Seven Days, Six Nights or It was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

The nice thing about being away is your readers are forced to either wait for new material or reread the old drivel. So thanks for the rereads. Personally, there’s only one bad thing about being away. That’s being away plus being without internet access. You know that question that's often posed to folks, "are you gay?" No, I mean the second most asked question, "If you were stranded on a desert island and you could take only one thing what one thing would you take?" and the pat, routine answer from all of those idiotic, vain, floss using Nazi’s is usually a toothbrush? Please, a toothbrush over say alcohol; water or internet access? In that precise order? Yuh, I'm stranded on an island and utmost on my mind is oral hygiene.

Of course one can learn a lot when one spends seven days and six nights (stranded) in the company of four women in what can only be described (in my mind anyway) as the maid's quarters of the Overlook Hotel. Here's Cathy!

If I have taken anything away from my seven day, six night excursion besides several fly bites and sunburned skin (oh and a real appreciation for Tina Fey) it would be a total understanding of the origin of the word catty. Spraying urine is one of many methods that cats use to mark their territory. If this be true then our cottage was one big cat box and the room assignments; food; and beverages brought therein were all marked with their respective smells. Just try eating one of my cherry tomatoes. When Sartre said, "Hell is other people", he could have only been referring to cottagers in the midst of a heat wave on Lake Herown. I mean Huron. Oops, my bad; Freudian slip.

Of course our stay wasn’t all that bad. The water provided much needed relief from the high temperatures we were experiencing and the weather was gruelling as well. Hot flashes and heat waves do not mix. They can however promote spontaneous combustion.

Did I have a good time? Of course I did. Would I do it again? Of course I would. Will I be invited? Probably not; a little less litter in the litter box.