Annual Family Thanksgiving Cocktail Hour

Here we are at the Tavern on the Square in downtown Lansing. This is one of our favorite holiday traditions, always on the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Many orders of the Tavern's version of tapas, and everyone's favorite cocktails.

Family is pulled in many directions on Thanksgiving Day, but no one would miss this event. Our faces hurt from laughter the next day (and there are usually one or two hangovers).

Great season at the cottage

It was unseasonably cool this summer. Tom Turi says it's the oddest summer he's seen in 30 years of living/visiting there. But no complaints here. We had so much fun. Friends and family all summer long - including three visits from Grandpa - and the highlight was the few hours of sunshine we had on the morning of October 10 when Michael and Jen got married on the edge of the lake.

Next year, we'll have some interesting doings as we attempt to make a couple of fun improvements to the accommodations - starring a new bathroom in the spare room in the garage...er....Kenny's Klubhouse. Ken is still planning to go up a time or two more to get that started and wring out the last of the cottage season. For my part, I am looking forward to the holiday season and trying to bring some of what we love about the cottage into our lives in DeWitt.

The next vacation blog posts here will be from....let's see: Manhattan? Chicago? Aruba? Stay tuned.

This one is a favorite from my photo shoot today

Next year, people under 40 will remove the dock.

OK, this was fun to do once. But next year, the weekend before Halloween, we will have offspring here to do the heavy lifting. Once again, we had help from the Kreugers and Mark Miller, and Tom Turi came along with his 4-wheeler to help pull the boat lift out of the water.

Tom is spending the winter in Georgia, near two of his kids. Mark will be up all winter; Kreugers come up off and on, and Ken will be up a time or two more before he has the cottage winterized. But this is my last weekend - unless we have a miraculous Indian Summer weekend in November. Not holding my breath.

I spent some time around sunset standing in the water, rummaging through the landscape to see the beauty of the fall up close and personal. Got some photos I really like.

Fire in the fireplace now, and ratatouille on the stove. Ken left around 4 or 5; I'm staying over to make the most of my last weekend here. Just about to uncork a bottle of wine.

We make these waders look good.

Don't we?

Kenny's new red wagon with the pneumatic tires and drop-down sides.

Ken went to TSC and struck gadget gold. This cart was just one of the really cool things he got. Another was a "come-along" ratchet pulley thing he used to pull my kayak launch (stairs) out of the lake all by himself - without pulling a muscle.

Ready to take out the dock

In this photo you can see the late fall profile of the lake - the leaves are off most of the trees except the sturdy oak right next to the shoreline, which hangs on to rusty orange leaves till very late. Skies are grey, so is the water. Note the sudsy strip across the lake a few feet out. Wonder what causes that.

Kenny looks ready to go, still smiling, still futzing around in the Klubhouse. He brought in a load of firewood for later. Right now it's mild outside - about 60 degrees. Some breeze but not biting.

The lake is high - Ken measured it 5" higher than last week. Think of the amount of water required to raise a 10,000 acre lake five inches!

Tom and Ken took the pontoon out earlier this week. Anyone who was worried will be glad to know the motor is fine.

The dock is wet and looks kind of lonely out there. It will sit on the left side of the yard, amid the evergreens, and wait for next summer.

The sunset tonight

The sunset tonight was really beautiful. I bundled up in my vintage 1970 green ripstop down jacket and my Hack-Ma-Tack hoodie and admired the view from the dock. Ken called from the road to make sure I was seeing it.

I'm staying overnight here to extend what inevitably will be one of the last weekend stays of the season. It's been classic Black Lake, from Friday's fire in the fireplace to Saturday's rib eye on the grill to this morning's apple crisp (Northern Spy and Macintosh combined).

Calm lake, hip boots, crisp fall paddle

The calm lake was irresistible, but it took my hip boots to guarantee a dry entry and exit and no wet feet. It really does feel like floating on air when the lake is this clear. There wasn't another single watercraft on the lake.

Ken helped the Kreugers take out their boat lifts and dock. That's Ken on the left, in case you didn't see him in his camo britches. The Kreuger's are terrific neighbors - they let us use their cottage for wedding guests (Grace, Brad, Angelo) and invited us in for white chicken chili after the dock work. Her chili was great and I have a new addiction: Lynette's apple bars. Must get recipe.

Wedding at the lake!

10-9-2009 11-18-28 PM_0035, originally uploaded by karenandkenstock.

Jen and Mike got their wish - the sun came out for their lakeside wedding ceremony. Lots of pictures on Flickr - http://flickr.com/photos/familybychoice. The official wedding photos are yet to come.

Read more about the wedding on Jen and Mike's wedding blog: http://jentrimble-mikebalcom.blogspot.com

A job well done, Kenny.

This is the same puzzle that Jason and Jen finished in one day. It took us a bit longer...we started it during the week leading up to Labor Day.

Do we have great neighbors or what???

Next door neighbor Mark Miller took a cast-off concrete step platform and placed it in front of our dock. Removed the stones, dug out the hole with a pick-axe, trailered in sand, and placed the concrete step - all by himself, voluntarily, without any expectation of compensation. Ken was at the Lodge watching ball games - I joined him at half time and when we came home the new concrete threshold was in place, looking like it had always been there. We went next door and gave Mark a standing ovation.

Isn't it fabulous? I had him offset it just a bit so we can jut the dock a bit to the left next spring when we put it in.

Saturday Morning Fog

A beautiful fog over the lake today. The water was warmer than the air so you could also see a light mist rising to meet the fog. In the upper right you can see the blue sky emerging.

Tomi says that fog happens when aliens have been up too late drinking and have to conceal their spaceship's departure in daylight. I love that concept and I will think of it every time I see fog from now on.

Bye for now, Tomi!

The car is all packed - and even though we'd rather stay, we're ready to go. In this picture Tomi is wearing the necklace and bracelet she made today.

We left the cottage at about 5:30 p.m., only stopping in Indian River to gas up the car. I talked to Adam on the way home, and Tomi talked to her Mommy. She is staying with Toke overnight and taking the 6:45 a.m. bus to Ann Arbor. Thanks Tomi for getting up early so we could have a few more hours at the cottage - it was so worth it.

Sunday Beading

The morning was misty and calm outside, and very quiet. Ken went about his business (trimmed some tree limbs, listened to football in the Klubhouse) while Tomi and I partook of a favorite Quiet Morning activity: BEADING.

We put out the whole spread and Tomi made some lovely jewelry. As you see, she was hiding her head from view for much the same reason I wear a baseball cap in the morning - hair issues.

Saturday

Today there has been a lot of sitting around reading that you need no photos to imagine. Me up first, making coffee...then sitting in the recliner to read. Ken up to get his coffee, check the weather (by looking at the thermometer), and continue to read. Tomi up for her morning pee call, then back to bed to read. Reading on the pontoon, reading in the sunroom, reading on the sofa. Just the perfect, quiet, relaxing start to another gorgeous gift of a day, about the 13th perfect weather day in a row. Tomi even snuck in a nap on the pontoon, lulled to sleep by the sounds of the lake.

We also had a nice kayak paddle up the lake to the vacant lot just past the end of Northshore Drive. We got out of the kayak and Tomi beachcombed for what the Theis kids refer to as "beauties" - the iridescent, pearly-white shells that catch the sunlight and gleam just beneath the water in the shallows.

Ken went over to the Black Mountain Lodge to watch MSU play (and lose to) CMU. After Tomi's nap, we joined him to watch Michigan play (and ultimately, beat) Notre Dame, much to Kenny's vengeful delight. If MSU beats them next weekend, he will be a happy man.

Photo below is of one of the "twin lakes" not far from our cottage, taken from the balcony of the new Eagle's Nest bar attached to the Lodge. Several locals were attracted to Tomi's and my combined female pulchritude. Who can blame them???

Ken, The Grillmaster, grilled vegetables (zucchini, corn, onions, and peppers) for us for dinner - muchas yummy. At this moment, the evening is drawing to a comfortable close with the sound of sipping tea and smacking lips (yes, we are eating pie again).

Beautiful summer peaches

I bought a 1/2 peck of beautiful, fragrant summer peaches at Whole Foods. I peeled them for breakfast today. After I peeled a couple I decided the peelings on a plate were beautiful in and of themselves.

Friday with Tomi

We had a lovely pontoon ride with Tomi Friday. She took to the boat immediately. Again, on pain of death, I have refrained from posting the video of her song "I'm on a boat!", but I'll be glad to play it for you in person. She'll never know.

Captain Ken took us over to the UAW area but the waves were such that we decided on a ride around the perimeter instead. It was perfect weather - high 70s and a breeze with a fresh cool edge to it.

And while you're at it, be sure to ask me about the Tina Turner video.

Later we went to the Lodge for dinner. At our recommendation, Tomi chose the Alaskan King Crab - not exactly local fare but well worth the moral compromise. She was generous in sharing, though Ken and I had all we could handle on our own plates.

After dinner we walked down to the outside bar and ran into Jeff and Paula Kreuger. Shot the breeze with them for a bit, then home to groan about how much we ate. We had room for teeny tiny bites of Sweetie-Licious' award winning cherry blueberry pie. Pa if you are lucky I'll save you a slice.

The trip up with Tomi

Because I want to live, I am posting a picture of Tomi's feet, not her head, as she napped briefly on the way up north. We stopped in Gaylord to indulge in what Ken refers to my new "addiction," Culver's Butterburgers and frozen custard.

You may be amused by our choice of custard flavors; we were.

The kids - unsupervised

Jonna did a fabulous job of keeping up with the photography in my absence. These are from the kids' visit to the new outdoor lounge of the Chateau North (renamed the Black Mountain Lodge), and afterwards in the field across from the Dirty Duck. The hay field frolics were inspired, of course, by Jonna and my photo album of "hale banes" near Torch Lake.

Guaranteed to produce an "Awwwww..." from Mom.

Laura and Mary Ingalls, Little House on the Prairie (Black Lake style).

Love

Just plain adorable

Full house!

Saturday the kids (Jonna, Joe and Ashley, Mike and Jen, and Adam and Emily) took the pontoon out. Emily and Adam had formed a sandwich SWAT team for on-board lunch. From the photos, it looks like they all managed to have a good time even though the Skipper and Gilligan were back at the cottage.

Emily and the lunch basket

Diablo brothers plus one hanger on.

Left to right: Ashley, Jen, Jonna, and Emily

Tucker verifying that Mike is OK

Jeff and Paula Kreuger's dog Tucker barks at people in the water, but in a protective, not aggressive way. He wants to make sure the person in the water is OK. Today Mike was standing in the water near shore so Tucker jumped in to check him out. Once he was satisfied that Mike was OK, he turned and paddled back to the Kreuger dock.

You OK?

My work here is done.

Late afternoon in UAW waters

With Skipper Ken at the helm, we pontooned over the the "wilderness" stretch just southeast of the UAW resort and played in the water. This is a traditional warm day activity - on cooler days we generally boat into the Black River and putt downstream to avoid the breeze.

Jonna required many posed photos to be taken on the trip over. She is an avid photographer, and very photogenic herself. Her coaching of Emily and Adam into multiple silhouetted smooches was especially directive.

We used the "Sky-O" instead of a Frisbee and it was judged right sporty and fun. It could be thrown quite a distance so a fair amount of time was spent running, wading, and dog-paddling to retrieve it. Jonna's dog paddle was especially enthusiastic.

Out on the lake

The Pungo, the Calypso, and the S.S. Numnuts launched for a cruise on a glass-flat lake with me, Jonna, Emily, and Adam on board.

After Adam and Emily turned back, Jonna and I paddled down the northeast edge as far as the Bluffs. We briefly entertained the idea of walking up the bluff and getting a beer, but realized we had no money. Kris probably would have extended credit if we asked discreetly, but it didn't seem worth a trudge up the bluff with free beer (and dry pants) waiting back at the cottage.

Jonna wins at Scrabble

After lowering expectations by complaining of her poor spelling ability, Jonna whomped all of us - especially me, the odds-on favorite to win - in Scrabble.

Spotting scope comes in handy

The spotting scope came in handy for tracking Adam's progress in the Pungo 140 (that's Emily on the end of the dock). Actually, we lost track of him for a time, but a couple hours later he was back, victorious, after crossing the lake, cavorting with a family of loons, and paddling home.

Times when you want to believe the forecast

Today Sep 02 Sunny 76°/50° 0 % Thu Sep 03 Sunny 77°/52° 0 % Fri Sep 04 Sunny 77°/53° 0 % Sat Sep 05 Sunny 77°/55° 0 % Sun Sep 06 Sunny 77°/55° 0 % Mon Sep 07 Sunny 74°/55° 0 % Tue Sep 08 Mostly Sunny 73°/55° 10 %