Buying the Camp

Completely different concept from buying the farm-- and from where did that expression come, I wonder?

The first time I heard my neighbor refer to her house on the lake as camp, I thought she was just quirky, but no. All of the wood-folk, except R it seems, refer to their summer- lakey homes as camps. I haven't quite got used to it. To me, a camp is a patch of ground with a couple of tents and a can of pork and beans bubbling on the fire-pit.

R has always referred to this house as The Cottage. That doesn't quite fit either because I don't imagine a cottage with so much knotty pine.

In any case, whatever we're going to call it, it's ours-- as of yesterday. R and I took Buckaroo down to close the deal with the in-laws and the attorneys. I had Darcy and Bingley's opening lines from Pride and Prejudice (the movie) stuck in my head all day:

Bingley: It's a fair prospect.
Darcy: Pretty enough, I grant you.

Bingley: Ah, it is nothing to Pemberley, I know. But I must settle somewhere. Have I your approval?
Darcy: You will find the society something savage.
Bingley: Country manners? I think they're charming.
Darcy: Then you better take it.
Bingley: Thank you. I shall. I shall close with the attorney directly.

Of course it must be read with an English accent.

I haven't found the country manners savage, but you know that Darcy was a something of a snob until Lizzie set him straight.

After our appointment we had dinner with R's parents and while the cauliflower was steaming, R said, "Come look out the window!" and there were the mohawk headed cardinals swooping around the bird feeder and twittering in the trees. I've kept my eyes open for the red guys since we moved here, but this was my first sighting-- five of them, just like there are five of us (when Obo is here) and just after we made our stay permanent. They were downright auspicious.

R's mom said she's never seen a cardinal in The Woods, and I guess that's because they like open woodlands-- I'm not sure what open woodlands means, but I'm thinking it's the opposite of what we have.

***
The first picture was taken on Monday evening. The four of us rowed (well, R did the actual rowing) out to the islands and munched on the plethora of blueberries growing there. Unfortunately, a blueberry past its season is super seedy and not very sweet.

R's dad was up on the weekend to help pull out the boat and store it with Bob the Boatman, so we are motorless once again, but it was good to have the quiet paddling of the oars in the flat-bottom boat and fresh air. We made it to the islands and back despite being about 150 pounds over capacity. Oops.