Cotton Lake Sunset
There is a Welsh word that conveys a feeling of homesickness for a place that is no more, or a place you cannot return- Hiraeth. There is a beautiful sadness to it. The first place I think of when I hear this word is my grandparent’s farm, and the second, will soon be our summer lake cabin.
We began coming to Cotton Lake when in 1991, which is the summer I turned five. Prior to that, I have only a handful of memories, one of them being the day my brothers were born and the others being just snippets of moments. In other words, I have been here, in this cabin, for as long as I can remember.
My grandparents, Jim and Donna Stewart, purchased an old fishing resort with five cabins. One for them in the center, and the remaining four for their children, set in a horse shoe shape around a grassy lawn with a sandy beach. When we came here, the cabins were in shambles. They all had lap siding that you could see through. I have pretty distinct memories of using my aunts bathroom, and watching cars pass on the road through the cracks in the wall. I can remember the roof leaking and placing buckets in the cabin to collect the water. I can remember placing tar paper on the walls to keep the mosquitos out. Although I was too young to help much at the time, I remember very clearly, the evolution between the shacks we all walked into, and the cozy cabins we came to love.
As time went on, the cabins began to shift, from parents, to grown children. My aunt and uncle bought the lot next door, my cousin and her family moved in to the cabin she had grown up in. My grandparents grew old, and passed away. My parents made the shift to the middle cabin, and my own family, which now had three little kids, made the jump from the camper we used for years, to cabin I grew up in.
The memories we have had in this place, are some of the best of my life, both childhood and adulthood. I am so grateful that my grandparents made the move that they did, and the hard work my parents and aunts and uncles did to make it more than shacks with walls you could see through. My children have had the privilege of growing up along side their second-cousins, and have the relationship of first cousins, not of those you see once a year if you’re lucky.
My favorite memories in no particular order: The morning coffee on the beach. Pot-luck, whole-family meals on Saturdays. Blueberries with my aunt Cheri while I recited the entire Lion King movie. (I was probably 9) Shared summer birthdays- me with my cousin Rachel and Kellen with my uncle Elwyn. Too many sunburns. Swimming off the island. Burring each other in the sand. Sunfish caught off the dock. Walking to The Pink Cabins, eventually Curley’s with my cousin Eric to buy candy. Jumping off the pontoon with no life jacket for the first time. Long drives through the wildlife refuge with my husband. Crafts done with the kids on our midweek stays, while the whole lake was quiet. Summer ducks, tame enough to eat out of our hands. One tornado. Countless smores. Fireworks, include one incident of an exploded (already dead) fish. Curley’s on a Saturday night. Sunday morning flea-markets with my grandparents. Late nights with brothers and sister-in-law. Sandcastles. One million captured frogs and toads. Lightning bugs in a jar. Wild flowers from the ditch. Always making it back to the beach in time for a glass of wine and the sunset. The deep sense of inner peace.
As they say, nothing in life is certain but change. The time has come to move on from this place, and ready or not, the end is here. Although my heart is heavy, and this chapter is closing, I’m also ready for whatever is next. New places. New sites I’ve never seen. New adventures to be had.
So here’s a final toast to Cotton Lake. A piece of us will always be here, even after time fades away. A toast to the change in seasons and a change in time. May the next chapter be better than the last!
Ingredients:
1 habanero- finely grated (1/8th tsp per drink)
1 shot of bourbon
1/2 shot of Italicus
Orange Juice- Fresh squeezed is best
Splash of blueberry wild child syrup (See recipe below)
1 cube Demerarar Sugar
Blueberry Wild Child Simple Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 oz package of wild child tea
Add all ingredients to a pot and boil.
Strain mixture and put into a stopper bottle for storage.
We have other drinks coming that use this mixture, so don’t worry, it will get used!
Drink Instructions:
Muddle the sugar cube in a shaker and add ice.
Add all other ingredients and shake.
Strain into a rocks glass filled with Ice.
This is the perfect drink to transition from the warm summer weather into the cool fall.
