Five Years a Writer

My cottage attire met the standards of need paired with availability; style was optional -- and unique.   Dear Clifftop Cottage: I wish I weren’t writing this letter, but the time has come. The choice is made, the deal done, the door closed. For good. For real. For us. For a new family, that same door is now wide open, and I bid them welcome and wish them the same times we had there. Years of hard work and good fun (often one and the same), of peace and quiet (except when it was noisy with people and power tools and vehicles), of that spectacular view (no matter the season or the weather, that view held our gaze and our heart), and of sighting the local wildlife (deer, bears, coyotes, foxes, otters, martens, birds, dragonflies, butterflies…). Looking back, every moment was worth it. Because, of course, memory fades of those moments when the cat caught a mouse behind the sofa (eek!); of when the toilet got plugged (argh!); of when the cottage was so cold when I arrived one early Decembe