Longing for a Cabin on Lake Winnipesaukee

October 7, 2015 | Originally published in the Laconia Daily Sun

Saturday, even on those days when one works, has a different rhythm and routine.

For all of us. Traffic patterns change, shopping is different, café’s offer jazz and we all probably allow a few extra calories to slip into our diets, here and there.

My Saturday morning routine includes walking down the block to a small candy and magazine shop on Lexington Avenue to find the weekend edition of the Financial Times, published in London. My reading includes lots of newspapers and journals, but the Weekend FT is my favorite. Hands down. In addition to the international news, from a different perspective, there are book and theater reviews, food columns, fashion, travel and often articles about beautiful homes in exotic places around the globe.

Two weeks ago I opened the Life and Arts section to notice the headline: “Cabin Pressure.” There was the photograph of a cottage, nestled among trees.

I continued to read and learned that this “perfect rural retreat” was “on a tiny island off the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.”

The woman who wrote the article is a well-known British author and she writes about all the things we love about New Hampshire. Blueberry pancakes made from blueberries picked earlier in the day. The shift in how the landscape looks (and feels) when the weather is gray and rainy. How cozy it can be sitting by a wood fire and playing board games as a family.

This week’s FT also had another article about cabins. This article focused on a former entrepreneur, Zach Klein, who has just published a book entitled: Cabin Porn: Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere (Particular Books).

I’m not in New Hampshire this weekend and reading these articles has made me long for an opportunity to spend some time, either on a lake or in the mountains. The next best thing, and all that’s left for me, is to buy a pumpkin and attempt to bake a real pumpkin pie. This will conjure images in my mind of driving along the Connecticut River.

It’s lovely reading about New Hampshire in international publications, I just don’t want too many people to learn about the very special place where we live.

Elizabeth Howard’s career intersects journalism, marketing and communications. Her children’s book, A Day with Bonefish Joe, has recently been published by David R. Godine. She lives in New York City and has a home in Laconia.