This entry comes to you from the failing battery of my laptop in a cottage that has been without electricity for over two days---

Correction, the electricity just came back on! (So much for my ultimate demonstration of geekery.)

Far from the cushy summer retreat by a lake that my friends from Montreal expected, we have had no light, no running water, no refrigeration, and to top things off, the propane on the barbeque ran out in the middle of cooking our first meal.

Today, after steeling our resolve and making a run to town for bottled water, propane and ice, we relaxed into the unwashed experience and made our first group trip out to the island for the year... only to be chased from the island by hordes of feasting blackflies.

But now the electricity is back, and Marty has already made popcorn. Things are looking up.