The best of summer

I love July in Michigan.  I love July in Michigan on the water even better.  It has been an absolutely glorious summer on the lake.  A summer full of good friends, great food, and amazing pictures.

Sunrise. Seriously this is the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen EOTE.  So glad I got up at the crack of dawn.


Clouds.


Our neighbor. He is a good looking neighbor.


And our favorite time here. We love the Au Sable Race, the racers start in Grayling at 9:00 pm, paddle through the night, and arrive in Oscoda at about 10:30 am.  They don't stop, they portage their own canoes, and they are rockstars.  50,000 spectators will watch this race at various points along with way. This year, after 120 miles, the finish came down to a nose. We couldn't believe it.  It was the most exciting finish I have seen in my six years here.



Congratulations all around.


The wind has been rocking and rolling here.  A little carnage but we love it here.


Cheers to summer!

standing at the edge of summer

Spring was a busy time for us.  While I didn't anticipate the changes in our life, I can't imagine doing anything differently.  We opened EOTE late and have been north only a few times. The few visits we squeezed in were magnificent.

There is a perception that we don't have sunsets on the sunrise side.  That's completely wrong. 

We have a hand-held radio and nerdy as we are, we like to hail our passing freighter friends.  Paul, in the beautiful gloaming of the evening, is hailing the Dorothy Ann as she heads south.  

Our Handsome Boy never misses a chance for a good nap. 

While it looks delightfully warm, it wasn't.  It was soooo cold, we were wearing coats, hats, and gloves.  

I love this old tree half buried in the sand. 

So we will enjoy the cold, lugubrious day with a fire, books, and of course, the obligatory nap!  

Cheers EOTE! 

the passing of days

Ugh.  It's almost mid September. We had a glorious August and as I continue to say, time goes by so quickly.  This is what fall starts to look like up here.

We had some beautiful days, fabulous nights, amazing meals, incredible wine, and most importantly shared it with our dearest friends.  Perhaps it is time with friends that makes the time go so fast.  (I think we have a wine fairy who comes in and drinks our wine and leaves the corks ...)


and despite the misperception, we get amazing sunsets. On the sunrise coast.


I had a glorious reading summer and enjoyed a perfect mix of fiction and non-fiction.  Some books, I read a couple of times just because they were so fantastic.  Those are truly good reads.  Work is starting to pick back up. The summer stretch allows teams and projects some grace with pace and deadlines; with most of our vacation behind us, everyone is focused and re-engaged.

But summer's ending. Ever single year, that makes my heart skip a beat. Did I squeeze the life out of each and every waking minute? I hope so.


We look forward with a mix of melancholy and gratitude.  The past summer was remarkable; the future is exciting.  There is always time for a good belly rub.  We are profoundly grateful.


Cheers from EOTE.

July and August

It's been a remarkably wonderful summer, 2015.  The wonderfulness has been the last few weeks at the cottage.  The weather, the visitors, the sun, the stars, the moon, and Mr. Handsome have filled our lenses and our hearts.

It started with some pretty spectacular weather.


The moon came to visit.




I took this right as two seagulls flew by:


We went to a pretty cool race.


We had a rainbow.


and some storms.


and a whole lot of beach time.


oh, and here is stage one.


We can't wait for what's next. Cheers from EOTE!

summer's end

Every Labor Day, we host our friends East of the Equator. The weekend involves organic food from their farm, wine, stories, hilarity, Euchre, and wine.  And good wine.  I woke up sore from laughing so hard and so long. I love these people.

When we arrived, we immediately had to check in our sweet neighbor Bella. We had treats and poor Samson thought they were for him.







Don't worry, he eventually got his treat.

We woke up this AM and enjoyed coffee on the deck. We were treated to this spectacular sunrise.







I am hanging on to summer.  Football's on, leaves are changing, and I am still holding out for a beach day.  Cheers from EOTE!

welcome August

good ness.  Time, you just fly.

We have enjoyed another week in our little slice of heaven.  The weather was peculiar; rather the weather guesses were off by a factor of 10 most days.  Days were were supposed to have sun, we had clouds; days we were supposed to have rain, we had sun.  Who knows.  No complaints.

We had a night when the power went down.  It was odd timing; all the storms had passed and we were getting ready to make dinner.  We had drinks with our neighbors and were all commenting on how fortunate we were to still have power.  (kiss of death right there).  As we were thinking about dinner, bam - out went the lights! Our neighbors already had dinner in the oven and invited us back over for the meal.  We hauled our wine, our flashlights, and our candles and enjoyed a lovely meal with a backdrop of pounding waves. Made an incredibly lovely evening out of no power.

We did have a lot of wind and clouds. Made for some lovely pictures!

A wall of rain traveling across Lake Huron


The most amazing morning clouds I have seen in a while!






A couple of amazing mornings. Each sunrise different in its own way.






And a very happy boy on his beach.


No sign of the eagle.  We are convinced that all the construction on US 23 has scared him off.  We are hoping this is just short term. We miss seeing him.

A few more days here.  Love this down time.

a quiet end

to summer.  It has been a pretty cool summer, cool like in temperature.  We had a number of chores to do, so we took a day off to head up and work.

we stacked wood.
we cleaned the deck.
we took a nap.

and, I took a deep breath and went for a swim.  I won't lie - it's wasn't warm ... but it was moderate.  I swam for about 30 minutes before heading up.

we head into fall.  the leaves up north are already starting to change, color-kissed by the grand Painter.  stunning.  beautiful.  glorious.

after all the work today, we are kicking back with pork chops in the oven and a nice chardonnay in our glass.



these days, and weeks, and months fly by.  I've lost my stop-time button ... and I think about how quickly this summer passed and I get a little anxious.  my chest tightens.  I need time to slow down.  For Handsome Boy to quit greying around his muzzle and keep his quick step.  for the lazy-hazy daze of summer to stretch indefinitely.  



tomorrow is fall.  welcome falling temps, falling leaves, and eventually falling snow.  good bye summer.  come back soon.

weekend wind down

We drove north Thursday night, looking forward to a long weekend at the cottage.   The weather was everything that we had hoped for all summer.

Crystal clear skies.  Warm breezes.  Bright sunshine.   Lots and lots of beach time.

Paul had a friend fly up for the day.  Stayed for lunch and took a ride around Oscoda and Tawas.   Of course, I stayed on the beach to capture their fly by.



With Samson along this weekend, he couldn't help himself - like the rolex he is, up at 6 am .... and so was I.  At least I could capture this:



We enjoyed our Saturday night with a steak on the grill and a lovely Joel Gott in our glass.



We see subtle ways the season is ending.  The days are shorter.  Sunset is earlier.  People talking about back-to-school this and back-to-school that.   We aren't ready.  Summer just started.  Or so it seems.

He loves it here.



And so do we.  

vacation

I have a little time off over the next few weeks and it's one of my favorite times of the year. 

I wish I could share more - I can't share the sound of the pounding surf, the delightful  ESE breezes off the lake, the hum of passing freighters' diesel engines, or the warm conversations held up and down the beach, on the deck, or around the fire ring. 

I can only share pictures on the blog.  It's not enough but it's all I have. 

New friends.


Beautiful clouds


Wonderful friends and neighbors




and one happy, happy dog.


It doesn't get much better than this.  Cheers.

and finally, some sunshine.

It's been a remarkably cool summer thus far.  No complaints of course, at least it's not snowing.

When I started this blog in 2004, I mostly told stories with words; all these years later, I find myself telling better stories with pictures because of course, a good picture tells a story.

I spent years on the beach, first spending summers at my grandparents' cottage in Port Huron; then spending years in San Diego while exiled to California; and now, spending my summers on my own beach EOTE.   It is a glorious place to be - a great lake that's unsalted and shark free.  Full of friends, sights, and sounds of summer. 







It's a dog beach - you can tell that for sure. 

---

There are times when I can hear my grandmother's calling through the years, calling me up to the house for lunch or dinner.   Trying to lure me away from all that I love most.  Just a minute, Grandma, I will be up in just a minute.



It's simply too beautiful to leave.   Cheers to you on this wonderful July 4th. 

Our summer's end

Sigh.

Now, we live in Michigan for a reason.  I love fall and really love winter. (I know, insert snark here).  But since our acquisition of our own little slice of heaven, it makes it harder and harder to give up the summer.

Schedules willing, I normally take the week after Labor Day off.  The beaches clear, the town is quiet, and I have uninterrupted time to reflect. Here is what I will miss.

Comings

From 2012-08-03

From Sunrise EOTE 2012

From 2012-08-19

From Weekend in June 2012 EOTE

and more comings

From Almost Full Moon August 2012

From Almost Full Moon August 2012

From Sturgeon Moon

From Good night moon 2012

Good friends and neighbors

From Bella and Samson at the beach

From Family Pictures

From Oscoda Summer 2012

From Margaret, Liz, Anne, and MG

From Eagle 3

and good laughs

From Family Pictures

Fun events

From Harrisville Harmony Festival 2012

From Thunder Bay tour

From 2012-07-29

From 2012-07-29

From 2012-07-29

and good meals

From Salmon

From Labor Day 2012

and a moment to share a little sadness of dear Bella's passing

From Weekend in June 2012 EOTE

This man

From Staining the deck!

and this dog

From 2012-09-06

From Bella and Samson at the beach

From Oscoda Summer 2012

make my life complete.  Until next year, a final cheers EOTE.