Regrettably, the end of cabin season is in sight.

Your Scribe is not conceding completely.

I will continue to travel to the hinterlands for weekends and perhaps Thanksgiving.

But if your source of heat is a small Jotul and the structure has high ceilings and limited insulation, the (warm-blooded) realist will recognize that those nights at the beloved camp are limited.

Looking back, here are some of my plus and minuses for the season:

On the plus side, the weather was great and the shrubs and vines grew famously.
I had good luck with the hydranga, forsythia and bittersweet.

One could argue that you don't need luck with bittersweet - only poor judgment to plant it in the first place - but it is climbing nicely up the vertical beams on the big front porch.

The corn and pumpkins grew well, though I have learned it is unwise to wait until August to plant.

Also on the plus side, the riverside space that I fashioned on the Sandy is very practical (in low water). It may not be as useful in the spring when the river is surging, but for now I consider myself a maestro of the waterworks.

Also this summer I met neighbors, wangled an address from the town post office and took long walks along the nearby ridge that provides gorgeous views of the Blue Mountains of Franklin County, and beyond that, Rangeley.

On the down side, my career as a Lumber Baron did not lift off.

Bob the (reluctant) Woodsman has not felled a tree yet, though we have been talking about the project for three months.

(An aside: I signed and returned (more) contracts for the project this week. Satisfaction could be just days away).

I was chagrined that a clear-cut took place across the dirt road from the cabin. But Gary the Logger did leave a buffer, so I can't see the now barren land.

And I was disappointed in myself for not developing a source of power, such as buying a generator for lights and electric heat.

The cost (perhaps $500 for a small Honda unit) seemed exorbitant, except now the days are short and you can't do much in a darkened cabin (not withstanding the legend of Honest Abe reading by firelight).

Despite these petty reservations, it was a great year at the cabin.

I plan to keep going there in coming weeks, though I will wary of deer hunters and attired in blaze orange.

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