Category Archives: The Cabin

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure, The Cabin

I know. It’s been awhile.

July 16, 2024 steph 1 Comment

Somehow, when I get up here to the cabin, I just settle into my little Cabin Bubble. I write all kinds of blog entries in my head – and even take photos to go along with them. I write about all the jobs that Gary’s getting done, and about the deep cleaning I’m tackling in the inside (even though those spider webs reappear within days!). I write about my friend, Lynne, coming for a visit and then the delight we had driving down to her place to help with a couple of chores she was having trouble crossing off her list. I write about the concerts I’ve been too – a sweet intimate one here in Bradford, and then one a bit fancier over at Bretton Woods Resort in New Hampshire. Both a delight that I shared with my niece Chris (and one with my friend Lynne also!). I write clever sayings about this List that Gary has. About how it has never been a “I have to do these things,” list, but rather it’s a “I GET to do these things” list. I write about the butterflies that are flitting around all of the milkweed growing in the field and Maple Creamies and the beautiful lilies that I brought up from Montrose Bible Conference many years ago which return faithfully every year. I write about how Chris and I had the inaugural ride in the new kayak on the pond, and how we both made it from the kayak onto the floating dock. (Some a little more gracefully than others!) And I write about how folks are beginning to arrive here in Vermont – some to enjoy a bit of pre-reunion vacation time, and some to help with all of the last minute details. And of course, I share about how absolutely soul refreshing this time has been – work, and play, and naps, and reflection.
All of those things are in my head, but when it comes to the end of the day and it’s time to pull out ye ol’laptop and make these thoughts into sentences – somehow it all just seems too hard! Instead I pull out my book or start another game of Rummikub, or just sit outside and enjoy the sunset. Because one thing I’ve come to understand is that it’s way easier NOT to write this blog than it is TO write this blog!
So here’s what I’m going to do – HERE’s a link to the entire album of photos that I’ve uploaded to Flickr. I’ve tried to get them into some sort of order, and weed out any that seem to be duplicates. If you have time to glance through them, you should get a feel for what the last three weeks have been like! Glorious!

And the truth of the matter is that it could be just another while before I pull out these blank journal pages again! The Reunion starts officially on Thursday, which means that we have tomorrow to wrap up any loose ends, and do any the last minute chores. Thankfully some reinforcements have arrived, so it will be a beehive of activity tomorrow. And then the day after the reunion (one week from today!), we depart with our 10 year old grandson for his Grams & Pops adventure!

Just when I’ll be needing a good long nap!! Thanks for understanding – and hangin’ in there with me!

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Cabin

And so it begins

June 27, 2024 steph Leave a comment

We’ve arrived at The Cabin to begin the preparations for our Big Family Reunion, being held here the third weekend in July. Three weeks exactly from today!! On our busiest day, looks like there will be close to 70 folks here – between the ages 6 weeks to 80.5! Since most (if not everyone but us) will be staying ‘off campus,’ we’ll mostly be working on getting the grounds into tip-top shape, and making sure the interior is ready to be the hub for the food and supplies. And since we’ve allowed three weeks to accomplish that, we’ll also be taking naps, reading books, visiting with family, continuing with our Rummicub marathon, and occasionally having ice cream for dinner. No judging, please.
I found the following post from back in 2008 that gave a bit of history of our little slice of Vermont heaven. It’s a wonderful legacy we’ve been entrusted with and it’s always good to remember the rich history of this place!

I came across this picture of our family cabin in Vermont the other night. Judging by the new construction look (both in the landscaping and in the building) it was probably taken around 1938. This little building has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. My grandfather, the town doctor in the small Vermont town of Bradford, bought a 200 acres homestead on the side of Wrights Mountain around 1935. Though it had once been a small farm with a cluster of buildings, only the granite skeleton of cellars and foundations remained. He built this small one room cabin in 1937 or 1938 on one of the foundations, right next to a cellar hole lined with massive granite stones. The story goes that he built it so he could keep track of my grandmother and his children (my dad and his brother and sister). Apparently Gramma Lizzie wasn’t all the happy living the fishbowl life of small town doctor’s wife so she would pack up the kids periodically and head off for different adventures. We’ve been told she had one of the first trailers brought into the state and used to go camping with the kids along the banks of the local rivers. (Obviously before the days of KOA campgrounds!). But whether he had it built to keep track of Lizzie or just to give himself a get-away place not too far from town doesn’t really matter. We will be forever grateful for the gift that he gave his future generations.
The Cabin hasn’t really changed much over the years. I don’t know when it was shingled in red, but it has always been that way as far as I remember.

The pond was dug in the…uummmm..1950’s something (Elna remembers that, I don’t),

a back porch was added in the early 60’s (I remember that), electricity was added in (around?) 1964 to accommodate the new fangled Destroilet (Yes, it was a propane toilet. Honest.) When I was a youngun’, there were cows that roamed the property from a neighboring farm. I don’t know why that ended, but we haven’t had any bovines around for probably 20 years.[Closer to 40 now, I’d say!) Some of the property has been sold off (we’re down to about 110 acres), and we’ve built a new road, coming in from a different direction. The Destroilet bit the dust around 1995, and a good old fashioned outhouse has served us well ever since. We still use the same well I carried water from as a teenager (the original well was replaced in the 60’s sometime), and although we now have water pumped up to close to the cabin, we still claim “no running water” with pride. No TV, barely a good radio signal, and no phone. (OK, cell phones work up there sometimes, but that’s a pretty recent development. And while it’s nice to be able to call for a tow truck (like last summer), it seems just wrong somehow when the phone actually rings.) Pear trees have grown up in the cellar hole – the perfect spot for a hammock. The red wooden boat that we fished from with Grampy Doc has been replaced with an aluminum one from Sears (though it seems to leak about the same). Here is The Cabin today (well, not today, but within the last couple of years!) –

[Photo date – 2004!]Doc and Lizzie left The Cabin to my parents, and they left it to the four of us kids. And it brings all of us great joy to see the latest generation (Lizzie and Doc’s great-great grandchildren) enjoying it and loving it as they did. And we do.
Thank you, dear grandparents!

Here is the cabin today – from a similar, but not exact, perspective.

And I am so very pleased that we will be welcoming our first member of the sixth generation to enjoy the Cabin at this upcoming reunion.

We are so very blessed!!
Thanks for coming along down memory lane with me! Stop by anytime!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2024, The Adventure, The Cabin

Wrapping up Shoshanah

June 22, 2024 steph 2 Comments

Once again, we’ve come to the end of our time here at Shoshanah Camp. And once again, it was a good and profitable month! We were the only SOWER couple here this month, and after a busy winter and spring, it worked very well for us to be on our own. When we work alone, we often end up working together – and that was certainly the case this month. Our primary focus (as mentioned before) was getting the screening done on their new pavilion.

They plan to use this pavilion heavily this summer (staff and students start arriving next week!), and with the mosquito and black fly population an ever present guest, screening was imperative! Gary spent the first week preparing the areas for screening while I worked on sealing the doors. And then we moved to the actual screening. And I’m happy to report that despite some crazy weather, malfunctioning saws, and some material shortages, the screens are up, the doors have been hung and the final bits of trim have been installed!
Voila – a fully screened pavillion!

Ready for guests!!
There were a few challenges this month, though. The lack of any cell service has been a bit frustrating. Although – it does eliminate those annoying ads between solitaire games. So I guess that’s a good thing, right? Although there is good strong internet (and using the wifi there to make calls worked well) at the nearby dining hall, not having a signal here has also been hard. But every now and again (like tonight while I’m writing this) a little bit of that dining hall signal seems to sneak through the woods. And then I make a mad dash to do all of my internet stuff (including this blog!) before it vanishes once again. (To be honest, I’m disappointed in myself that this “limited connectivity” has bothered me as much as it has.) But on the plus side, we were able to get to the Cabin for a lovely, low-impact weekend!

And that certainly doesn’t happen during a SOWER project very often!

As another SOWER month draws to a close, we are once again thankful for the opportunity to be a small part of this ministry as it prepares to challenge and disciple Jesus followers in the weeks ahead. Even with our “First World Problems”!

We leave on Tuesday for our Pre-Family Reunion preparations at the Cabin. Yep – it’s back to our Happy Place for us!

(I definitely think we should recreate this picture from 2021 – don’t you?)

Hope you’re having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by,

The Adventure, The Cabin

Stephanie at the Cabin

June 7, 2024 steph 3 Comments

Let me tell you about Stephanie at the cabin. Her time at the Cabin is significantly different than Gary’s . While Gary concentrates on The List, Steph concentrates on Documentation. Oh, she stays on top of the dishes and even manages to put food on the table, but her main job is watching Spring spring. For example, every morning on her first trip to the outhouse (or maybe on the way back depending on the (ahem) urgency of the trip, she pauses to take a picture of the morning.
First Morning

Final Morning

Proof that spring has sprung!
She always takes the classic Cabin reflection photo –

It’s not just because it’s one of her favorite views, but it’s also fun to see the progression of the landscape over the years –
May 2011 –

May 2017

See – documentation of these changes is important!
She also documents other signs of spring at the Cabin –
the first sighting of a Jack in the Pulpit –

the bluets that dot the lawn before that first mowing
and then the buttercups that spring up after that first cut.

And of course, there are those pear trees – which can only be seen in bloom in early May.

If she wasn’t there to document it, how would we know how beautiful that is?
This year, she also took a moment (I think it was when they were all packed up to go, and the interior was all neat and tidy) to document the interior –

They cram a fair bit of stuff (and memories) into that little space, don’t they?

Stephanie is also always at the ready for when Gary needs that extra hand. Ok, it’s not that often, but she’s READY! And as you can see from the previous post, she also documents what Gary is doing.

Aside from the important(ish) documenting that Stephanie did this spring, she also freshened and tidied up different areas of the cabin – like the Game Shelf.
Before –

After –

=) Sometimes it’s the little things that count!
Oh – and she keeps track of the sunsets!

Yes, Stephanie’s time at the cabin is a fair bit different than Gary’s. But somehow it seems to work for both of them, and there’s no point in trying to change them at this point!
Thanks for stopping by,
A casual observer

Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure, The Cabin

Gary at the Cabin

June 4, 2024 steph 1 Comment

Let’s talk about Gary at the Cabin. Every morning, he’s up before me (full disclosure – he’s up before me every morning even when we’re not at the cabin, but still…), has brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and has a crackling fire waiting for me.

Trust me, you want that early morning fire in May at the Cabin!
He stays quietly reading not to disturb my quiet time, although if I sleep especially late (unlikely, but not impossible!), I may also awaken to the sound of the lawn mower or a power tool!

As usual, he had his List of things he wanted to accomplish – Kayak rack,

redesigning and launching the floating dock,

tree and debris clearing

to name just a few.
And just when he thought maybe he was done, I asked him to paint the conduit to the light because it ‘bothered me in the pictures”!

But please rest assured – this is the epitome of “love language” to my sweet Gary! There is nothing he does at the Cabin that isn’t done from his heart.

I don’t have any photos of him in his favorite spot on the back porch, but I did manage to catch a rare photo of him sitting inside by the fire (playing a game of Sudoku, no doubt).

Yes, Gary at the Cabin is a sight to behold! We head back at the end of June to do final preparations for our big Family Reunion – so I’m pretty sure I’ll have more photos of Gary doing what he loves most – working at the Cabin!
Thanks for stopping by – and next time I’ll share what I was doing while he was ever so busy!

RV There Yet?

Category Archives: The Cabin

I know. It’s been awhile.

And so it begins

Wrapping up Shoshanah

Stephanie at the Cabin

Gary at the Cabin

Seeing the country……Serving our Lord!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Seeing the country……Serving our Lord!