned quite a lot from him. The downside is that he insists on being the foreman and some of his ideas don't exactly gel with the needs of a rural cottage. So what we have is a 72-yr.-old manager, a 78-yr. old foreman, and a 40 yr. old, well...slave.
This week, we were replacing the old windows with some good modern ones; and prepping the cottage to recieve new aluminum siding. (The last time we did any work on the exterior; Dad thought it would be a good idea to paint right over 58-yr. old cedar planks. Bad idea.)
So basically, this time I put my foot down and took charge - we got the old windows ripped out, reframed and the new ones installed in two days of good solid work. The following days involved repacking and insulating, getting the dock in, a bit of landscaping, taking down some of the more dangerous dead branches, etc. All the while doing everything I could to keep these two enthusiastic oldsters from killing themselves trying to drag lumber around.
(Note - any supposed derision is entirely affectionate.)
Anyhoo; some pics for you. The cottage is my own little patch of heaven - our fortress of solitude.
Our cottage, seen from the 'road' in. This was after all the work; the woodpile in the foreground is the remains of the old windows and frames. The near building is the bunkie; or toolshed.
The front (or lake-side) of the cottage. You can see the new windows installed and strapped for the siding. We put the new doors on last year. Dad and Peter reshingled the main part of the roof as well, though that's going to cause a few problems when I do the roof in the foreground.
The front property is terraced down to the water. Next year's project for me is going to be rebuilding the rock walls and flattening the terraces. (and resodding.) That's my cabin on the left. 
The view down to the dock. That's Dad's Tempest under wraps, and our little fisherman in the water. That dock's one of Dad's design ideas - it's sectioned so one old coot can put it in himself; though now he waits until I can come up and do it. Smart him. 
Looking up the lake; the latest victim of the chainsaw in the foreground. That's my little 15-ft. Beaver sailboat. Slowest boat on the lake, but still fun. The round concrete thing is the wellhead.
I was shooting a Loon that was bobbing just off our dock and when he took off; I thought this would be a good shot. Came out kind of nice - and for the record; most of the week was grey; we only got good sun in the last two days (which is when the other pics were shot.)
The living room of the cottage. This place is as bare-bones as you get; no fancy frills (aside from electricity; which is fairly new.) A wood stove for heat, books and a radio for entertainment. No TV, computers or video games to be had, and there never will be. 
Looking into the kitchen area. An ancient microwave is the closest thing to modern convenience we have - and that only because Dad uses it to reheat his tea.Hope you like!
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