All Buttoned Up

I love buttons. I have a few big storage jars filled with my grandmother's and mother-in-law's old buttons. They can be decorative or useful, or both, probably originally intended to merely keep two sides of a garment together, to close it up.

This will be the last of my Lakeview posts for the season, as we are "all buttoned up," closed for the season. The last few weekends have been great. One was spent sewing with my friends.

The last two have been spent closing things down and packing things away until we open again next May.

Someone recently asked what our motivation was to be part of the owner group of Lakeview Cottages. If you had asked me that four years ago, I would have said "investment." It sounded like something that would give us a good return on our money. Yes, even in this economy.

However, now that Mark and I have spent a lot of time there, managing, relaxing, working, I have a totally different answer. Part of it is building memories for our family. Does it melt my heart when Charlotte wants to spend time at the "cabinet." How could it not? I hope it will be a place that Levi and Charlotte spend many happy and memorable hours, and Aaron and Christa as well.

More than anything, I have come to realize that Lakeview Cottages gives back to me much more than I have given to it. A lot of work? Definitely. But it is a place that calms my heart and feeds my soul. It eases the stress of the work week. It is a place of rejuvenation.

The water level in Huntington Lake is very low and the dock has been beached.

The cabins are ready for the winter, shutters on the windows, the porches closed up, the doors bolted shut.

All buttoned up. I will miss it.