I am thankful for the most glorious, warm, and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday anyone could ever wish for. It's kinda like we're cheating or something. Thursday morning started out with a chilly hike through the dunes. Nobody was out except us. Thank heavens for ear muffs and gloves. The afternoon found us with family at the Brown's, enjoying a lovely traditional turkey dinner and games with friends. The evening is now a blur.
Somewhere in here we made a trip to Oval Beach, putting our total through today (Saturday) at 3 beach trips. We have discovered petoskey stone at Oval Beach - who knew? It was confirmed to me by a local that petoskey is found frequently along the rocky areas of the beach between Saugatuck and South Haven, especially in the spring. Oh, my, I have a mission.
Friday at the dunes was absolutely out of this world. Busy, busy...tons of people and dogs. It was warm and, if I had taken a blanket and left the dog home, I would have been perfectly content to have taken a nap on the beach. Maybe Sunday.........
Friday afternoon was errands, house chores, and more errands, including 2 trips to the grocery. Ed's birthday being the next day I decided that a cooked dinner was in order so we invited Doug and Daisy. Had a lovely evening till taxi guy had to mosey on down the road....Had a kick ass campfire going too.
Did I tell you I'm a band groupie? The Smut Puppies have developed into quite an interesting team of 3.
Indacoda Blue is the grown-up version. From garage band grunge to a maturing blend of rock, blues, and a little fun stuff (thrown in for good measure), the boys are keeping the local winter Saugatuck crowd havin fun down at the Corner Bar. Tis fun stuff. Twas looking forward to seeing them again Dec. 1 but the gig has been cancelled. College commitments come first, after all...These boys need to grow their repertoire and cut another demo. Then, update the website.
Okay, so today we hit the road by 8:30A, headed the Camry towards Goshen, with a stop at the Niles Martin's for a Starbucks. Connie and I promptly hit the road in the Caravan towards our planned trip of necessary stuff. After a quick stop for cheap (ah hem) smokes, we pointed our missle in the direction of E&S Bulk Foods in Shipshee. About twice a year we hit this joint to load up on pastas, baking needs, herbs, spices, candies, and cheese. Oh, yeah, and cheap tampons. On down the road for a trip through Yoders where I picked up cotton dish towels for Christmas baskets, socks, and a few other oddities. All this followed by pizza and a lovely country drive -- both ways.
So, about my pictures. The first two -- guess where those were taken. Awesome beach day on Friday. I followed this up with a quick trip through
Castle Park and finally had the nutz to get out of the car and take photos of the front and rear of one of my favorite homes. I don't even know what it looks like inside but.....I don't think I'd mind. As I look closely, from lowest level to attic room, this house is 4 stories high. The western wing of the house appears to be a more recent addition to a home that most likely started out as an old family cottage, dating back to the turn of the twentieth century. It's now quite mammoth and very intriguing to me.
The tug is on the Kalamazoo River, across the docks in Saugatuck.
