The hut by Lake Ontario by Ann Wood
Hi, I'm Emily Mangonari, and I live in Toronto, Canada, and I'm thirty years old. I recently bought a hut near Lake Ontario near Toronto. I bought it from two brothers, Mark and David Morrison, who are leaving to live in California, United States of America. The hut is large, on two floors with ten rooms on each floor. On each floor there is a bathroom and toilet, on the lower level there are two living rooms, a large dining room and a kitchen, a cellar, a laundry room, and an office. In the front yard, there is a large garden with a large gazebo, playground, swimming pool, and picnic tables. In the backyard, which is also significant, there are three bungalows with two rooms, a living room, a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a toilet, and a dining room. And next to them there is a sauna and gym, fruit and vegetable garden with a barbecue area. I have lived with my childhood friend Amber Smith. We both love to do tourism, and the idea of buying the hut was hers. We are also writers, we like to cook, and gardening is another favorite hobby. My friend Mario Jansons and Amber's boyfriend, Martin Woods, will also be living with us. We decided to refresh the hut and other buildings to it. For this purpose, we will be helped by several friends who deal with interior design and construction.We have made a list of products and materials that we will need for the repair. Amber went to the market to buy fish, vegetables, and fresh fruit, and to pick up the meat from the butcher's shop. We will pick them up when we have finished ordering the materials and the new furniture. When we finished at the hardware store and furniture store, we went to the market to get Amber, and from there, we went to the hut. When we arrived at the cabin at noon, we unloaded the car. Amber had bought lunch for Maggie. After lunch, we set about covering all the furniture, and floors in the hut with plastic, to get ready for the next day. By nine in the evening, all the rooms were prepared for renovation. I made salad and sandwiches for dinner. It was ten-thirty when we ate, cleared the table and washed the dishes, and then sat down with the others in the living room to watch TV. They gave Lifeguards on the beach, an old movie but very interesting. I went to bed after the movie was over.
The next day we started the repairs, had a quick breakfast, and got to work. The construction workers arrived at nine and set to work. We started painting the rooms, and Amber and I started painting the gazebo and the porch of the hut. For lunch, we ordered pizzas from the restaurant, which is near the cabin. We had lunch in the garden as it is quite hot today. After lunch, we went back to work. We have to finish the renovation before Christmas and New Year when we will have guests in the hut. In the evening we will have a barbecue. We finished work for the day at six and set about making dinner. While the men were making the barbecue, we started making salads and fries. We had dinner on the porch and then watched TV in the living room. I went to bed at half-past ten because we were all tired. I couldn't sleep for a long time, and I was spinning in my bed.
The renovation of the hut went according to plan. After the tenth day since we started it, the new furniture and equipment for the cabin arrived. Also, the new garden furniture, flowers, and new shrubs overtook. Mario and I hired gardeners to arrange the gardens and put a greenhouse in the back yard. Amber and Martin went to Toronto to get some things to open the hut. The repairs were completed in early December. We had decorated the Christmas tree and the whole cabin for Christmas. The opening will be a week before Christmas. For the party, we hired a catering company, dancers and lived music also a disco host.
The first guests will arrive on an opening day. The men ordered firewood for the winter, the hut, and the bungalows for the fireplaces. For Christmas and New Year we will have many guests, all rooms are booked.
On opening morning, the first guests arrived at ten. Amber and I were at the reception and met them, and Mark and Martin went to the airport to meet a group of guests from Nova Scotia and Vancouver. There was a buffet for guests at noon. After lunch, we all played tennis and then went to get ready for the party. The party started at six there was a priest who consecrated the hut and the food we had prepared. Then the mayor of Toronto cut the ribbon, and the party began after a short speech by the mayor and several prominent guests. The evening went very well, the guests were satisfied and the party to the max. We stayed up all night dancing, singing, playing various party games. We had breakfast in the morning, and then the outside guests left at nine.
The days until Christmas were busy, we went to the gift market and ordered the products for the holiday dinner. On Christmas Eve, all the guests and we went to the nearby church village for the morning service. After church, we went to the local bar for a drink and played darts and billiards. For lunch, we had lunch at the restaurant in the village and then returned to the hut to prepare the festive dinner for Christmas Eve. At seven, we all sat down to dinner together and then played Deal or Not. At midnight we went to bed. On Christmas morning, we woke up white with snow, and it was still snowing outside. I prepared breakfast for the guests, and then we started to prepare lunch for the guests. In the afternoon, we sang Christmas carols, and Amber played the piano. At seven, we served dinner; everyone was pleased and satisfied with the beautiful food and atmosphere.
The days leading up to the New Year were filled with many fun events and games. We held a competition for the best snowman. We made a session of photos, and I arranged them in albums and on New Year's I will surprise everyone with them as a gift, there was a small gift for all the guests. At New Year's Eve dinner, we all had dinner together and sang until dawn. All the guests left the next day but said they would come again soon.
Reservations began to rain one after another. Booking was planned for the whole year. We were busy with guests almost all the time. The business was booming, and we decided to take three more bungalows in the summer, as there is a massive influx of guests. The land around the hut is ours twenty acres, so we will gradually increase the number of bungalows.
Three months have passed since the opening of the hut, and the income is more than satisfactory. We are now expecting guests for the Easter holidays.
The first three new bungalows have already been installed and equipped. And the first guests in them will be for Easter. Mario decided this Saturday and Sunday to visit their family and invite my parents to see each other, as we will be swamped during the holidays. We left for Toronto on Friday night, staying at his parents' home. My parents would catch up the next morning. This is our first vacation since we opened the hut. Amber and Martin took over our tasks until we returned. The weekend passed quickly; unfortunately, we have to go back to work. Mario asked my father for my hand and proposed marriage. Officially, we will be engaged after the holidays.
When we returned to the hut and told Amber and Martin the news of the engagement, they were thrilled, and in the evening, we celebrated it with a dinner made by Mario and wine.
Easter is in less than two weeks, and the hut will be full of guests. We have invited a theatrical group of young actors to perform a play about how Jesus Christ was crucified and his resurrection after that. Our guest will be a young singer who promised to perform a few songs at the festive dinner for Easter.
The first guests for Easter arrived on Wednesday night from Dallas, Texas, USA, a young family with three beautiful children, and the woman was pregnant with their fourth child. We accommodated them in one of the new bungalows we built recently. Gradually, the other guests overtook. Since we are already working full time, we have hired additional staff to help us. Young people from nearby villages and Toronto help us clean the rooms, the kitchen, the front desk, and the gardens. Mario and Martin bought two minibusses so that they can walk and meet the guests who arrive by plane from the airport, and we do small excursions for foreigners who visit us regularly.
People from the village also came for the Easter show. As the weather was beautiful, the party was outdoors, and there was room for all the guests. There was a church service in the hut on Saturday night, and it was beneficial. We made it in the new chapel to the cabin. The next day for lunch and dinner, we had an outdoor barbecue with a campfire. We sang songs and rejoiced all night. The last guests left on Monday at noon. The new guests will arrive on Wednesday night, a group of young medical students will celebrate the birthday of one of them. During the weekend, the hut was half empty, and our families and relatives and a few friends came to celebrate our engagement. The party was very friendly, and everyone was very happy for us. We set a date for our wedding to be July 1st, Canada Day. It will be a small traditional wedding in the yard of the hut. Mario's sister will make the wedding cake, little cakes, and pastries. Amber will make the decoration and bouquets for the bridesmaids and the bride. My friend Venus will sew the dresses for me and the bridesmaids and brother and David the costumes of the groom and Martin, who will be his best man.
The months leading up to the wedding were spent preparing and working. We had a lot of guests during those months. We bought three more bungalows because there were not enough sleeping places.
Early on the morning of the wedding day, I got up and took a shower before going downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, the hairdressers, two manicurists, and the beauticians arrived to take us up and make us for the wedding. The ceremony will begin at two in the afternoon, followed by the festive lunch and dinner afterward. The music was playing, and the guests were overtaking. I was a little worried, but also very happy to be getting married. The day was sunny and quite warm. We welcomed the sunrise of July Morniga on the shore of the lake with Martin, Mario, Amber, and several of the guests of the hut. The wedding lasted all night with songs and dances and plenty of food and drink. The next day we went to Vegas USA on our honeymoon. Our flight was at noon, and we arrived at the hotel in Vegas in the evening. We had rented their wedding apartment overlooking the inner garden and the pool. We spent a pleasant honeymoon full of various programs, visited a museum, and went to New York for a few days and to Dallas, Texas, to visit the young family who was our guest for Easter. When we returned to Canada, I discovered that I was three months pregnant.
Life in the hut is still fast-paced and dynamic. We bought a mobile home where we will live after the baby is born with six bedrooms, two living rooms, and three bathrooms with toilets, a large dining room, and a kitchen. We put it at the most sheltered end of the garden by the lake.
Six months later, twins, a boy, and a girl, Elizabeth, and George were born. The family we finished, and we are delighted to be surprised that instead of one, we have two babies.
Short story by Ann Wood
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Written on 2020-07-01 at 16:05
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