In my spare time I can be found writing: tapping my keyboard and scrunching my face up in deep thought.

Cameron, on the other hand, seems to accomplish much more tangible results with his limited spare time.

Our home is heated by wood-stove only, and, let me tell you, the Winters can get cold here on Prince Edward Island.

Our frozen car

As is our way, we seem to be half-tackling thirteen to-dos at once,  a glaring to-do being “cut all wood needed for Winter heat.” We recognize that we should have all our wood cut, stacked, and seasoning by now, but we could say the same for a thousand other things, as well; there are only so many hours in the day, and we’re doing the best that we can.

We recently bought an Echo CS370 chain saw, which we’ll be using to cut our wood from our own land. This afternoon, Cameron took a monumental first step; he broke in the chainsaw and cut a few pieces from a downed tree close to the house. I love this picture; I see pride and happiness and beauty and the outdoors and, oh yes, warmth!

First wood

Once we’ve finished re-shingling our steep roof (by the way, have I mentioned that that’s our latest project???!!), we’ll spend a week or two cutting and hauling mountains of wood. I’m actually looking forward to cutting wood, as I seem to enjoy simple projects that require little finesse and can’t be done incorrectly: one piece of stacked wood means one more morsel of warmth–no matter which way you look at it.

For now, though, we’re happy to have christened our chainsaw and to have cut the first few logs.

I am now referring to chainsaw christenings; I really have become a woman of the woods.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.

After much consideration, since I seemed to have become such a woman anyway, I might as well embrace it.

Love,
Laura-Jane
Woman of the Woods