Hey, don't get excited. This is last summer. I'm just getting anxious. 60's & 70's are predicted this weekend, with sunshine. I'm looking forward to cruising my Jeep to Indiana Saturday to spend a day with my pal. We are committed to a new adventure.

I had a pang of melancholy this evening while attending a session at West Ottawa High School about transitioning to college. I found myself at my high school alma mater, though it is only 2 years old. The building where I attended high school was built in the 60's. When I arrived in 1972 it was 7th through 12th grade, representing both junior and senior high. Today it has been converted into a middle school and the high school has a new home. It's a mega-school with more technology than printed material. It even smelled good inside.

It also hit me this evening that this year marks 30 years since I graduated from that institution. Egads -- what an incredible thought!

Hey, Go Panthers!

Glen, by Maxfield Parrish

One of my favorites

There were 4 of these guys at the park this morning. Saw them on one side of the entrance road coming in. They moved across the road as we were leaving, which is where I took this photo. In all the years I've been coming to this park, it is only the entrance area where I have actually seen deer.


These dudes were brave. While the sun was shining and there were no clouds, it was chilly at the lake. I was happy to have my earmuffs but regretted that I didn't have gloves.

From Saugatuck Dunes we headed into Saugatuck to pick up cafe latte (I said toffee latte but, oh well....to make matters worse he forgot the second key ingredient to toffee latte....whipped cream). Onward ho to Oval Beach where a tiny Petoskey was found, along with a few other goodies. I'm dying here as I can see Petoskey in the lake but it's too dang blasted cold to consider venturing. I did jump the water to secure a lovely fossil I couldn't pass on.

This afternoon has been lazy and wonderful. A needed nap; a little cooking; some laundry; and a visit from my sister, which resulted in the requisite country drive. Making a vague plan for next weekend which involves men and children taking a whirlwind trip to Thunder over Louisville, by way of Butler University in Indy, while Con and I seek out a new adventure, yet TBD.

The sun this evening set like a fried egg. Lake Michigan gently rumbled, flowing dark like molten jade. It was a beautiful sunset, complete with seagulls bombing the lake, coming up with their catch of the evening. My catch was a few pebbles and a Louisiana quarter in the parking lot.

The heart and soul remain bruised by recent events. The light burns dimmer. I know the fuel generated by the hamster wheel isn't going to cut it.

Wow! I just realized I've been doing this nearly a full year. It may not be consistent but there is a regular presence.


The Boys....

April 21 - Village Inn - Be there or be square.....

No photo tonight. Just a quick post, only because I'm here.

I've been a bachelorette for the second night in a row. I could DEFINITELY get used to this. Outside of having to leave work at a reasonable time (oh, darn) to allow puppy to relieve himself after 12 hours, I am responsible to no one -- until about 10:00 tonight, that is. Dude is in Lansing all week at some building inspection tadoo, child spent 2 days in Chicago museum hopping. Including, I might add, a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry to see Body Worlds 2. If you haven't seen it -- GO! It's definitely worth it. I saw the exhibit in Chicago 2 years ago. It's amazing.

So, last night it was Cold Mountain all to myself. Tonight, it's a glass of wine and, hmmmm.....not sure which one yet.......TBD.....

You know, it's a strange feeling to walk into my house 2 nights in a row to find it exactly as I left it in the morning. Not a thing out of place. Bizarre.

Rosco is looking for a new post so here you go, slim pickin's though it may be.

Hey have any of you eblog folks figured out what's so new and improved? Seems the same to me.

So, it hit somewhere in the 80's yesterday. Here you go. One week ago there was still ice on the lake. Today, fishermen in boats; shorts and tee shirts. If I'd known, I would have left the dog home, taken a blanket, and donned swimwear. A 1 hour nap could have left a warm glow. Somebody mighta thought I'd been to Florida.

Nothing much new. Discovered that my 'puter has it's own cardreader. I don't need that extra little device I keep sharing USB space with. Whodathunkit?

On another note: 16 year olds -- can't shoot 'em, can't eat em. What's a mom to do with one? No wonder my mother is half nutz -- she had three!

P.S.: The dog is at the OTHER end of the leash....

Twas a sunny day at our house today and everybody found a sunbeam.

It's still cold; I'm still bitching. I want my flip flops!!!!

For whatever reason, every few years after multiple cleanings, the silicone goo that holds the whole aquarium together decides to give way. Thus, a trip to the pet store this weekend during a blizzard ensued. Not that the loss of the 3 remaining fish would have been a disaster, should we have decided to wait. No, the guys braved the elements and came home with one twice the size as our previous minnow house. 30 gallons of water perched precariously atop a desk. Additional fish were purchased, as well as living plants and a chunk of lava rock.

Jah, we've had a blizzard. It started Friday afternoon while I was in Meijer. As I was checking out my groceries I peered outside and realized a moment of panic as I looked at a wall of white outside the windows. I couldn't remember where I parked my car. The snow and blow hasn't ceased. Activities in the region have been cancelled throughout the weekend. You know things are not pleasant when good Dutch churchgoers take a snow day. Schools are closed tomorrow. 5 inches of new snow expected tonight, along with wind. All of which will continue through tomorrow. Oh, joy. High of 8 tomorrow. Whoopie!

I must say, however, for all my bitching about the weather, I'm glad it hit on a weekend when I could stock up on necessities and stay home. It's been a perfect winter cocooning kinda weekend. A short 4-wheel drive through Laketown Township both Saturday and Sunday afternoon was just enough to keep the heebeegeebees at bay. I'm grateful for my little Jeep. She was the transportation vehicle of choice this weekend and she performed like a trooper.

We've moved from our mild winter, full steam ahead into old man wintertime. Egads, the view from my bedroom window, overlooking the backyard, is a frightful sight. Philip walked 3 blocks this morning to a buddy's house and just blew back in the door. Tis ugly outside this weekend. More snow and high winds coming too. I'm happy to have hit the grocery store yesterday and finished essential errands. I have no intension of leaving my nest till Monday.

I've been underground for a couple of months. My 'free' time has been spent keeping up with the bare essentials at home as well as procuring as much rest as possible. Thus, somethings have moved to the backburner of life. This blog is one of them. Dusting too. I just realized I haven't dusted since the Christmas tree went up, somewhere about's the first of December. Double Egads.

Talked to my folks in Florida who, after countless calls home over the last month, finally now feel that their visit to the Sunshine state is worth it. Once we get snow up here, they breathe a sigh of relief that their investment into a 2 month rental is worth it, even if it is in the lukewarm panhandle.

Fresh baked brownies and an orange cake are cooling in the kitchen. Homemade manicotti is the menu for tonight, along with a loaf of baguette bread. Yum.

In the meantime, until we meet again, stay warm and keep an extra gallon of milk and a stash of TP on hand.

Yippee! I am officially done with Christmas shopping AND everything is wrapped! Lists and most plans are made and most of the grocery shopping is done too. It's time to start baking and cooking.

To get this all accomplished, we missed out on last night's do at the Corner Bar, where we understand Indacoda Blue rocked the house. There's always Friday night. Check out the link to their updated website. This evening we've been listening to a rough cut demo we received for Christmas.

It's apparent to me that winter is setting in, although the weather here today was quite lovely. Blogger is slow tonight which indicates many folks are at home, cacooning. We have a lovely campfire blazing away on the patio with nobody out there. Geeze.

Someone told me that if I believe I will receive an ipod for Christmas, I should start downloading my music collection to the computer now. Oh, this is a wise man. After 2 weeks I'm about half way through my collection. Current count is 1,031 songs and 4GB. MAYBE I'll get the job done sometime in 2007.

It will be another busy week at work, what with trying to get out of there at a decent time on Wednesday to make it to THE concert. Yeeha! That is, after dinner at Ruth's Chris - yum.

Well, we got our tree. It's perfect for our house -- tall & slim. It's in a new location this year and I think this might be the right place. The guys went out yesterday and spent $40 for this baby. My only peace over spending that much dough for a dead tree is (1) monies went toward a charity (2) another reason for that rather brand new chain saw -- I've got $40 worth of firewood sitting in my living room.

After spending all day yesterday cleaning, I'm now prepared to decorate the tree. That is, after number one son digs out the ornaments from the crawl space. Christmas cards were finished this morning and I even got some presents wrapped. O00h, doggie, I'm ahead of the ballgame already.

So, everybody is always asking -- what do you want for Christmas. Okay, here you go:

- ipod 80 Gig color: Black - Now, Philip says I don’t need this much hard drive space. This coming from a kid who has a hard drive on his Christmas list! How dare he under estimate the amount of music his mother has or could possibly want at her finger tips.

- IF Santa brings an ipod, I need a gizmo attachment that will frequency into my Jeep radio. Get it at the Apple store at Rivertown.

- A cleaning person.

- Of course I’m going to want to keep that new ipod looking pretty. Something maybe to protect it – a skin of some sort?

- What’s the quickest method to burn all my CD’s to that ipod?

- So, while we’re on the wonder of ipod, what about those real cool home stereo units you can set your ipod into so you’ve got an instant library of all your tunes - plugged in, ready to go?

--World peace.

- A GOOD, quality spring form pan to make cheesecake (Williams & Sonoma?). Mine gets rusty.

- That my kid studies and performs to his utmost potential. I know it’s in there somewhere.

- DVD’s – the old Thin Man movies with William Powell & Myrna Loy.

- More room in my house. Though I highly doubt I will receive this as a gift, I decided to add it to my list. After all, miracles have been known to happen at Christmas.

- Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I’m still waiting…..

- Roller blades – shoe size is 8.5 Used blades would be a fine start for these (Play it Again Sports). After all, the ski boots disintegrated before our eyes from lack of use. By the way, you might want to include body padding too while you’re at it.

- China cabinet/side board to put in that extra room.

- New black leather jacket – slightly fitted, just below the waist – Medium.

- A few more hours in my day.

- A small toaster oven – notice this is way down on my list. I don’t need or want another appliance so our current, perfectly good, toaster would have to go. This little item was on my 2003 list and nobody bit.

- The family needs (1) State Park sticker. To Ed or me, doesn’t matter.

- More room in my house.

- Gift cards/certificates:
- --Quality Car Wash
- --Barnes & Noble (yeah, like the 4 foot high pile of books getting dusty next to the bed aren’t enough). Yes, but there’s always music.
- --Via Maria (restaurant – pricy, but good)
- --Boardwerks (restaurant)

- Last, but certainly not least, for the cold and snow to depart on December 26, followed by sunny days in the 80’s – low humidity.

- No-No’s: Clothes & froo-froo items. I’ve got enough of both, thank you.


So, how many spring form pans do you think I'll get?

We found ourselves this morning hiking the south side of the park. The dunes are more open and create quiet valleys. It's a beautiful part of the park and much less traveled. As we approached the lake we came across this old, large concrete structure. While it doesn't appear to have a proper entrance, it does have 2 large holes on top -- one of which is plugged with concrete, the other is open with no ladder to get out if one should decide to take a trip. We're not sure what this is but we suspect it might be part of an old water tower or cistern. Looks like a bunker to me. Remnants of a water system can be found throughout the park. Not sure if anything is still in operation. Behind the structure, up in the tree, are large pieces of rusted scrap metal.

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.

I don't have a clue how these pictures will appear once I upload this blog. I am challenged with, and have no patience for, fine tuning the html code. I'm a WYSIWYG kinda gal, in more ways than one.

Yesterday we hiked the trails at Van Raalte Farm. It was a first for Baxter and me. Nice trails for dry days. The terrain is clay, thus there was a lot of held water. Wait for dry weather.

Today we climbed the steps at Sanctuary Woods Preserve. The best time to climb the steps for hiking is when the leaves are off the trees. The center photo was taken atop a bluff, looking northeast toward Holland and Lake Macatawa. The photo below is the Holland channel, looking northwest toward the Holland State Park.

It was a beautiful, crispy morning. The sunshine is invigorating. Too nice to dust.....think I might just take a drive instead.

It was on my calendar but I missed it. Yesterday was the birthday of a dear friend. I never have trouble finding just the right card for this guy. I just forget to send it.

Happy Birthday, dear Tom. Such a youthful dude, you are!

Felt Mansion, Laketown Township









Another rainy, windy day here. It's been a month of this kind of weather which drove me to clean out my closet this evening, pull out the winter wear, and put away the summer. Egads. The yard is a mess. The yard knicky knackies call out to be put away. Which means, the garage needs to be cleaned. Too cold, too wet, and too pooped to consider it.

The big guy is gone this weekend so I find myself with a rare opportunity to do as I choose (I rather do this usually anyway....), play new music, light candles, drink tequila, read, and relax. Putting first things first.....a 4 hour nap this afternoon. After about 65 hours at the office this week I found it odd that I was up at 4AM paying bills. Back to bed at 5 and up at 8. Thank God for naps. They're highly under rated.

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town....oops, wrong story...

Actually, it has been a relatively quiet week(s) since I last posted. Autumn has certainly moved in, along with rain of Noah's proportions. It appears we may have sun today and, since my chores are relatively finished, it might be a good day for a ride after our hike. The colors of trees would certainly make it worth an adventure.

Fall cleaning comes by nature. Weather changes cause some sort of physical and psychological change in me. Outside of the rather daunting jobs of cleaning the garage, cleaning up the yard, and cleaning the treasures above all my cabinets, general fall housecleaning is near finished. I'm saving the worst for last this time. Maybe next weekend...

Boring news, I know. But it's something.....

Tomorrow is the price for yesterday
A billion waves won't wash the truth away
Someday you'll be ordered to explain
No one gets to walk between the rain

--from No More, Bob Seger

Yeah, there is a reason why I am posting photos of the bathroom door that was in our hotel room at Crystal last week. They're here for my master craftsman to peek at. If you saw my fence gate, you'd understand. Whatcha think there Tom? Can it be done?

Will it ever stop raining? The sun is out this morning, the wind is blowing, but there are huge gray clouds coming over the lake. Everything is wet. I've tried to keep the patio cushions dry but it's pointless. The end of summer is coming faster than I anticipated and I'm not yet ready for it to go. The thought that flip flops and tank tops are a thing of the past is depressing.

I have 2 beautiful new willow trellis' in my garden. They still need to be mounted. They are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you, dear friend, for them.

Ed's bummed this AM, learning that turning off the TV last night before the Michigan State/Notre Dame game was over was a mistake. Notre Dame ended up winning in the last 2 minutes.