Theater Girls at Black Lake

Here is the full slide show of the theater girls' visit to the cottage on Black Lake; first of many, I hope.

Great night at the Hack-Ma-Tack!

Thursday night we went to the Hack-Ma-Tack - this year it was Adam's treat.

It felt good to get all cleaned up after our late afternoon frolic in the UAW resort shallows and motor to the site of so many cottage traditions. Here are the traditional photos on the board walk outside the restaurant, and a shot of Adam and Emily walking in.

Our server, Stacy, was a good egg and Emily really enjoyed her 16 ounce Diamond Jim Rib Eye. Well, she enjoyed about half of it - Adam enjoyed the other half in addition to his surf and turf and a bit of my prime rib.

By some miracle, I was steady enough to set up the camera for a low-light shot of the interior. I think it really captures the warmth of that place. We had a table right by the river-side windows - never sat there before. The striped blur on the right of the photo is Adam's right arm lashing into a chunk of beef.

Pontoon ride, frisbee game

The weather was warm and the lake was still for most of the day, so we decided on pontooning instead of golfing. While I played photographer, the others played a mean game of frisbee. I'll let you write the caption for the picture of Emily avoiding the splash from the frisbee.

Tuesday - Emily and Adam

Tuesday was cool and cloudy all day, but we made the best of it with chipping lessons (Adam teaching Emily), solo darts (Ken in the garage), Lasso Golf, (Emily schooling Adam), and Bocci Ball, (Emily and Adam kicking Ken's and my butts). Finally, after dinner, the sky began to clear. Emily and I were inside fixing a simple dinner of pasta and salad, and the guys were sitting on the dock solving the problems of the world. Later we convened on the dock with glasses of wine or beer to toast the clearing skies and another great day at the cottage.

Saturday, the Fourth of July

The day began with Grandpa holding court in the sunroom, telling Army and privy stories that can also be found on his blog thetopologist.blogspot.com.

Mike and Jason admired all the little wooden birds I have hanging about the cottage and decided to try their hands at creating one. After much sketching and Dremel-ing, they each produced a wonderful creation - Mike's a cardinal and Jason's an oriole. They are now hanging in the window between the kitchen and the sunroom.

Everyone except me went for a pontoon ride (I opted for the quiet and the chance to reorganize the cottage a bit). See other pontoon pictures in the slideshow below.

For dinner we had baked potatoes in foil, done to perfection on the Weber by Kenneth. Plenty to satisfy the big eaters and vegetarians alike. As darkness approached, Mike set up a fire in the fire pit, which we enjoyed along with the fireworks displays of several of our neighbors. How cool is it that Grandpa was there with us!!! Very!

We also launched four "sky lanterns," one in memory of Mom, Chuck, and neighbor Lynette's mother June. A fifth sky lantern met an untimely fate when it failed to launch properly and ended up in the lake.

In this video you can just barely see the memorial sky lantern twinkling just to the left of the bursts of fireworks.

Grandpa and Jen on the dock

Grandpa spent quite a bit of time giving Jen the good old fashioned Woodruff interview, during which he does most of the talking and gauges the character of the person by his or her responses and reactions. Jen passed with flying colors. "A keeper," he declared.

Mike had that figured out already.

Eighty-seven and still spontaneous

Well, I made this blog so Grandpa (and others) could see what we're up to...but an even better outcome arose. Grandpa caught a ride with Adam and actually spent the full weekend at Black Lake with us. Here is a sampling of photos...more to come.

Friday recap

Mike and Jen arrived just after Jonna and I returned from our shopping trip in Cheboygan (at Walgreen's and Glen's). Jonna and Mike took the S.S. Numnuts for a spin.

Jason and Jen started a puzzle, and Jason vowed to finish before Adam and Grandpa arrived. (He didn't, but that did not diminish his accomplishment of finishing the puzzle in less than one day. It usually takes Ken and I several weekends of intermittent effort.) Grandpa and Adam left Lansing about 4 p.m., so we decided not to wait for them before eating dinner. Mike grilled hamburgers (and veggie burgers) for all of us. After Grandpa and Adam arrived, Mike took the new kayak out for a spin so Grandpa could see how she looks under way. "That looked pretty graceful," said Grandpa about Mike's method of seating himself in the kayak.

Play the video to hear it!

Jonna and Jason are here!

Jonna and Jason arrived about 3 p.m., and Kenny about 4. We grilled hot dogs (real and veggie) for dinner and listened to Michael Jackson. Ken showed us his moon walk.

We seem to have reached detente between Ken and Riley. Unless, of course, Ken leaves the house and comes back in. ARF arf!!!

Grackle or Cowbird?

Shinyblack head, drab brown feathers. Think it's a grackle. Hope so - my family has a history with Cowbirds. Ask Grandpa about it sometime.

July 2 - our 21st anniversary

A dewy misty morning. No Whip-poor-will last night - he must be on to other opportunities elsewhere. Took two red tomatoes off my "Fourth of July" tomato bush. The yard has been recently mowed (thanks, Gene) so Ken won't have to do that when he gets here. It looks nice.

I notice that the boys must have had a bonfire while they were here - that pile of wood in our firepit is gone. That must have been an evening of colorful language for the neighbors to hear.

The high for today is predicted to be around 63 - not sunbathing weather, by any means, but I'm having fun re-setting the cottage after not having been here for over two weeks. Looks like our guests did a good job in keeping things up, and I had a cleaning lady in after the boys' golf weekend, so now it's just putting things back the way I like to see them.

Mocean Worker on the iPod is getting my butt moving. And speaking of getting my butt moving... Ken, Jonna, and Jason should be arriving anytime after noon today.

Keeping in touch with a new family vacation blog

Good opening photo - from Pa's 2008 visit to the cottage.

I love my handwritten vacation notebooks. They are so personal and quirky - different pens, different covers, different sizes and colors. But they are in one place (on a shelf in our corner bedroom) and can only be shared with visitors who are physically at our house. I fully intend to continue my practice of documenting our vacations in hand-written (and illustrated) form, but this blog makes sense on so many levels as a way to keep family updated on our whereabouts and activities while on vacation or at the lake.

Right now I am sitting in the sunroom of our Black Lake cottage, with three candle lanterns burning and gentle music in the background. Feeling very mellow. I'm here as the one-person advance team for the July 4 weekend, 2009. Expecting Jonna and Jason tomorrow (and Ken), and Adam, Mike, and Jen on Friday. Emily on Monday, and we're hoping Joe will be up sometime during the week if his job interviews don't preclude it.

Tomorrow I will put food away and make the beds, but tonight, I'm creating the blog.