Miss C Goes to Mayberry Cottage

We were up at Mayberry Cottage for most of this afternoon.... we had an appointment with an engineer to have the house inspected, and it passed with flying colors. The engineers (two of them) were very thorough... they looked at every inch of everything up there... the whole process taking nearly three hours.

My husband and I had invited young Miss C to drive up with us, as well as her mom. L wasn't feeling well yesterday, and she wasn't feeling all that much better this morning, so she decided not to take the drive. But Miss C was up bright and early this morning, and we left her house by 9:00 a.m.

When we got up to Livingston, we stopped at a deli there to get sandwiches for lunch... one for each of us, plus one for our realtor, who was meeting us there for the inspection. We had our first picnic in "our" backyard... without placecards and a guest book (said Miss C). I had also brought along a can of cat food for the current owner's cat, who looks positively starved. Poor cat also looks to be blind in one eye.... I'm praying that they don't leave the cat there when they pack up and move. It's an outdoor cat, and looks as if it's been through a war, poor thing.

We looked at everything thoroughly today, even more so than the last time we were at the cottage. The little cabin is larger than we had remembered it to be... approximately 14-feet wide, 24-feet long..... so young Miss C will have quite a nice little cabin all to herself. Plus, the cabin has two windows, one looking out to the lake, so she was jumping up and down with ideas of how she wants to decorate it.

I also left a note for the sellers, telling them that we very much appreciate the love and care that has gone into that property, and I also told them that we'd be interested in buying some of the furniture, if they were looking to sell some of their things. I made a list, room by room, of what we would like to buy, but I didn't leave the list there... I'll talk to them over the phone when they call.

While we were at the house, five ducks landed on the back lawn, and two large white egrets flew down onto the boatdock and looked into the lake for their lunch. Beautiful views from every angle of the backyard, and wonderful views from the porches, the kitchen and dinette, the living room, the master bedroom, and what will be a sitting room. We decided that we'll set up just one of the extra bedrooms as a guest room. The other room will be a quiet sitting room for reading, but I may put a loveseat in there that opens up to a bed, just in case we have extra guests. My sister gave me the idea that if I set up the two extra rooms with beds, then they'll just be bedrooms and nothing more. Good idea, I thought.

It was just so wonderful to be up there today.... gorgeous day, lots of sun. It was so hot in town when we stopped for the sandwiches, but once we got to the lake area, with all those big beautiful trees and winding hills, the temperature cooled down a bit. And on our own little peninsula of land, with those sweet-gum shade trees, and the breeze coming off the lake, it was indeed like heaven. No...... it was like Mayberry.