Our cottage chainsaw crew has one leader (and I’m in no hurry for my turn)

first person

First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide .

Summer means time at the cottage, and for our family, time at the cottage means projects.

After the morning coffee has been brewed in the 1970s glass percolator, it’s a tradition that three generations sit down over breakfast and make the Job List. There will be some inevitable debate about what makes it on and in what order it gets done but usually, without fail, my Dad will say to his grandkids some version of “there’s brush to clean up so we need to get on that and have a campfire.”

Our cottage sits on about two acres of land and I’ve loved the property for the 35 years we’ve owned it, but only recently have I developed an appreciation f