At the cottage so far

Remember last summer with the horrific mouse carcass and subsequent cleaning of mouse poo for days afterwards? I was so afraid of what I might find this season at the cottage that Orest's Mum felt compelled to 'open' it in advance of our arrival, in order to spare my sensibilities the horror. (It also helped that I had cleared out the kitchen of all dishes and foodstuff at the end of last summer, in the hope that the cottage would be extended as Orest had planned. It didn't happen - but that's another long and painful story in itself that I cannot bear to contemplate at the moment.) And a wonderful surprise it was to be able to sleep on a bed immediately upon arrival without having to strip the sheets and fumigate the surrounding area. I guess the only place she and I both missed was the cutlery drawer, it required all silverware to be doused in boiling water immediately and cleaned vociferously of little black pellets of mouse excretion. It was only after careful examination that I realized that not only had they used the drawer as their personal toilet space, but that in their desperate search for something to eat, they had nibbled off the ends of several wooden spoons that had obviously been tainted with something edible. I felt a bit of pity, but mostly triumph that I had foiled their attempts to feast and party on anything else in our absence over the winter.

I realized also that the old Birkenstocks that I had left here were well past their prime, when after a rain shower I attempted descending the stairs at Borys' cottage, only to have my feet fly out from under me due to a lack of tread on the undersoles of said sandals. The one good thing I learned was that my husband still has some chivalrous bones in his body (after his inaction a month ago during my falling out of the car incident I feared that the romance had definitely left the relationship) when he immediately came running over to help pick up the flotsam and jetsom.

We had a fun week with visiting with Orest's brothers after the wedding, culminating in a post golf party at the cottage on Tuesday. Things quietened down until the weekend, with Larysa's coming out of camp for 6 hours to visit with her sisters, Alice, and us. The weather was great so the pool was hopping, Orest saying he hadn't seen that many people there in years. I was relaxing after seeing Larysa back to camp and Orest off to Toronto with Borys and Alice, when we had a surprise visit from the kommandantka with Larysa in tow. It was so shocking to see them, that immediately my thoughts turned to the awful possibilities that had brought them:

- Larysa had accidentally set fire to the dining hall...
- Larysa had gotten into a cat-fight with one of her tentmates
- Larysa had hurt herself gravely

The truth was actually quite mundane and embarrassing...Larysa had lice and I was asked to shampoo and comb out the offenders. After several hours work, I let her stay overnight and sent her back in the morning to resume her last week of camp. She and the other girls were happy to see her back...sans little friends of course.