Welcome to day 2 of Wandawega Week! If you missed day 1, click here.
Today, we’re giving away a signed copy of Tereasa’s book, A Very Modest Cottage. If you’d like a chance to win it, just leave us a comment on this post between today (Tuesday, August 9th) and Thursday, August 11th at noon (Central Time).
But before you scroll down to comment, I’d like to share with you a few more gorgeous Wandawega photos, and a very special blog post Tereasa wrote about her Dad, Tom Surratt. It’s filled with love and heaps of hope, and I’m sure you’ll be as touched by it as I was…
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“An old car, a decrepit piece of furniture, a rusty old tractor, an abandoned cottage is never beyond hope. They just need to find someone who’ll believe in them.
Tom Surratt believed.
He didn’t see a worthless, geriatric farm machine that was too far gone. He had a gift to see the youth, the former self, the beauty in everything. He saw his grandson one day driving that tractor down Main street in the annual Beardstown Fall Fun Festival Parade. He didn’t see a rust bucket of a pick-up that was beyond repair. He envisioned the ‘country limoisine’ his son Sam would drive his bride Tara home in on their wedding night.
Tom’s ability to see potential where most saw junk was a gift he passed on to every member of his family. His son Sam can bring pretty much anything with an engine back to life again. And again. And again. His daughters Amy, Lisa and Holly married men cut from the same cloth. Men who know that the right combination of ambition, duct tape, and elbow grease make all things possible. His wife, Kay, held Tom’s hope in her heart as she hammered, nailed, painted, and restored half a dozen condemned properties into loving homes for low income families with her two hands. And my father Tom inspired me to see the beauty locked within an abandoned cabin bound for the wrecking ball. I saw a quiet, happy place where Dad could go to read his books and listen to his grandkids and watch the clouds roll by.
Dad didn’t make it to see the rebirth of the modest cottage.
Or to witness his grandson – with a grin a mile wide – old enough to pilot that old international Harvester tractor down Main street and win best of show for antique restorations. But his ability to dream and hope and believe lives on.
I hope this little story of a resurrection inspires you (like my Dad inspired me) to think twice before you lose faith in that old car, that weathered piece of furniture, that old tractor, or even an old, abandoned cottage.
(Tereasa’s Grandpa, holding up her Dad)
Even the most modest of projects can be become something beautiful. There is no such thing as too far gone. With hope and a hammer, I believe there is always a way.”
– Tereasa Surratt, author of A Very Modest Cottage
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(Photos 1, 2, 3, & 5 courtesy of Mary at at Home Is Where The Boat Is. Photos 4 & 6: AVeryModestCottage.blogspot.com)
Lovely book.
What a wonderful tribute to Tom–he probably never dreamed what an impact his life would have–not only with his family but also with those of us who want to learn from him as well.
I would love to win this book. It looks like it would be a great book to curl up under an old quilt and enjoy!
I have been dreaming of a cottage on a lake for my whole life and I know that one day we will find one to live in as snow birds (the rest of the year in our adorable 1925 cottage in Florida). 🙂 This place is so breathtaking!
What a beautiful place! I would love a copy of the book!
What a wonderful story about a wonderful family legacy!!! Thank you for sharing with us. Would love to win her book!
Looks like an amazing book! If I don’t win, I may just have to buy it.
Would LOVE to win this!
One never knows how far one’s gifts will reach. Such a touching tribute to a man I wish I could have known.
Please, pick me!!!!!
OMG – How fantastic is their wonderland! It brought me back to a great lake house when I was little.
Here is looking to get my hands on a copy – so I can dream more dreams…
Glad you blogged about ’em – talk about making my days…
I would love to curl up with this book!
So much nostalgia. Love it!!
I can’t wait to read it. Love Thereasa’s bio…imagination can take you many places…
buying a camp would be a dream come true! and what a great man.
Beautiful post. Seems like a very inspiring book.
What a beautiful tribute!
I’d love to win! My dream is to fix up a cottage someday as our get away place!
Enjoying the blog. So much of life is seeing potential and the encouraging that potential to the surface. This sounds like a great book!
I’d love to win!
Such an inspiring story. Being from Wisconsin I will have to learn more about Camp Wandawega. What a lovely tribute to the family.
I have seen the ad for this book in Country Living for months now and always wondered about that little cottage. Love the words in her post–that is what Madeline’s Memories is all about.
This book looks awesome!
What a fun book! I would love to get my hands on it :0)
Very inspiring. Very moving. I’d love a copy of this book.
My dream come true – to have a charming place like this!
The ‘camp’ and book both look amazing!
Would love a copy of this book. I am from Western Illinois and have been through Beardstown many times. They grow some great watermelons there!
What an awesome book! Great give-away, thanks for the opportunity!
Aubree
I love, love, love this book.
I am writing this from our camp by the water that we have owned for 26 years. As I have read your posts the over the last couple of days and saw all the pictures, I keep looking around here at camp and see all the work we did, remember all the dump runs made, all the flea market finds found and fixed .I sit back and and say Ya, I can relate!
i want to go there!!!
What a small world….I think that I know who Tereasa’s father is…..I am from a town not so far from Beardstown, IL ….and International Harverster was, at one time, our town’s financial being. My family hopes to someday have a small cottage on a lake near to here….Wee Ma Tuk between Canton and Cuba, IL.I am guessing this would be amazing inspiration…what a fantastic story and I bet the book is amazing……
I read about the cottage in Country Living! I would love to hear more from the book. What a wonderful retreat for a weary soul . . . . 🙂
Teresa’s “A Very Modest Cottage” taskes “going green” to a new level.
What a beautiful story, great to see the impact of a hands-on Dad! Definitely on my book wish list : )
What a lovely post. I bet the book is filled with loads of beauty and inspiration…I know the website is!
very sweet post — I am sorry he didn’t live to see the cottage reborn!
I’d love to win such a beautiful book! :o)
Amazing story! I so want to go visit!
Love the camp! Love the cottage :)! Want to win the book 🙂
That post reminds me of my Dad, who was the most positive man on the planet! Miss him!
I would love to have a little cottage to call my own… very basic… almost like a playhouse… hope I win the book and then I can dream about other cottages. thanks
I would love to visit there.
What an inspiration! I have a Sear’s Catalog (c. 1935) shed in my yard that I would love to turn into a small getaway for myself. My husband doesn’t see the same potential as I do, but maybe I could change his mind with this story. Tereasa’s book just might be that extra push I need to bring him over to my side. I would hate to see the little shed give up the ghost because he doesn’t have the same vision. Smiles!
great post yesterday – what an amazing journey shown! love how she has re-made it all! would adore the book!
We are building a cottage of our own! Would love to stir the creative juices by winning the book.
Loving her style! soooo cute!
I love the look of this book! My Dad was a printer and the old lead letters and the “fix-it” philosophy reminds me of him. Isn’t it funny how we girls never get over our daddies?!
What a wonderful book-can’t wait to see the whole thing
How charming and inspirational. Good for them for following through on the dream. Would so enjoy reading the book.
This reminds me of my inlaws little lake cabin…love it!