Sage Cottage B&B

11/15/2025

Happy birthday to my dear friend, Wanda Nicholson. May your next journey around the sun be filled with many blessings. Love you ❤️

06/04/2024

For those of you who visited Sage Cottage when the jasmine at the front door was in full bloom, I am heartsick to tell you that my beloved vines took a hit this past winter. Susan has given it a severe pruning in the hopes that there is still some life in the vines -- now18 years old -- but I am not optimistic. Evan is sure it will come back, but I'm less convinced. I will miss the scent wafting in the windows in the early evening. I will also miss the sheer beauty of the magnificent vines that trailed across the front verandah and were so thick at the entrance, I sometimes wondered if we should provide machetes for people making their way into the house. We can start from scratch and plant more vines, but I won't be around to see them in all their splendour once again.

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11/08/2018

Jan Maynard Nicol shared a post.
2 hrs ·

We said goodbye to our lovely Missy this afternoon and my daughter, Susan, posted this wonderful tribute to her. Our hearts are breaking but we are grateful that Elizabeth, the vet, was able to come to the house and Missy was able to stay on her bed in the dining room the whole time. Blair, our rector, came and blessed Missy before the final injection. Some years ago, Susan gave us a garden statue of a dog that looks so much like Missy and we will be placing Missy's ashes under it. Those of you who met Missy know that she was everyone's new best friend and I was always sure that if burglars broke into the house, if they petted her, Missy would show them where the silverware was kept. She was such a blessing in our lives. Will miss her terribly.


Susan Goldie
4 hrs

My mom had to say goodbye to her canine companion today.

She adopted Missy almost fourteen years ago. She drove down to the US to pick up this lovely, abandoned dog who seemed to have some issues and, even though she was thought to be quite young, appeared to have already had at least one litter of pups. Every time someone would go near my mom to hug her, Missy would start barking. That was pretty annoying but boy did she love my mom.

At that time my mom was living on her own in the house she’d built on Mayne Island and was a bit lonely having recently lost her feline companion, so in truth, Missy and my mom rescued each other. Missy kept her company and served as watch dog and doorbell; no one would ever be able to arrive without being announced by Missy’s alarming bark.

Then Evan arrived on the scene and, though I’ll never work out how he managed to court my mom with Missy on the job, he and my mom were married with Missy’s blessing. Treats were involved, I’m sure.

Missy’s hearing went and then she seemed to also stop barking. I didn’t think I could ever miss that bark, but I did. She also started struggling with her hips and she was having a hard time getting around.

Many of us know how hard it is to make that final decision for our animal companions, but we also know that, as our final kindness to them, there is a point we have to let them go.

Sleep well, Missy.

I love you, Mom.

05/15/2016

Since we are not receiving B&B guests anymore, I keep telling my self that I should take down this page. But, on the other hand, it is nice to be able to post things from time to time to connect with all the wonderful people who have passed through these doors. Missing all of you is the main drawback to closing our B&B. Have to say, I don't miss getting up early to make breakfast or doing the laundry and ironing, but I do miss all our friends. For those of you who have visited at this time of year, the garden is lush and some to the shrubs and vines are going crazy! The roses are in bloom as are the bachelor buttons and butterfly plants. Such an early season for everything. And we will have strawberries this year -- we moved them into a huge cage so the birds will have to look elsewhere for their berries. We hope that all of you who have sat with us around the breakfast table are well and enjoying life to the fullest.

02/12/2016

I have to say that in the eight months since we have received guests here at Sage Cottage, while we've enjoyed the rest, we have missed meeting all the wonderful people who stayed with us -- strangers when they arrived but friends when they left. I have missed hearing all of your stories and sharing conversations about books, families, politics (sometimes), recipes, home towns and so much more.

For those of you who have visited us, I just wanted you to know that the crocuses and snowdrops are in bloom and the daffodils are about to open. So many things in the garden are up -- tulips, garlic, English bluebells, rhubarb and so much more. The parsley and chives are coming back after a really good pruning by the deer. :-) In sunnier gardens, the tulips are in full bloom and I saw blossoms on a tree in town the other day. I'm looking forward to even warmer days when I can set up my fairy garden next to the waterfall and pond. I can see it will become my new hobby -- another one to go with all the others that I never have enough time for! :-)

We think of all of you and hope that your lives are filled with many blessings.

07/04/2015

After much deliberation, we have decided to no longer receive guests at Sage Cottage. After nine seasons, we are finding the long days a bit wearing. We have made some amazing friends over the years and will miss those who come often but it will be nice to be able to have family visit during the summer now.

It is probably just as well we made the decision now as this long spell of very dry weather is going to play havoc with island water. We have cut back on our water consumption drastically and the garden is beginning to show the effects. I have not been able to run my beloved stream this summer as the evaporation rate is over the top and we would have to keep filling the ponds with our precious well water. As with many island residents we have place buckets in the sink to catch much of the water that would ordinarily run down the drain and use it to water the garden. We are amazed at how much that adds up to and yet, we have never considered ourselves to be heavy water users. You rinse vegetables under the running tap and run the water waiting for the hot water -- amazing how it adds up. I guess it is a good thing we are changing our ways as this extended heat wave may, indeed, be a sign of things to come. We have had only one brief rainfall in the past two months. Every where you look, it is as if it is late August as everything is so dry. The deer will suffer as there is little greenery for them to eat and that is the only way they get water as they do not drink water so you watch the little fawns frolicking behind their mothers and wonder if they will make it through.

On the bright side, everything in the garden is far ahead of schedule, and some things like our beautiful lilies are already finished. The jasmine is now in full bloom (over three weeks ahead of its usual time) and the scent in the early evening is divine. As with everything in life, gardens are a mixture of disasters and blessings.

So the long hot summer continues. We now have more time to read while enjoying the breeze off the water (although I must confess that I don't seem to have any additional time for housework or ironing!!) and more time for family. Although Sage Cottage is no longer open for business, we hope all the friends we have made over the years will continue to keep in touch.

01/29/2015

This is the time of year when we catch our breath and take it easy. It is lovely to see the snow drops in blossom, the tulips and daffodils up about six inches and the garlic almost as high. In fact, some of the daffodils are in bud and it won't take many more warm days before they are in bloom. The ground is still too wet and cold to do any real gardening but I'm itching to get out and do something in the garden. First task? Trim the jasmine by the front door or by summer everyone will need a machete just to get to the door. Evan has done some raking and he is now sorting heritage seeds saved from last year in order to get ready for our local Seedy Saturday when people exchange seeds and cuttings from the previous year. Spring is definitely in the air. Never mind that it's still January.

07/23/2014

The fig tree is so laden with figs this year that we have had to prop it up. A bit of an obstacle course around it, but only for a few more weeks until they are ripe. Fresh figs in the breakfast parfaits coming up. And fresh raspberry muffins to go along with the parfaits.

07/16/2014

Sunrise from the deck.