Le Bear

This is the view from the balcony of the third floor suite we're in tonight. We're at "Le Bear" in Glen Arbor, courtesy of friends Jane and Ron Faulds, who traded a week of timeshare at Playa Royale (Nuevo Vallarte) for this suite, which normally rents for $4,500 a week.

That's the Sleeping Bear Dunes on the left, and South Manitou Island on the right. North Manitou Island was also visible to the right, just out of the photo.

This is the resort from the beach, back in the opposite direction from the photo of the lake above. Apparently the hope had been for this to be a full-ownership resort with no leasing, but they ended up with fractional owners (four for the unit we occupied) and timesharing/renting to yahoos like us.

Yahoos like us (Ron Faulds, Jake Boss)

We walked into little Glen Arbor for dinner; ate at a place called "Boondocks." Dinner was uneven but the company was great.

Boys' Weekend

Jake, Ken, Duane

We had a great outing at Elk Ridge Wednesday: mostly sunny and upper 60s, and even better at Black Lake course yesterday. It was gorgeous - sunny and low 70s.

Dinner at the Duck Wednesday night; the boys loved it...the food, Angie cooking, and Missy waiting on us. Thursday we had a fantastic breakfast at Woodwinds and dinner at the 211. Two of us had the ribeye - it was excellent (baked tater, green beans, salad bar), Jake had perch - very good, Ron had a burger - good - and part of our ribeye.

No golf today. Too cold and windy - upper 40s and 25+ mph.

The boys  loved cott-ish, lake, dock, bathroom (Jake=awesome), clean sheets, toothbrush designations, the quiet! They want to do it again. Of course!!

An Epicurious Fellow

Apparently, I sent Ken a link to some grilling information on Epicurious.com, and although I forgot ever having done so, he read it and applied his new knowledge to a 1" thick ribeye. Olive oil, salt and pepper; charcoal in one layer; bottom and top vents open; rotate steak for criss-cross grill marks; lid closed; four minutes on each side. It worked perfectly.

Last day of September

September 30, 2012, 6:44 p.m.

One of summer's prettiest sights

When conditions are just right, the sun spills diamonds on the lake.

(The sound in this video is one of Jon Tury's solar chimes, sitting in direct sunlight.)

Girls' Weekend II

Melissa and Shaina got drawn into the puzzle. Just as I planned. [evil laugh]

Wally came around from the back of the bar to give hugs. We had the three TVs on our side of the bar tuned into:

1. The Tigers
2. The Ryder Cup
3. The Spartans (vs. Ohio State)

Ken drove up from Dewitt after a trip to the Ryder Cup and met us at the Lodge. He ran a constant color commentary, which was a bit hard to follow as he would switch without warning between sporting events. "All three of them are in the sand trap....oh yeah, now put in a reliever to blow the game....and where was the defense on that play??"

Wally revealed one of his many hidden talents by producing a tiny pair of glasses using a lighter and plastic appetizer swords.

The girls love a bonfire. Wally built this one as evening approached at the Lodge. Soon after, we were on our way to the Dirty Duck for pizza and karaoke.

Melissa clears her throat in preparation for a virtuoso performance of "I Will Survive." The audience did; but after their rendition of "I'm Just a Girl," only barely.

Cherry island

Here's the final product. I like how it turned out. Even though I may decide to change the color come spring, this is a nice warm look for fall.

Fogbow

Learned something new today. Two things, really. I had never seen this phenomenon before - a beautiful arch of mist over the lake, same shape as a rainbow, but pure white. I like this photo because you can see its reflection in the water, which was absolutely still this morning.

I posted a question on Facebook, and two people stated in comments that this was a "moonbow," created not by the reflection of sunlight on mist, but by moonlight. This was a fascinating idea, but since moonset was several hours earlier, I suspected there must be another answer. Googling "white rainbow" and following the clicks, I came upon "fogbow." Bingo. Instead of sunlight on rain, a fogbow is created by sunlight on fog. It's white because the droplets are so small.

When I looked out the window, I saw the fog had completely erased the lake. Quite a contract to last night's photo of the dock. That's what got me outside to begin with, and why I happened to notice the fogbow.

Here's the full arch of the fogbow. 

I like the picture below, too, because you can see the reflection of the fogbow, my shadow, and the rippled sandy bottom of the lake.

The lake giveth, the lake taketh away

For some reason, the sunsets are more beautiful in the fall. I'm sure there must be an atmospherical explanation for this, but I think it has more to do with the emotional impact of this beauty when you know time is running out. The golds and oranges resonate with the turning of the leaves, which is definitely well under way.

The pontoon is out for the season, pulled early because Mark Miller is preparing to spend his winter in Texas. I think the beautiful sunset was our compensation.

But it's still September; the girls are coming this weekend and Ken is hosting a golf tourney next week. Plenty more beautiful sunsets, fires in the fireplace, and laughter before November.

Two coats might not do it

When Ken removed a wall cabinet that was ill-placed over our little stove, we decided to put it in the middle of the room as a way of telling if we had enough visual and physical space to have a kitchen island. Ken made a top out of some found wood in the garage and painted it dark green, the cabinet white, and we've been using it to good effect ever since. I thought it might be interesting to paint the cabinet a color that would contrast with/accent the decor, which is primarily neutrals tones in beige, green, and wood. So, after perusing a number of options in the form of paint chips, I settled on a nice rich cranberry color. The lady at the paint store warned me that dark colors look very different while wet, so I was braced for some variation from the desired color, but this....is pink. 

The second coat improved things, but I'm thinking I may be doing more painting in the near future. Fortunately, I rather enjoyed the act of painting, so the cost of changing the color won't be too odious to bear, either financially or in time spent. This may not be pink any longer, but it sure ain't dark cranberry. With the dark green top on, it looks more like a Christmas basket than anything else.

Hey...change is good, right?

Windy day - good to have neighbors

Showered, dressed, got in the car, drove up the lane, and BAM. Going nowhere fast.

It was a really windy day, and this pine succumbed to conditions.

I backed up all the way down the lane, then stopped the car by the drain field to let Tom and Mark know why I was moving the log between our properties. Of course, Mark offered to get his chainsaw (and who was I to refuse?) and before long, I was on my way.

Three Kammer-Wilderns, two twin lakes, and a horned bunny on the Lodge wall

Surprisingly, we could all move after brunch. We walked down the hill to the floating dock on the twin lake across from the Lodge, and spun wedding stories, past and future.

I took everyone through the Eagle's Nest (the rustic bar at the Lodge) to see where Ken (aka Dr. Oberon) watches sporting events and contributes to the local economy, even though there's a jackalope...in the room.