#380 - Relaxing Day

I slept like a baby and didn’t want to get out of bed. We went to sleep around nine thirty last night, and I got out of bed about twelve hours later.

And I only got up because I felt bad about sleeping the day away, and I could smell the wonderful aroma of cooking bacon. It was the kid’s turn to make everyone breakfast. I made myself a cortado, happy that I remembered to bring my Nespresso pods to the cottage. There was French toast and maple syrup waiting on the table, and the bacon was on the way. I helped myself to three slices of French toast and some fresh fruit. There was pineapple, green melon, honey dew melon and grapes.

I should have bought more orange juice. I just didn’t think it would be so popular with everyone one the first day.

After breakfast, some of the family headed out to finish painting the bunkie, but I stayed inside and tried to come up with some story ideas for my mentor assignment. I had a few ideas that were just okay, but nothing that I felt I could sink my teeth into. My niece came into the great room to watch Peppa Pig with her mom about that time. I didn’t find it distracting, so I get working with a pen and paper trying to find a way into a story.

Outside, the weather looked wonderful. It had been great everyday in Parry Sound. Robyn and kiddo #1 were down at the beach reading in Muskoka chairs around the firepit and I joined them.

And sure enough, while I was there, I came up with a simple story to write for my assignment. I was having a real hard time coming up with a simple story line. I was inspired by the beach location and the fire pit and quickly started to make some notes about the trees and make up of the beach.

I chose the beach for the single location that the story would take place in, so I had to have all the details down right.

Robyn got up and went back to the cottage with the kiddo, and I stayed a bit longer to drink in the atmosphere. Then I went and sat in the Muskoka chairs on the dock and sat with my eyes closed, absorbing in some sun and making some vitamin D.

Eventually, I walked up the trail towards the house but veered off down along the trails that led up to camping platforms. I eventually came across a sign labeled “Hobbit Trail,” and I had to take it. The trail was well maintained and did indeed feel like the kind of place a hobbit might walk through.

The trail looped back to the cottage trail, and I took it back there and sat on the deck with my brother-in-law. He brought out his drone and did some aerial shots of the property as the sun was starting to set.

Later he went to do some more video shooting, and I left him to go upstairs to my room and take a moment before dinner to rest. I ended up watching YouTube for about and hour and felt rejuvenated afterwards. I came down to a frenzied kitchen, where John and Shannon were making some chicken souvlaki, with roasted potatoes and a Greek salad. There was pita bread and tzatziki dip as well.

It tasted like it came straight from a Greek restaurant. The got it from the unlike Greek place called O’Connors. Named for the street it is on and not for the Greek family that runs it apparently.

We had leftover apple crumble for dessert with ice cream as well.

After dinner we started packing our car and getting things organized for the trip home. The idea was that Robyn would drive and I would try get some writing done in that time.

We said our goodbyes, the young kids were more excited about roasting marshmallows and were eager for us to leave so they could get to it!

Driving south we left the nice weather behind and entered into rainy conditions. The GPS had Robyn take a side trip and we missed the En Route stop we usually make. Which was fine with me because it meant we got home forty minutes sooner. I was probably the only person in the car that wasn’t desperate to pee.

The rain increased and so did the traffic.

We stopped at a gas station a few kilometers from our house to gas up the car, which was now running on fumes. Robyn and a kiddo hit the Tim Horton’s for a tea and a pee.

It was a nice stay at the cottage, but it was nice to get back home and unpack the car.

I suggested that we watch an hour of TV. One, so I could rest for a moment, and two because I was feeling good about the start I got on my assignment while in the car.

We put on an episode of Bill Maher, and I may have dozed off here and there. After the show was done, I could have easily rolled over and gone to bed. I was certainly tired enough. But I hadn’t written my blog, met my daily word count or finished my assignment story. I think it’s fair to say, this guy still had shit to do!

I took some time to make a coffee and a slice of toast with butter before heading down to the writing cave. If I was going to get this story done, I needed to be in a place with the least distractions.

By one am I had my original 700 words from the drive home and not much else. It was time to knuckle down and get this short story done. And I really hoped it was going to be a short one.

It’s now twenty past three in the morning, and I have written a total of 1600 words on this story. It’s going fairly well, and it will definitely be a shorter tale than the last one. I might struggle to make this longer than the minimum of 3000 words.

At least I don’t have to work for the studio tomorrow. I can sleep the day away if I so choose!

I finally finished the story at three AM, and it hit just over three thousand words.

Time for bed!

Good morning!