Cuteness...

I took my sister to the conservation area at the marsh this morning for a walk through the woods in search of birds. Merlin picked up three different warblers, but alas we saw none. 

I set my sister up on Merlin yesterday so this was a good time for her to practise using the app. Of course she was able to add quite a few birds to her life list - the usual suspects of course, nothing new and exotic; however, cardinals, blue jays, sparrows, red-wing blackbirds, chickadees, swans, geese and ducks are a pretty good start! 

The highlight was the pair of geese with babies..ever so adorable. Hard to imagine that those cute little yellow fluffs grow up to be Canada Geese! 

Meanwhile up north my daughter and SIL are working hard to open up the cottage for the season and also helping my brother with his. There is always a bit of suspense associated with that first trip to the cottage. Will there be any damage from heavy snow or wind? A tree fallen on the roof? A frozen water pipe that needs replacing? How high or low will the water level be this year? Will we have problems putting the docks in? 

That huge ice storm this spring brought trees down all over that part of the province, destroying buildings and causing long power outages, so the possibility of fallen trees was a real worry. 

It turned out that our cottage was OK. The water level is low, and yes, a water pipe needed repairs, but over at my brother's? Yep. Two huge trees had been blown down right next to his cottage - one fell toward the water, but the other one actually hit the side of his cottage and was resting on the porch! Damage? Only a broken window. Whew! 

As a result, opening up was a little more difficult this year! There was an additional cottage-opening chore this year - getting out the chain saw and cutting that tree trunk into sections so my brother could get in and out of that porch door! 

My sister and I are so fortunate to have children who do all these difficult maintenance tasks for us - and for our brother. Having a cottage means endless hard work, and we are all beyond the time when we could do it ourselves!   

It does feel good that the cottage is there waiting for us. Summer is around the corner and that is cause for celebration!  It has been along long winter....