The Cabin

I grew up on a farm and remained in the country until 14 years ago when my mom passed away, then I moved to the city. To be honest I hated the city, the noise, the people, no trees, it is nuts.

Then a couple years ago I met the most amazing guy and we started dating. John lived in Massachusetts during the week but on the weekends he had a beautiful cabin on top of a hill in the White Mountains.

I loved this place from the first time I saw it. The cabin is small and quaint, filled with antiques from his grandparents. Knocks and crannies filled with wonderful old things hanging on the walls, strings coming from the ceiling to open windows and turn on lights in the attic. It was just amazing.

The outside was filled with all kinds of flowers in the ground and in planters. Tree people all over the place and the greenest lawn I have ever seen. Snakes and dinosaurs made of metal filled the rock gardens and Jurassic tree down in the woods.

Everywhere you looked there was something unique and different. I had never seen anything like it. It kind of reminded me of your own personal amusement park and my guy had done it all himself.

Once I came into the picture we began doing things together. Making new planters out of old cast iron crock pots hanging from the pine trees, to signs for a pavilion made of wood found in one of the streams, filled with picnic tables, chairs, fire barrel, Wilson the soccer ball sitting on his own private tree stump, and so many other things.

I never realized how much work it took to make this place shine. Planting the flowers in the spring, watering them, dead heading, and making sure they were hung or put in sun or shade. Mowing the grass is a project all of its own and the smell, well, there is nothing like it. It was incredible waking the place up when the weather got warm and maintaining it throughout the 3 seasons we are there.

The cabin, which I call it, is a beautiful place surrounded by the mountains and lots of trees. Quiet as can be as I sit listening and watching the birds on the feeder. So many different kinds and colors. I get out the bird book often to see who has come to visit.

We seem to also have our own private wild animal pets. There is a fox that will sit near the woods and just watch us, but comes out to visit sometimes crossing the lawn looking like he is just saying hi. He has been there since I have been and I love his visits.

Then we have the bears. This spring we had a monster bear who was very shy and would run as soon as he saw us, but we also had a youngster. This one I would say is about 2 years old and quite the character. He will sit under the bird feeder laying on his belly like a big dog, eating the fallen seeds. This bear actually tried to get into the feeder which is strung across 2 trees with a big cable, strong enough to hold 3 or 4 people.

One morning we got up early and watched this teenager climbing on a lawn chair trying to reach the feeder, but to no avail. Then he decided to climb the tree and try to use his arm to pull the feeder to him, that didn't work either, so he climbed higher and just sat on the cable. Inside the cabin John and I stood there watching him laughing at his antics and he didn't seem bothered by us at all. After he finished the small seed morsels on the ground and realized he could not get the feeder down he left. I guess he got bored. This bear visited us all summer long.

We also have a horned owl. This guy is the coolest of cool. Not bothered by us at all we watched him all last summer. He would fly to a tree nearby us and just sit there and watch. I walked right up to him many times, talking softly and he would just turn his head as if to say, what do you want. So exciting. He coughed up a pellet for us one day and I found it on the ground under him. Pellets are hard to come by, and seeing an owl spit one up is even better. Filled with bones from its last meal, schools pay for pellets for students to dissect, but I had my very own at no cost at all.

The ravens are also a fixture at the cabin. They fly over daily making their strange noises, each one different in their call and actions. We had 5 but now are down to 2. When they are coming they are so large we can hear their massive wings flapping as they go over head.

Fireflies fill the field on hot summer nights. I love watching them, to me they are better than fireworks. An interesting fact about these little night lights is that the males are the ones flying in the air, and the females are flashing on the ground. We have spent hours just sitting on the walkway watching these guys.

Nature is so beautiful and always giving back to us if we only take a moment to look and listen. Life gets so busy for us all, but when I am at the cabin I slow down. I look at everything and I listen intently waiting for our next visitor.

One day John and I plan to move to the cabin permanently, which I cannot wait for! I know now that my move to the city was good in that moment, but now in my older years I realize that the country is where my heart is, and the cabin is where I want to be.