Old Picture of Cottage

I love old pictures. Our cottage is on the right. It looks almost the same today, but the trees and hedges are much larger.

Horses at the Cottage?

Yes, it's true...horses at the cottage! Years ago, though.

In anticipation of our summer at the lake, I was looking through some old pictures I have of the cottage. I adore this picture. That's our cottage on the right.

The horses were kept at a farm maybe a mile away. My mother-in-law tells stories of riding her horse from the barn down to Midway Beach. Before the summer visitors arrived, in fact, she'd even bathe the winter mud and muck from her horse by riding him straight into the lake and washing him off.

My Blogging Desk

Here it is, a view inside the cottage where the blogging takes place.

Old Picture of the Cottage

Our cottage years ago

We Have Arrived at our Destination

After leaving our warm, sunny home in California, we arrived bright and early to chilly Conneaut Lake. Located in Northwest Pennsylvania, Conneaut Lake is the largest natural lake in the state.

Our humble little cottage.

The swimming area at Midway Beach.

The Midway Docks.

Midway Beach Area Cottages in Conneaut Lake

Earlier this summer I exchanged emails with a friend from our New York days. She remarked that it was wonderful that we'd be spending time at our 'country home'. Bob and I got a good chuckle out of that, because our summer cottage is just that - a summer cottage. When I say 'cottage', I am not merely being modest as some people are when they refer to their summer homes in posh areas as 'cottages'. The Midway Beach area is full of modest cottages that have one thing in common - they all have names. In fact, when my husband was growing up, the cottages were only known by their names, not street numbers. None of the cottages even had phone numbers, and my husband would spend his afternoons as a messenger, delivering phone messages from the real estate office to occupants of the cottages. He knew each cottage by name. Some of the cottages have been in the same family for generations, and have names that go back that far.

This darling cottage is called 'Dream Cottage'...

The 'Front 9' sits at the front of this property, with (you guessed it) the 'Back 9' behind it...

Some appear to be named after owners...

And others have a deeper inspiration...

This tiny cottage, the Priscilla, is one of my favorites, and seems so appropriately named. My mother-in-law says it's been the Priscilla for as long as she can remember. I'd love to know who Priscilla was...