by Everyday Lillie.
(Editor’s note: During this hot spell, I thought it may be perfect timing to share Lillie’s story….)
Our island cottage is located in a bay dotted with many other small islands in a large lake in Ontario’s near north. We were confused by the existence of a small old barn on the property. It appears to have been used to house an animal – with a small stall on one side, and a ladder to a small hayloft above.
This is fishing country. Cottage vacation country……. Why on earth would someone have kept an animal in a barn on a rocky landscape in a lake? It was a mystery to us.
The barn in recent years had been been used to store old projects on one side – a boat motor awaiting repair and some bits of plumbing and galvanized pots and buckets. The other side (the stall) was filled to the rooftop with old wood – flooring, panelling and who knows what from renovations past in the cottage. It was a mess!
We spent the first summer disposing of and reusing items from the workshop side of the barn and another building nearby – but haven’t yet gotten to the enormous pile of wood. We have so many cut and fallen trees to dispose of that the barn pile will have to wait.
Who knows if we will keep the barn. But still – why would an island need a barn?
To be continued ……
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