How was your Winter?

That’s the Lakeside greeting for the first meeting of the summer whether it is Memorial Day week-end or the first week of the season 4 weeks from now. I just heard it at the Coffee and Cream shop, and last night we had Marion and Jim over, so we heard it then, and when our neighbors Scott and Carol rolled in, we heard it. Margie from Delaware said it as did Jan from Virginia. Of course, those of us in Ohio had a very mild winter with little snow--although certainly more around Lakeside than Columbus since it gets the Lake affect snow.

I’ve had 2 wonderful morning walks along the Lakefront enjoying the iris, roses, poppies and the annuals that many people have already planted. I bought 2 flats of impatiens on Thursday which my husband planted yesterday. We are hoping we can keep them alive on a limited watering schedule until we’re able to be here on a daily basis at the end of June.

The Heritage Society is having its sale at South Auditorium, and many cottage owners have set up tables in front of their homes, too. One I stopped at this morning seemed to have all manner of furniture of various eras and designed painted in the same 4 colors--white, soft green, light yellow and cream, plus many attractive home décor items. Sort of “shabby chic” but not quite. So I asked the owner, who was putting them out. He said every thing had come from the dump or dumpster or put out for pick up. He repairs them, paints them and then has a sale. Not sure if the sale is for one of the local organizations, or his own purse. There was a lovely wicker 2 seater, with a slightly damage leg--better condition than ours--for $19, but I passed on that. The next one, if I replace this, will have to be sturdier. So often they come in sets, and we have 2 good chairs.

The deck has been scrubbed down, the porch roof swept, the grass mowed, the flowers planted, the weeds pulled, and the bushes were trimmed a week ago. Last October we planned to replace the toilet with a taller (old folks) more efficient model, but when it came up, a leak was found which damaged the floor, so that all had to be replaced, and then we decided to also raise the sink 3 inches to a more comfortable height, so the plumbing had to be extended. We also had the basement cleaned out and painted white. It looks very nice, but all this is to say that a cottage isn’t a boat with a hole in it where you throw money, but it sure is close!