It all began with window shopping

Mother's Day 2011 began with some innocent window shopping in the beautiful little village of Westport in Eastern Ontario. The windows displayed real estate listings for waterfront properties. We were just looking to pass time until the nephews' football games that afternoon. We were at least two years away from being ready to buy a cottage property. Who knew there would be several listings with all the right features...rock ledge, deep water, south facing, 5 acres of mature trees, access to four lakes connected by 28 miles of  waterway for exploring? Luckily, the listing had enough detail that we could find the place without imposing on the real estate agent on Mother's Day. It was love a first sight for me. The trilliums were in full bloom and the forest floor was a sea of white because of them. The closer to the water we walked the more I fell. It wasn't until we got to the water that Ras started to feel the love. The only thing on the property is this little dock. Only one house can be seen from this perspective in the summer time...two when the leaves have fallen.

       Ras, aka AquaGirl, in her element at the water's edge       

Off to the football games we go...with visions of a cottage, a much bigger dock and the family and friends gathering to enjoy what we initially named Trillium Ridge. Then the discussion quickly went to this is the perfect opportunity to build a house/cottage exactly the way we want it and to use as little resources as possible. Hello solar panels, bye bye Hydro One. Nice dream...

After the football games we took my mom and sister to look at the lot. They, too, fell in love at first sight. So what did we do Monday morning? We put an offer in on it...and our lives will never be the same. We've gone from being completely debt-free city dwellers to what our country dwelling friends refer to as cidiots...city idiots. I do see their point as we all make the exodus from the city, all at the same time, to cottage country, only to settle next to our cottage country neighbour at proximities that are likely closer than in the city. We, at least, have 5 acres...does that put us in a lesser class of cidiotism?

The purpose of this blog is to keep a record (since neither of our brains is efficient at record keeping these days) of our journey to reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources and to keep family and friends informed of our adventures as we build a cottage in the woods by the lake. Although I must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Rita G for your insistence to make our often times laughable follies available for more than just you to chuckle over!

Oh, I forgot to mention one of the important features that the lot we wanted to buy must have: high speed internet....ha!

More later,
Mimi