Still at the Cottage

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

Veteran journalist Charles Gordon’s latest book—which follows At the
Cottage, published in 1989—brings tears of laughter to the eyes as it
brilliantly traces the evolution (or, some would say, devolution) of
cottage life, from outhouse to eco-friendly, self-flushing toilet.

Cottage owners will immediately relate to what can and always does go
awry, particularly when there are umpteen guests in residence: the pump
stops pumping, cutting off the availability of any and all water; there
is an invasion of mosquitoes; someone is lost in the woods; someone else
fell off the dock and can’t swim.

With an undercurrent of genuine nostalgia, Gordon amusingly bemoans the
loss of his pristine wilderness indoors and out, and the many changes
that have turned simple cottaging into a major cottage “industry” at
every turn. As a veritable family cottage “sharer” of many years,
Gordon has contempt for citified cottage amenities such as telephones,
televisions, dishwashers, and Internet access.

Whether sweet or bitter or outrageous, the cottage memories Gordon
evokes are never dull. Still at the Cottage should grace the bookshelves
of cottagers and would-be cottagers alike.