“The edge of the pre-Cambrian shield is where I spent my summers. To me this was cottage country but in the late 19th century it had been settled by homesteaders who cleared the land and discovered the soil was too acid and thin and so the area is dotted with abandoned farms and abandoned hopes and dreams. A new set of homesteaders has taken up residence. A barn swallow’s nest is perched in someone’s bedroom with the tattered wallpaper bearing witness to a long ago attempt to bring a piece of civilization to the room.”
-- Robert Bateman