Christy Heitger-Ewing Author
Journalist
Humorist

Buy the Book:
Amazon
Published by: Greyden Press
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Pages: 184
ISBN13: 9781570740947

 
To purchase signed copies of Cabin Glory, contact the author directly here.

OVERVIEW

Anyone who has ever spent time at a cabin, camp, cottage, or lake retreat will appreciate the stories in Cabin Glory, a book filled with charming essays that appeal to all demographics. Stories cover everything from renovation disasters and gardening dilemmas to free-spirited fishing expeditions and boating addiction. Included are also tales of movie-making magic, lakeside hammock marriage proposals, and a desire to “save the fishies.” The author recalls first love, lasting love, love at first sight, and love of all things outdoors, including sing-alongs round crackling bonfires, adventurous hill climbs with siblings, and learning just what it takes to be a bonafide “lake girl.” Whether you’re a seasoned cabin owner, are new to the cabin community, or simply enjoy celebrating a more laid-back lifestyle, you’ll enjoy the timeless essays in Cabin Glory as they offer a personal, inviting, widely identifiable perspective of what it is to enjoy cabin living.

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PRAISE

“As idyllic as a snooze in a hammock on a warm summer day. Perfectly captures the halcyon life to be had in a summer cabin by the lake.”
—W. Bruce Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose

“Christy writes so well that I gobble up her stories effortlessly. Her writing is carried along by her passion for cabin living, generously spiced with her insightful humor, and imbued with the deep love she has for family, friends, and neighbors.”
–Mark Johnson, Former Editor-in-Chief, Cabin Life magazine

“I intend to give Christy’s books as cabin-warming gifts. I really do love reading her stories. It’s like Garrison Keillor meets Erma Bombeck, with little charming Hoosier-isms thrown in. Christy really has a gift. Whenever I read one of her stories, it makes my day a little better.”
—Alison Baker Tatlow, Kirkwood, Missouri

“Cabin Glory is a wonderful book containing a series of stories ranging from semi-serious to utterly hilarious with some good life lessons included. The stories illustrate life’s many simple pleasures, which are easily forgotten, yet are still so readily available. The author’s commitment to her passion for the cabin vacation lifestyle, love of family and friends, and enthusiasm for life’s opportunities makes this book a refreshing uplifting read.”
—Tim Terry, Rotunda West, Florida

“I’m placing Cabin Glory on the living room coffee table where anyone can sit, overlook the lake, and read Christy’s heartfelt stories. I can certainly see a bit of Erma Bombeck in Christy’s stories, and it makes them feel personal to us.”
—Don & Kathy Anderson, Hayward, Wisconsin

“A delightful read! I laughed out loud at some of the chapters and enjoyed them all.”
—Arllys Papke, Bloomington, Indiana

“I don’t know much about cabin living, but I would read anything that Christy writes. She’s terrific.”
—Kelly Carr, Editor, The Lookout Magazine

“Although the cabin and lake take center physical stage, this, too, is a book of keen observations and insights from an obviously extraordinarily bright woman with a love of words and an eye and ear attuned to the delightful nuances of human nature.”
—Sammy Parker, Alpharetta, Georgia

“The writing is skilled, funny, and insightful, with a variety of stories ranging from the poignant to the irreverent. The author is a good storyteller with just the right touch for a punchline. An entertaining and enjoyable book, written well and with love.”
—Writer’s Digest 

 

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EXCERPT

Sold! To the Boy Who Loves the Cabin

Money isn’t everything. Yes, cash is required in order to buy a cabin, but my family is living proof that sometimes a dream can come true—and it has nothing to do with dollar signs.

Let me back up a bit.

My dad was a lucky duck. When he was a teenager, he had a best friend named Marty who, for three straight summers, invited him up to his family’s norther Michigan lake cabin. Dad said that each year, as soon as they arrived at the cabin, he would race down to the dock, scan the water, and exclaim, “This is awesome!”

While at the cabin, my dad and Marty engaged in all sorts of adventures—like taking the 12-foot row boat over to a tiny island on the lake, dubbed Mosquito Island, where they would go ashore and bury deer bones under rocks. Then in later summers they would return to dig up their “treasures.”

Dad and Marty also loved to take the boat across the lake to indulge in a scrumptious double scoop of 10-cent ice cream. Their after-dinner ritual consisted of drowning a container to worms in the hopes of snagging a perch or walleye. When the fish were really biting, Dad and Marty made sure to chart their good fortune (and lucky spot) on a map that hung on the cabin’s wall. At night they built massive bonfires by the shore, then stayed up late reading comic books like Walt Disney Comics, Little Lulu, and The Fox and the Crow.

Each year when the vacation ended, Dad would again go down to the dock, scan the water, and say aloud, “Someday, I’m gonna own a place on this lake.”

Fast-forward 21 years to the summer of 1981 when Dad got a call from Marty’s mother, letting him know that the cabin two down from theirs was on the market. Immediately, my dad started salivating at the thought of owning his very own piece of paradise—and in the same cove he had fallen in love with two decades earlier.

In 1981, Dad had a wife and two children (me and my older brother, Dan, 8 and 11 at the time). Dad loved the thought of being able to recreate all of the magical times he had experienced as a kid. But he didn’t know if he had the money to make it happen.

When Dad spoke to his realtor, he was told that the cabin had already generated a lot of traffic and he didn’t see it staying on the market for long. Without hesitation, Mom and Dad hopped in the car and drove 520 miles north to see the place.

When they arrived, there was a group of potential buyers out on the dock and another group touring the cabin. Mom and Dad began looking around, and the owners, who were sitting near the window by the lake, kept their eyes glued on Dad. Then the woman cocked her head to the side and said to Dad, “You look kind of familiar.”

Dad explained how as a kid he used to come to the lake with the neighbor boy two cabins down.

“Oh, yeah. I’d see you boys playing in the water constantly,” the woman said with a smile. “You always seemed to be having such a great time. I could tell you really loved it here.”

Later that night, my parents made an offer on the cabin—as did two other families. The next day when the cabin owners received the three offers from their realtor, they only had one question, and it had nothing to do with money.

“Are any of those offers from the boy who used to come up here?” the cabin owners asked.

“Yes,” the realtor responded. “That would be Mr. Heitger.”

“Well, we want to sell to that boy,” the woman said.

When Dad heard he got the cabin, it took all of 30 minutes to pack up the six of us (Mom, Dad, Dan, me, our cat Furry, and our dog Bonnie) and head north. Upon arrival, we followed Dad’s ritual by racing down to the dock, scanning the water, and exclaiming simultaneously, “This is awesome!”

Yes, money bought the cabin. But clearly it was old cabin memories—and the promise of making new ones—that made the purchase possible.