Summer Vacation 2015

Just got back last night after 2 weeks at my family cottage at Grand Lake, NB. I have been going there every summer since I was 9 months old. I have only missed 2 summers. Palmer's Cove, Grand Lake is one of my favourite places in the world. My maternal grandfather, Willard Kitchen, purchased an entire cove eons ago. He built  ten cottages along the beach as rentals. As years went by, he gave a couple of them away to family (mine included) and sold others to families that had been renting for several years. In my life time, no cottage has changed families and about half belong to relatives. Every summer, my family, who live all over the Maritimes converge on the cottage where we relax, eat great food, drink beer, play cards, read books, knit and hang out on the beach. This summer I was very lazy, a real deck potato. Can you blame me when this was the view?

 

 

I cheated a bit, this last photo was taken by my nice Katie last Thanksgiving.

 

The younger McElmans were much more energetic. My nephews Jackson and Quinn, and their Labradoodle, Obi, enjoying the water.

 

 

 

We did make one day trip to the village of Gagetown. Gagetown is one of the oldest English villages in Canada. It was originally the capital of New Brunswick, but the capital was eventually moved up river to Fredericton, which was viewed as a safer location during the early years of our country, when invasions were something to feared and worried about. It is now a sleepy little village with several tourist shops, B & B's, craft stores and museums. While visiting Gagetown years ago, my husband Chris, who was an avid fan of old homes, fell in love with a 200+ year old house which was vacant and slowly falling apart from neglect. We ended up purchasing the home and began restoring it, planning for it to be a summer/retirement home. Unfortunately, life had other plans, and Chris died from cancer 14 years ago. Since then the home has changed hands twice and the 2 owners completed Chris's dream of restoring "The Ross House" to its former glory.

 



 

I was very happy to find the current owner to tell them how happy I was to see what a beautiful job they had done.

 

While home, I did a lot of knitting and of course research visiting local yarn shops. More about that later.

 

Beth