The Camp 2011

This is our little oasis from life in Halifax. No water on site, we carry it in. No sewage, we carry it out. No electricity, we finally have a battery pack for the computer and evening light. Until lately, no bed we (I) were happy to sleep in.

Last fall, Steve and Phoebe with help from me from time to time, managed to get a foundation for a bunkhouse in place.

This spring and summer Steve has been working doggedly. As of this weekend, I would say we (he) is about half way to a functional building defined as having no water penetration and no bugs. Given last weekend's wild life traffic, also no raccoons, mink or porcupines.

It will likely take us to the end of next summer to be able to say “done”, but as long as a mattress can be laid on the floor without it raining or dew collecting on my head, I will consider it a done building. There will eventually be a nice little writing table overlooking the site back to the road and bridge. We haven't figured out the best place to put the futon couch, but it is either here or there. There isn't much to chose between. My criteria includes easy access to the camp potty at night.

This is the screened kitchen room.

We treated ourselves to a two seater wooden bench this spring. What a difference a bench makes! It is nearly as profound as the purchase of a table (glass topped) we could eat at last summer. Before that, we were eating at a little outdoor coffee table type thing (blue one in corner). We thought it was pretty generous for a camp. Who knew what a significant role a table played in a person's life until it isn't there. A friend who did her thesis work in Kenya remarked how no one there had chairs or tables, all the work was done on the ground. It is exhausting. Try it for one meal's preparation for four people and it will give you a whole new appreciation for your furniture.

But I digress, as is often the case. The screened kitchen is a huge improvement from our screened dining tent. The not so charming looking kitchen area is a vast improvement upon cooking on top of a cooler. The view has always been lovely. We have kingfishers, loons, cormorants, sometimes cranes, two kinds of mergansers, several kinds of sparrows, chickadees, yellow finches, cedar wax wings, eagles and osprey. The last two weekends, many happy frogs have been croaking it up. We've seen deer, heard raccoons and mink and last weekend heard porcupines. Every year there is a rumour of a bear. Let's leave it at that please. Sunday mornings a happy dog runs across the ditch for a cool off swim. We hardly see people, there is the ubiquitous ATV with two young kids on it, and a few cyclists. The sunset is often lovely and the breeze is usually gentle and cooling.

Beach Meadows Beach is near by as is Eagle Head Beach. We are between Bridgewater and Liverpool, so emergency shopping is disappointing as an activity but usually successful as an outing. I manage to read, write, sew, knit, read and read and read. It's a pretty cool place to come to.