Our contractor at the cottage told us that we’d get through the summer with the 1980 roof; he’d reshingle in the fall. Bad idea. Suzy and I braved the tail of tropical storm Barbara on the rooftop overlooking St. Peters Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence soaked to the bone and blackened by four bucketfuls of tar. It’s tough to spread tar in a downpour, even a tropical one, warm. At least the bugs weren’t bad. But at one moment I looked across the roof at my squatting tarred-up wife of seven years and felt all warm. At last: We’d managed to find some time away from the kids.…

It’s 30C in the shade of the earth (aka night). And almost too dark to type with the lights off. I’d light a candle but am afraid of the heat buildup.There’s no a-c at Walden. And that’s fine. A fan hums above me in the loft, stirring the air up there before I head up to bed. It’s 5C hotter there. Maybe I will have that beer. Jasper is asleep on the sofa behind me, exhausted after another day in the woods and at the MacPhee farm across the Dock Road. His little friends Megan (8) and Christie (11) keep him running, chasing barn kittens and exploring the hill and,…

I’ve been coming to this beach since I can remember. I’m sitting in the kitchen. The mouth of St. Peter’s Bay, PEI, opens to the Gulf of St.Lawrence. The sandspit point of Greenwich reaches out and fails against the inky waves. Buoys bob and sway. It’s 2006, but when I close my eyes on that shore and sink my toes in and suck in a deep nasal breath, sharp and salty in the back of my throat, it’s the early 80s again and I’m the kid on the beach, still a worrying type, but appreciative of the screeching dune terns, the endless night skies, the brace of a seawater cannonball…

Good-bye: One “Pump in Style” breast pump: $40. One Fisher Price wagon: $20. A live trap for “rabbits and small creatures”: $20. (Sorry to make you drive from Pinecrest, but it’s not big enough for raccoons). The Maytag washer is older than I thought. Marked down from $75 to 50, but the antique “Suds Saver” feature could come in handy! One glider rocker and slightly-stained ottoman: $45. Yes, it can easily be re-covered. A pee-green (no, not pea) micro-fibre-what-were-we-thinking reading chair: Please, take it. Getting rid of junk while the family’s away at a cottage for the weekend: Priceless. Hello, iPod.