Tag Archives: Dwinell 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, The Adventure, The Cabin

Back Home

June 29, 2023 steph Leave a comment

It’s always hard to leave The Cabin and this morning was no exception.

As we loaded up the car and did one final sweep to leave it spic and span for the next family (arriving tomorrow!), I couldn’t resist one last picture of the interior of our little slice of heaven.

(Taken on the wide angle setting of my iPhone so it looks much larger than it actually is!)
Man – I miss it already!

But back to real life it was! We arrived safely home this afternoon, after a lovely non-eventful drive. The best kind! Aside from the smoke drifting down from Canada and the fact that we couldn’t get into the Vermont Welcome Center due to road construction (and I REALLY needed to stop, if you get my drift!),it was smooth sailing all the way. Tonight, after going out for pizza with friends, it was last-minute laundry and packing up the outside as we get ready to move the house tomorrow to our July SOWER project at Longview Camp in Arcade, NY. I should probably tackle more of the inside, but even an uneventful drive can still wear you out!
Sweet dreams, friends!

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Cabin

Every Day in May – Almost!

May 31, 2023 steph 3 Comments

Maybe if I had gone with the “Every Day in May that I’m at the Cabin” blog post goal, it would have been more attainable. By my count, though, I only missed 7 days and that’s still a pretty good streak for me! Even if each day did not include an official blog post, May was still a very good month! For one thing, we got to watch SPRING happen! From our first morning –

to this morning –

it’s been amazing to watch the rebirth of the season unfold!
The main cabin construction project went from this

to this!

There is still some interior work to be done, but the outside is complete! Great job, Gary!
While he was busy building a treehouse for (we hope) generations to enjoy, I was busy taking big pieces of fabric, cutting them into small pieces, and then sewing them back together for The Graduate’s quilt.

I think she knows how much love and prayers were sewn into that quilt!
I’ll be honest – Gary worked much harder up here than I did. But then again, he always does! The beauty of The Cabin is that we each get to do what brings us joy. I’m quite content to wake up to the sound of power tools (or weed whacker as was the case this morning)

because I know that is what makes him happy. And I think he’s happy to let me sleep until I wake up (could be 6:30, could be 9!), putter around the cabin, do a bit of gardening, catch up on some reading, and generally enjoy the cabin ‘my way’!
We’re down to our last two full days here (we head back to our June SOWER project at Montrose Bible Conference on Saturday), and I’ve actually convinced him to do something fun (as in not project/chore related) tomorrow. So we’re heading to the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury. In all my years of coming to Vermont, I have never been to that museum, so I’m looking forward to it! Since we’re out-n-about we may also be checking out some Restores looking for some flooring for the treehouse, but I still think it’s a pretty good compromise!