August/September 2020

Cottage Life

Cottage Life offers valuable advice as well as profiles, how-to articles, recipes, essays, issues pieces, and lifestyle stories that help readers look after their cottages, entertain guests and, of course, kick back and have fun.

Cottage Life1 min read
Cottage Life
Editor-in-Chief Michelle Kelly Deputy Editor Liann Bobechko Managing Editor Jackie Davis Senior Editor Blair Eveleigh Associate Editor Alysha Vandertogt Editorial Assistant Marie Waine Art Director Bradley Reinhardt Associate Art Director Sandi Pilon
Cottage Life2 min read
It’s Time To Play
So many of you refer to your cottages as your “happy place.” It’s where you escape and unwind, where you don’t worry about what you look like or what your schedule says, and you don’t have to spend any energy getting motivated to do things (unless th
Cottage Life5 min read
Your Letters
I just read “Strange Days Indeed” (Editor’s Note, June/July ’20). I wanted to thank you for taking a balanced and fair approach. I think you summarized the issues well and in a way that didn’t malign either side. My husband and I are lucky enough to
Cottage Life1 min read
Waterfront
Why our editor-in-chief is the jigsaw puzzle champion of the world. (She made us say that.) Golly, Nancy Drew! You and your titian hair have entertained readers for 90 years. Snack breakdown: what you should buy at the gas station. It’s not the nacho
Cottage Life1 min read
The Cottage Life Trivia Game
A Uncle Moneybags B Milburn Pennybags C Uncle Monocle D Mr. Monocle A Two Canadians who worked in journalism B Two Canadians who worked as grocers C Two Americans who worked in the aviation industry D Two Canadians who owned a winery A Y B J C K D Q
Cottage Life2 min read
She Put It All Together
Not a strong puzzler? Well, you will be. Once you follow these tips from our editor-in-chief—and raging “puzzle nerd”—Michelle Kelly.* Puzzling is meditative and incredibly satisfying, says Michelle. “You see your progress. There’s a start and there’
Cottage Life1 min read
Cottage Life Readers' Top Five Favourite Games
Favourite DICE GAME: Yahtzee Runner-up: Farkle Favourite TILE GAME: Dominoes Runner-up: Rummikub Favourite CARD GAME: Uno Runner-up: Cribbage ■
Cottage Life1 min read
Nancy Drew, Where Are You?
Nancy Drew on Campus (1995 to 1998, Simon & Schuster)Nancy, at university to study journalism, solves mysteries involving date rape and deadly motorcycle accidents, instead of the ones involving leaning chimneys, crooked bannisters, and crumbling wal
Cottage Life2 min read
Slow Your Boats
First came Slow Food. Then Slow Fashion, Slow Travel, even Slow Gaming (what?). Now Muskoka’s Safe Quiet Lakes hopes to make Slow Boating the next hip thing on a busy route near Port Carling, Ont. “We’re not bringing in extra rules, we’re just asking
Cottage Life2 min read
Risque Business
I was 10 or so when I first experienced the childhood pleasures of cottage country at a rambling old place my parents rented on Acton Island in Muskoka: endless rounds of kick the can and tag on the cool, shady paths that wound around the cottage; da
Cottage Life2 min read
Eight Is Enough
Every year, the day after school let out, my three sons and I would head up to Muskoka to spend the entire summer in bliss. I’d unpack, while the boys would head out to the garage to locate the bin jam-packed with toys from the previous years. The ex
Cottage Life1 min read
Dive Into It
A compelling new book by Bonnie Tsui, Why We Swim, explores the history of swimming and how humans have evolved to a life in water. Did you know that the Bajau sea nomads of Southeast Asia freedive 60 metres underwater to fish for 10 minutes at a tim
Cottage Life2 min read
The Trick To Chips, Bye-bye, Boat Motors & Flooding Fears
Thank the Lord—another First World problem is solved! This spring, a TikTok video showing how to “properly” close a bag of potato chips broke the internet. If you’ve been preserving your half-eaten bag of Sour Cream ’n’ Onion with a chip clip or a ru
Cottage Life1 min read
Workshop
Easy fixes so you’ll never be awoken by a squeaky bed again. Save on cooling costs by adding one simple thing to your windows. You put what in a Pringles can? Six hiding hacks that will make you say “Genius!” ■
Cottage Life2 min read
Keeping The Pieces
1 Cut a 4' by 3' tabletop from the plywood sheet. Hot tip: to save time, I had this piece cut at the store. Many home centres have professional panel saws and will make a few free cuts for customers. 2 Cut the 1x5 pine, mitering the corners, to make
Cottage Life1 min read
Cottage Coach
Adam’s been keeping busy during lockdown. See how at cottagecoach.com. ■
Cottage Life1 min read
Don’t Squeak
The squeaky bed is a cottage classic. In tight quarters, it lets you know who tosses and turns, who gets up for a trip to the loo, and who keeps jumping up and down on their bed over and over, squeak, squeak, squeak. What could they possibly be doing
Cottage Life1 min read
Is Your Stove As Safe As It Could Be?
Most people are familiar with the simple tethers that keep fully-loaded bookcases from toppling over. Similar in concept are anti-tip brackets for gas and electric stoves, which are simple devices that prevent the stove from tipping forward, especial
Cottage Life2 min read
Solar Controller
Looking for a quick way to improve your cottage this season? Window films are thin, flexible sheets, typically made of polyester, that you can apply to glass surfaces. They allow sunlight in but can block over 99 per cent of harmful UV rays and preve
Cottage Life2 min read
A Secret Service
If your cottage’s outdoor wiring runs through a grey plastic conduit, an extra junction box plus some conduit makes for a well-disguised little cache for the microfilm. Smuggle enemy technical diagrams in a tricked-out tube of Pringles. Neatly slice
Cottage Life6 min read
Just How Bad Is Kitty For The Birds?
Q: I read somewhere that cats are the number one threat to birds in the U.S. and Canada. Is my outdoor cat a threat to birds around my cottage?—HAZEL VALENTINE, VIA EMAIL A: Yes, your cat is a threat. Is it the number one threat? Truth: habitat destr
Cottage Life4 min read
That’s Just The Way It Is, Baby
Q: “My friend gets irritated when some of us want to watch trashy movies during our girls’ weekends at the cottage, but she is perfectly happy to have us all read trashy magazines instead. She says there is a difference, but I can’t see it.” A: If I
Cottage Life8 min read
Ride The Electric Wave
Let’s all take a moment and give thanks to electric car manufacturers. They’re the reason for a surge in interest in electric-powered boats. That’s good news for cottage boaters (and for our neighbours and wildlife) who want a quieter, more peaceful
Cottage Life10 min read
The Hundred-Year Pitch
EVERYONE IS A WINNER AT BRUCE BEACH—except at the North-South Game.” Eight-year-old Chris Buchanan tells me this over lunch on the back deck of his family’s waterfront cottage on Lake Huron, just south of Kincardine, Ont. It’s mid-afternoon on Saturd
Cottage Life4 min read
In Your Finest Shower
Ideal for cottagers who want to: Spend more time outside; be in the buff en plein air; free up bathroom space; take advantage of privacy; bathe with birds chirping In trying times, there are two surefire ways of returning to your centre: taking a lon
Cottage Life11 min read
Still Like That Old Time Rock n’ Roll
WE WERE ALL HAVING A PERFECTLY pleasant evening at our friend’s cottage on Kennisis Lake, Ont., when Jeff decided to bust out his old CD collection. Twelve of us were there on a night late in the summer, two generations—us in our twenties and our par
Cottage Life3 min read
Goint It Alone
Kids who like counting the fish under the dock will love spotting the cards that add up to 13; they won’t even realize they’re honing their math skills THE OBJECT: To remove all of the cards in the pyramid in one play-through of the hand by pairing o
Cottage Life6 min read
… We Swim
There is a time during every vacation at our small island cottage in the middle of Georgian Bay, when a call rings out for a round-the-island swim. This circumnavigation is not so much a race as a slow-moving caravan, complete with rest stops as requ
Cottage Life5 min read
Whatever Floats Your Body
We’ve all been there. The lake is calm. The water is warm. The sun is hot. And the lifejacket is leaving tanlines. It’s tempting to take it off, but then a little voice chirps: Transport Canada says 80 per cent of people who drown while boating aren’
Cottage Life3 min readRegional & Ethnic
Slaw Talent
Makes 6 cups Sweet and tart, this slaw goes well with grilled drumsticks, pork chops, or salmon, or even on tacos. No raw beets? Slice canned or pickled beets instead. ¼ large cabbage, finely shredded (about 5 cups or a 340 g bag*)1 beet, peeled and
Cottage Life2 min readEnvironmental Science
Tiny Bug, Big Impact
Prized by gourmets the world over, the bulging, spongy-bottomed king bolete is, in truth, much more than a fungal fancy. Arising in mixed and evergreen woods in late summer and early fall, it is a mighty ecosystem engineer, part of a corps of mushroo
Cottage Life1 min read
Reading Material
Jock Mitchell, a Nebahwin Island, Ont., cottager, got this guest “book” idea when he saw some folk art while in the Southern U.S. All the fish are the same shape, cut from some old cedar. Names and dates go on the back. “A nice record, especially for
Cottage Life1 min read
S’more Stuff
Picture this: all of the most famous Cottage Life DIY projects in one place. Well, pinch yourself, you’re not dreaming. We’re building an online home for smaller projects, such as our antler key rack; candle lantern; and this bee box (above); and for
Cottage Life1 min read
Bench Dog & Cat’s Paw
Animal cruelty? No. Real tools? Yes. A bench dog is a peg that fits into a corresponding hole in a work bench to act as a backstop for a workpiece. A cat’s paw is a miniature crowbar—roughly the size and shape of a cat’s front paw—that’s usually used

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