IN Carmel

Thursday! Breakfast for two this time and not for seven.  1 cup of pancake mix instead of 4cups.  Just a little change in the breakfast effort.  But the place has not changed.  Crisp air and blue sky.  It’s still Copper Harbor for us.  I checked for a Jared text and they arrived home after 11 last night.  The wait at the bridge was 4 hours. One thing that happens for us every year and now happened for Jared is that being away for two weeks always provides garden surprises.  They had big ones in the flowerbeds with pictures shared.    Construction at the bridge should be finished by the time we pass over it on our way to Jared’s when reservations run out here.  The day included more rock collecting with 5 more larger ones chosen as well as a bucket of smaller rocks from the beach as well as another bucket from Hunter’s Point.  These two buckets are entirely different in looks.  Rocks are like that in the U P. There are so m...

 Wednesday!    This day always come every year but this year it came a little earlier than usual.  It's the day that the Michigan R's pack up for home and the Carmel R's stay a bit longer.  The arrival dates depend on the kids school and 4-H schedules.  It's always a bit of a shock to see the entertainment package including hot coffee makers are no longer hanging around.  They start their 10-hour drive leaving around 9 am.  So the adjustment takes about 10 minutes and we continue on.   This afternoon we decided to make another run to the Jam Pot.  Our first one was on  Monday and we discovered they were closed.  This time the line was to enter the store was very long.  It's a popular place for many folks to stop to buy baked things and jams supporting a small community of 3 monks currently.  Doug suggested we not wait but try another day.   I think he loves to make the drive of at least 2...

                                The  water of Lake Superior along the shore bubbling in over the rocks. Will it or won’t it.  What’s the weather going to gift us with. Rain is predicted but one never knows when around Lake Superior.  The morning started slowly again with sleeping grandsons.  One of them asked not to be awakened at all.  Two crawled out at 9:45.  I have no idea when Adam appeared.  Breakfast went on without him but pancakes were saved for him which he passed up for the day.  I walked to the gate house to ask about the availability of one of the stockade fence posts.  One would look smashing in the garden.  I need to talk to the superintendent.  A little lunch happened and another good book contined.  The sun came out, the sun went in.  That happened all afternoon with heavy clouds and then blue sky happening...

                                             A pretty little wild flower sending some cheer. I’m back to the old at-home time almost of waking up.  Not 5 but more like 7. That's what happened this morning.  I walked over to Jared’s campsite, and we played cards waiting for the boys to wake up.  And that happened at 10 am.  All three of those guys can sleep. Breakfast was late but good. Practice helps a whole lot when pancake making.  I have it figured out.  I worked on wordle but todays was a tough one.  It’s still not solved and it’s supper time.    Doug and I continue with reading and walking.    A few days ago, I was going to drive into town and the car battery was dead.  Jared jumped the battery and the car worked again after sitting in the same spot for about a week with Doug opening and cl...

  Beautiful Lake Superior and our favorite beach at Great Sand Bay.  The lake does interesting things when we are not around.  A few winters ago the sand was sucked away showing us all rocks along the water's edge.  This year the sand is back.   SUNDAY    The morning started early for me.  I think I was the first one up.  I decided to do a bit of walking so over to the big lake I walked.  The sun was just coming up with an added lake breeze made the morning one filled with expectations. I caught some beautiful beautiful pictures with the sun shining through the trees.    The kids slept late so breakfast started around 9:30. More walks and a little reading took care of the rest of the morning minutes till noon. One of those walks took me to the Fort Store where the first Christmas gifts for this year were purchased for the grandsons.  That’s always something I try to find while here. While I was messing w...

                                                              Leslie'sbeautiful Hollyhocks Saturday This morning is no different than any other morning.  Breakfast with family and lots of talk.  Both families left at one o’clock to head on down to Bumble Town to see Dennis and Leslie Sotalis.  Dennis, a friend of at least 40 years and the potter that has inspired Jared and Kimmy to try their hand throwing pottery successfully.                                                                  A little budda sitting among the rocks.   It was a great reunion with a small side trip to a nei...

  Today’s gift is one of those wonderfully clear days in Copper Harbor.  The air was fresh with a wonderful lake breeze, the sun was just everywhere and the sky so blue.  Little white caps bounced on Lake Fanny Hoe.  Just a lovely gift to be noticed and enjoyed.  Then add low humidity with high 60’s temperatures is just about perfect. Of course, the morning started with pancakes with the Mich. R’s this time with no rain.  The bottle of pure home-grown Maple syrup gifted by a generous neighbor camper is nearing its end.  The day seems to have similarities to what has already occurred.  Yes, reading and sleeping.  Wordle unlike Thursdays which was solved at 8:30 PM was finished by 10:00 am.  Lunch was around 1 with the book of the day being Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer.  In one of the blogs, I mentioned that the car was parked on Sunday and not moved which led to today’s discovery that the battery was dead....

  Thimble Berries just beginning to ripen.  Bill Berries are also ripening.  Blue Berries are looking a bit sparce.  There was a very late spring this year.  The snow was deep and the berries have suffered.   Another day of nothing much.  We parked the car Sunday and it hasn’t moved.  That is a way of saying we’ve put ourselves at our campsite with walks to the beach and that’s about it.  More sleeping and reading.  Our breakfast time was NOT in the middle of a rainstorm.  It was just with a breeze off the lake, clear blue sky with lots of green trees all around.  I’m on my second book that gets some attention between cat naps that just seem to be a part of the day. Doug is doing the same although instead of sleeping he’s whittling on the sticks he brings from home.  It’s our slow vacation rate of speed.    I made a phone call to Leslie.  The Mich. R’s and Indiana R’s are going for a visit Saturda...

  Wednesday   Ten hours of sleep.  What’s with that?  It’s more like five or six at home.  It was a very quiet night again. This is the earliest in the summer we’ve been here.  Perhaps August brings more campers.  We had a touch of rain early in the night.  Asleep by 10 and awake by 8 heading to the Mich. R’s campsite to play card games and drink coffee waiting for the kids to emerge from their bags.                                       This is Wyatt.  He has his own chair and often thinks he is a person.   During that wait, we had a HUGE rainstorm.  I mean Huge.  Now for campers who have been in the camping business for over 40 years, rainstorms just come, with survival every time.  We stayed dry but the dogs dishes were floating around our feet. Wyatt found his safe place again in his camp c...

  We brought copper back to Michigan having gone through all of Doug's copper finds with the best still sitting in boxes in the garage.  About 100 lbs of rock came back and the Michigan kids are discovering treasures that they are taking home.  There was a total of 5 little buckets moving north with us. Two buckets are going home with them!   Three will be given to interested vacationers. Tuesday  Yes there was rain and it continued until mid-morning.  The pancake breakfast still was on.  When there’s a will there is a way.  That happened around 9:30 with everyone sleeping in during the rainy morning.  A game of 3/13 to end the morning.  The afternoon held a little reading and sleeping again with another game of 3/13.  I was the huge winner by over 100 points.  Well, around 150 points to be more accurate.  The noisy Merlin Hawks continued their conversations thinking about fledging their nests.  Judy and Ga...

 Monday. Expensive but we're on vacation.  All good sense leaves and we're enjoying a little of this treat each night even if it comes from Chili.  Vacationers seem to loose their minds from time to time.   Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.  We were up around 7 am ready for the day.  The kids were meeting a friend who was going to Isle Royal.  They missed seeing them because they were confused about where the dock was.  How could that happen? How many years have they been coming to C. H. ?  17  They returned on their bikes and we had a great pancake breakfast.  The talk lasted for a long time. Doug and I stayed around the campsite all day reading and sleeping.   His selection, Garfield was provided by Adam and I’m reading Bee People.  It’s all about taking care of bees.  In the afternoon the Mich. R’s went swimming at Great Sand Bay with the report that the water was COLD.  That’s what Superio...

 The first Sunday.  The morning started early at Green Bay, Wis.  Home of the PACKERS.  I told Doug that it would appear that the wide-open highway and they are huge I would suggest because of Football, was made for just the three cars that I saw for some time.  The view out the window was trees, trees, trees.  Lots of trees.  That went with long stretches of road with nothing but trees.  That was until we got to Baraga with the first citing of Lake Superior.  The lake for some was hiding with fog so the view was a bit limited to no more than 6 feet at the edge of the lake.  The road took us inland for a while and when we saw Superior again, she was up to all the beauty that is hers.  Even an ore boat was part of the view.  We discovered that the sand once again covered the beach at Great Sand Bay.  It was gone for the last 3 years.  Sand can move on and off the beaches depending on the lake.      ...

 One of the first things I did this morning was cut flowers.  They are going with us in the van to be enjoyed on the trip as well as the centerpiece for our table while camping.  Such beautiful colors to be enjoyed close up and personal.   Packing the van.  That's the day's assignment really and I must say I told Doug it was an easy job.  Working every day this week on something related to camping is the secret to an easy Friday.  So I backed the van into the garage and all that was to go with us was stacked on the floor ready to move stuff up and away.  I told Doug when the van was full we have everything.  It's full.                     Tail Gate View.    Walking sticks.  Way to many.  Buckets of copper going back to where they were born.  The better stuff is in the garage.  The tent is in the green carrier.  Ready for the Russell boys!...

 The year I was born, our little country church had more than 7 babies added to the church family.  I often think of my childhood 1938 friends.  We were a force to be reconned with.  My birthday was the 13th.  Lavera's was the 14th.  Two more babies came in Aug.  Another one arrived on July 4th.  I can't remember all of the birthdays.   Babies were popping that year between the big wars.  We were all such good friends.  Memories! July does that to me every year.                                                             The second burst of bloom. Sweet Peas This morning started with an appointment for both Doug and me at the hearing center.  We make it a point to go each year for a hearing recheck along with cleaning our aids.  Doug's heari...

 The first of many flowers this hibiscus plant will pretty the garden with in the coming month.   One of those do nothing days comes around once a year.  It also goes by the name of Birthday Day.  That's what Wednesday was.  Yes, another year older.  Cards were on the table with one being a picture of a squirrel to remind me of the squirrels and chipmunks caught this summer.  Did I need a reminder?  A big loud no!   Leave it to Doug to find a zinger!  The trap was empty for about a week, but Doug took another friend to the woods to nights ago.   I did do some sweeping in the morning  That was the end of work for me!.   I did a bit of Goodwill shopping.  Mostly looking I'll admit with one exception.  A sleeveless top is in the drawer. .  My drawers are full of clothes so why buy more.  I should be donating.   Another pretty zinnia. The only other thing that happened was a tr...

                              Cleome starting to bloom.  There will be more with the hope of a pink one.   The busyness came about because of my must-do.    I hate to come home to a house that isn't clean.  So I clean before I go away.  Today the refrigerator and the kitchen floor got a good scrubbing.  So now I'm free to leave unless I count other rooms that need cleaning.  I suppose tomorrow the sweeper will get a good turn on.                                                                         Cookies for the kids.   Baking was part of being busy.  That included chocolate chip cookie baking.   They will hea...

 Today was a day to think camping.  Piles of necessities are appearing around the house.  But first there was breakfast at the table.  I wish you could join me. I grew up with relatives living in Amish Country in Holmes County, Ohio.  That was my father's birthplace.  This little Amish matelin is a favorite Nancy Noel print. My mothers rolling pin hangs on the wall.  A huge cabbage slaw maker is to the left of Nancy reminding me that my dad filled a large barrel with cabbage slaw for sour kraut that we ate as part of our school lunch program.  It was one of the first hot lunch programs in our area of Ohio.  Country kids with German heritage had no trouble eating sour kraut and government surplus cheese 75 years ago at the end of the BIG WAR!  Times have changed.                                  The living room stack holds my sleeping neces...

 Woke up this morning with my mind...stayed on Jesus.  We sang that at church on a Sunday morning years ago. That Sunday was followed by a Monday morning breast biopsy.  That one proved to be a shorter walk through a medical procedure.  But what a foundational song to remember when greeting the day.  So today was church day to boot!  Doug and I sang again in the summer choir.  We'll be in Michigan for three weekends camping so those will be a bit different.  Good Church with Mark also singing a wonderful solo for us to God.  Almighty God                          Early Sunday morning with the scissors and a whole lot of fun putting this together.   Lunch and then a long visit with my sister Mary K.  It's been a while since we've talked and there was lot to say and lots of picture sharing.                ...

 That's right...This Saturday morning I needed to be on my toes.  Not so much in the afternoon.  The morning was enough of that toe stuff.                                                That's a wake-up call...Oranges do it every time.  This was my morning to work at Bread and Bowl, our come-to-lunch event at church for the community folks. I made it my business to arrive at church before the rest of the crew checked in.  Two of our steady workers were in Alaska.  To my dismay, our Second Helpings firm did not deliver any main dish for us to serve.  What to do?  Get busy!!! Don't panic!!! I must admit this happened once before to the Sat. crew.  I would use the same solution.  I called Sarah Ellen who was on her way to church to work asking her to stop at the grocery to get noodles.  We had...