WYCHWOOD AND THE MAGIC COTTAGE *

WYCHWOOD AND THE MAGIC COTTAGE 

For me,there is nothing more peaceful than being alone surrounded by the silence of nature, uninterrupted,with a mind free to wander and think all sorts of things.

Sometimes paintings will have the same effect on me without me ever leaving home for truly I am an introvert at heart. Looking into the watercolour field of this old painting someone long ago had painted instantly brought me back to the place I once lived as a young girl.

I believe I was 16 at the time when my dad was offered 2 teaching jobs, one in Ottawa and one in Bermuda, he chose Ottawa and my life had it's coordinates set . The little cottage in the woods of Wychwood my father discovered in Aylmer, Quebec couldn't have been more delightfully Spooky filled with mystery and strange occurrences of which I will write about in later stories. Wychwood or like my friends and I fondly called it, Witchwood was magical; a secluded spot hidden from the world, forgotten. Sadly, today everybody knows : )



We settled in a tiny white cottage steps away from the Ottawa River and many of the cottages including ours were surrounded by fragrant White Pines, one of my very favourite trees. My years there weren't the happiest, my parents split and the dream house my dad built next to the tiny cottage had to be sold but out of the stormy days there was one very cold night in September 1976, when my friend Diana and I ventured to town to the local pub,The British Hotel which still stands there today.
On that chilly night I took a motorcycle ride of my life with a tall skinny fellow from Val D'Or,Quebec, who later became my husband !Thirteen years later to the day of our meeting our son, Ty was born. Back when I lived in Wychwood I may have not been cognizant of it's magic but today I know just how special a place it was and still is .....for me!