vacation and wine (it all goes together)

it's been a really busy vacation and I must say, it's going fast!  we have filled our time with some really good movies, books, and meals.  house projects can wait.  like until February.

one of my very favorite things to do is to take pictures of wine.  I don't know why.  I take them here in GRR and up at the cottage.  I usually use one of prime lenses (50 mm).

here are some of my faves.

red.









and white.



well, and the not-wine.



we drink a lot more red than white, at least in pictures.  we are fortunate to have not one but two of the best wine shops on the planet - one in Grand Rapids and one in East Tawas.  we get great wine and I get fun pictures.

cheers to the weekend!

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.

One week

It's surprising how slowly and quickly a week can go.   A few highlights.

The eagle.  Well, not the SAME eagle but a couple of visits that made this week just a treasure. On Saturday, this eagle flew up and down the beach a few times.  Here he was turning around in the tree.

From Eagle 3

From Eagle 3

we had beautiful sunrises

From 2012-08-03

and epic beach days where six hours under the umbrella with the Kindle felt like 45 minutes ...

From 2012-08-04

we had fun with friends

From Oscoda Summer 2012

some of our own fun

From 2012-08-04

good food

From Salmon

From 2012-08-04

great wine

From 2012-08-04

and another beautiful moon.

From Sturgeon Moon

It just doesn't get much better than this.  Cheers from East of the Equator! 

vacation

1, 922 pages read.  Electronic AND paper, TYVM.
968 pictures taken.  
Several exquisite meals including a delicious variety of wines.
Lunches at our favorite restaurant ever.  
A dear friend to visit and relax with us.
New friends to the north and south.
A Full Buck moon.
A vast and impressive array of public and private fireworks.
Heavy freighter traffic. 
$100 pull tab winner, thus buying the entire VFW bar a round.
A tour of the shipwrecks of Thunder Bay.  What an impressive sanctuary.
Several glorious walks up and down the beach.  
Countless hours on the beach and in the water. 
and, for the first time in many, many months, the opportunity to sleep in past 4:30 AM.

It was a good, good week.

Easter dinner

We headed up to EOTE on Good Friday.  While we love the Handsome One dearly, there are times when, well, it would be nice to sleep in past 5:30 in the morning.  He does not have a weekend setting.

So it was a vacation for him of sorts.  Rebecca, our bff and general manager of Whiskers, called us on our drive to tell us that Samson was standing at the top of the play ramps, barking at all the other dogs, not sharing the play space.  It sounded just like him – his own king of the castle.

We never worry about him there.

It was a serene drive for the most part.  We stopped in Tawas to grab lunch, discovering that our favorite restaurant was closed from 12-3 in observance of Good Friday.  We grabbed a quick lunch at another place, unpacked and headed back to Tawas to restock the barren shelves.

We stopped in Klenows, a great local shop to pick up some chicken for dinner.  That’s where it first started.  A guy, a patron, looking like any mid-Michigan guy stopping to pick up groceries, asks the guy behind the counter for frog legs.

My stomach turns a little.  They are all out, he says.

Oh gross, I think.  Someone actually bought frog legs.

The guy sort of loses it.  It was ruined his meal.  His Easter.  Whatever will he do?

Seriously.  He is DESPONDENT.  All I can think is OH MY GOSH WHO IN THE WORLD EATS FROG LEGS?

Apparently, a lot of people in Tawas.  Thank goodness we had chicken and the Easter Buffet at Wiltses.

I miss my little piece of heaven.  And it's good to be back.

Such is life

We couldn't stay away.  Despite the weather, the threat of more weather, the cold and biting wind, we headed north.  To our beloved paradise.

Sunrise

From 2012-02-26

A view to the north

From 2012-02-25

A view to the south

From 2012-02-25

It was spectacular.  The water was a deep, gorgeous blue.  It wasn't much time, an overnight.  But it was enough to sustain us for the next 40 days.

We will be back.  Soon enough, soon enough.

Tripping

We took a trip during our vacation.  We did some great things.

I read some books.  My review of Shake the World is over here.  It is a GREAT book.  I highly recommend it. 

We did some eating.  We went to my favorite place in Harrisville, Michigan.  I LOVE this place.  Read my review here.

We cooked at home.  I picked up some foodstuffs at my favorite local meat store.

From December EOTE

They had this on their shelf.  They wouldn't sell it.  Bummer. 

From December EOTE

I took some pictures.  One day, it was 7 degrees.  It was cold.

From December EOTE

From December EOTE

From December EOTE

It was worth standing in the frigid temps (and wind) to catch these pictures. Let me just say thank goodness for a tripod and remote.

It was both curious and beautiful to watch the ice start to collect on the shore.  The sand is frozen and the water crashing on hard sand is quite loud.   Really beautiful too.

From December EOTE

So that's a snapshot of our vacation within our vacation.  On to New Year's eve!  Cheers from EGR.  

Back at it

Today, I head back to work after a beautiful week at the cottage.  At times, it flew by; at other points, it felt as time was suspended.  It was delicious.  I got to pick up my camera, make new friends, walk the beach, have lunch and dinner with friends, and read.

As I head back to work, I will miss this most.



Happy Monday.

The Race

I don't canoe, kayak or tube down rivers.  I live on the Lake.  Rivers are not me and I simply could not understand the appeal of a river, much less a canoe race.  I can recall the eye-rolling, shoulder shrugging moment when I heard about the AuSable Race. Really what that meant for me was traffic, and some inconvenience, should I want to drive through town.  A canoe race?  Old dudes with metal canoes and wood paddles, huffing and puffing down a river.  No thanks. 

Hokeyspitballs was I off.  Not. Even. Close.  So the Weyerhause Au Sable Canoe Race is one part of the canoe triple crown (ok who knew this? anyone?).  I won't go into the history here; you can read it over at Wikipedia.  The race runs from Grayling to Au Sable THRU THE NIGHT.  Complete with portages around dams, a time clock and bragging rights.  The money is paltry, like $5k, for what these athletes do.  Those canoes? Lightweight fiberglass covered in sponsors.  The canoers?  Serious athletes who train for these races during the year.  Oh, and those paddles aren't cheap either.  

One of the funniest moments for me was when I realized (and observed)the update board is all done by hand.  It cracked me up.  No spreadsheets. No computers.  Spotters with short wave radios and people on the ground calling in updates.  Ha.  I loved it.   And these were some serious women.  The stream of people checking the board was substantial, too.  

So I let Paul talk me into being at the finish line. We had walked around the grounds the day before, talking to a few of the sponsors.  One of the guys said the pace would have the first place finishers crossing the line around 11:15.  He was right on the money. At 10:30. we found a place amidst the throngs of people.  People with t-shirts for their teams, yes, their teams; people with flags and banners to cheer the racers across the line.  

There were hundreds of fans waiting to meet thems.  Up and down the banks of of the Au Sable river, people were lined up- on blankets, in chairs, some on the grass. 

We had an update on the last portage and an approximate finish time from the announcer (the entire thing was broadcast on the radio) and about 11:15 AM, the winners came around the bend.  The banks and bridge lined with men, women, children of all ages were up and on their feet. Cheering, clapping, yelling, screaming, jumping up and down.  It was loud.  It was crazy.  The excitement was seriously on par with a Red Wings hockey playoff game. I had my camera on continuous and with my lens at 3oo, and I got some great shots.  And when the winning team got close to the finish line, I put my camera down and started to clap, too.  I kept thinking, "this is a canoe race ..." 

 

Indeed.  A canoe race.  A fabulous experience in a small town and I will tell you that I won't miss it again. 

Vacation

We went on vacation and didn't do anything computer-ish.  I loved every minute of it.  Except the part when our toilet quit working.  That wasn't ideal.

I walked with Paul and Samson every morning on the beach.
We had dinner with good friends around town.
We spent time sleeping in super chairs in the soft sand under the blazing sun.
We read books.
We painted and stained the raw wood frames around the new windows.
We swam in the beautiful lake.
We slept in, as late as Mr. Handsome would let us.
We had fun at the VFW.
We went to a parade.
We watched fireworks.


We had a vacation.  First one uninterrupted since 1999.  It was so amazing.  I think I will do it again.

Christmas Eve

Commence the rain. Bleh. And then sleet, ice, wintery mix and then if we are fortunate, some snow. I take snow any day - it's much easier to drive! I have some work to finish up this morning and then the afternoon is all mine!

Paul and I will have our annual Christmas Eve lunch at Founders, perhaps indulge in a delightful pint of amazing, locally brewed beer and then head home for much relaxation. The gifts are wrapped, the menu set, the shopping complete, the agenda finished and now all that is left is to implement. :)

Merry Christmas Eve! If you are traveling, be safe. Joyeux Noel.

Weekend Wanderings

What I learned on my November vacation, among other things.

131 is a much nicer drive north than 96-69-75-23.

It's a little town when high school hockey is on the radio.

The water in Greenbush isn't any good. Even the people at the V know it.

Friday night is a good night to eat out; all the locals are at the several hundred fish fry events at various venues around town. Or at the hockey game.

Locals don't worry so much about living on the water; they are surrounded by it. The summer people can pay the taxes and live on the lake.

The V and American Legion are hopping on Friday nights. $1 Killian droughts in frosted mugs could have something to do with it.

There are still a lot of people who smoke.

There are some pretty cool people at the V. And then there is Winky.

Winky is a good pool player when he isn't three sheets to the wind.

Oscoda has never really recovered from Wurtsmith closing. The locals still talk about it.

I don't believe that the people up north know how stunningly beautiful it is up there.

There are deer camps, deer blinds and deer check points. I don't care for any of them.

Samson (@thedogsamson) loves Whiskers. And the good people at Whiskers love him. They aren't just saying that either.

I miss His Handsomeness when we travel. I know that he does not miss me. He has a Kurunda bed and a flat screen TV.

Oscoda is beautiful. Really, truly beautiful. If you have never spent time on one of the Great Lakes, you are missing out. And I am not just saying that either.

So now, we wait. It's good to be home in my own bed.

My summer vacation

So I finally took one. Here is what I did.

Drove to GP with Paul and Samson's BFF, Ann Marie. She was taking a break from school and hitched a ride with us to the east side of the state. Thrilling driving the Friday before Labor Day into the city.

Hung out in GP for the long weekend. Had great meals at the Irish Coffee, Sinbads and Paul's homemade cooking. He made us Beef Tenderloin in Bourbon and may I just say - on my heavenly goodness.

On the way home from GP, we took the road less traveled and swung through Port Huron. Drove by our old cottage and stopped to look at the water.

Waited for the repair-person to come fix my dishwasher and washing machine. Yeah for warranties. No they aren't fixed because every company in the world now uses JIT inventory - just in time for them and not me the consumer. Parts get delivered TO ME and then someone RETURNS to fix the broken machine. So that means more time at home waiting for the repair-person to return, yet again.

Had a new stand up freezer delivered. Secured a cow, a pig and a lamb for said freezer - (really Paul did this but I was part of the conversation)

Did a job hunting workshop at Victory Life in Big Rapids.

Went to an anti-racism conference in Kalamazoo.

Had my bloodwork done for my annual physical. That involved one morning with no coffee. Let me tell you that we are ALL glad those days are few and far between.

Talked to some people and had a few meals.

So to recap. I had 8 days off. I had 0 days to just do nothing. I am tired and need a vacation from my vacation. I think I will take another one at the end of the month and with any luck, that should be a REALLY good vacation. :)

Another vacation

At home in the snow. :) Sigh. Such beauty.

Enjoy your day!

Stay-cation - Election Day

Today is the big day. Get out and vote!

We may have record-breaking temperatures today (70s) and a perfect day for a good walk. Since the lines are supposed to be long, I am going to hold off going to the polls until later this AM. We have a relatively small polling area so about 10:00 am, I am going pop on my iPod, put on my tennies and walk up to my polling place - Wealthy School on Wealthy. I am hoping not to have to wait the 4-6 hours that some areas are suggesting. After I vote, I am going to walk over to Starbucks and get my free cup of joe. Then saunter home.

I have to hand it too Google. If you want to know your polling place, all you have to do is type in your address, and Google will show you your polling location, complete with pictures - here. And, check out Google's doodle for the election. Are they not clever?

Mr. Handsome is mightily confused about my presence at home. He follows me around as good herding dogs should but is positively exhausted. I know that he wants me to go back to work so he can catch up on his sleep. But no such luck, dude. I am here for the week! Enjoy the day.

How to relax ... and looking for guidance

I don't really know how to relax. I took a vacation day today. Paul is in Chicago for a friend's Change of Command ceremony and I am at home, enjoying the quiet and solitude of a summer day. Mr. Handsome is a little confused but adapted to the change in our routine by promptly putting himself to bed for a nap.

I promised myself a couple of things. I promised myself that I wouldn't check email. I am constantly harping on the reasons for vacation - to refresh and rejuvenate, to energize your heart and soul with a good balance of what our fine lives have to offer. So I need to listen to my own words, even if just for a day!

I also promised myself that I would not do one productive thing. I regret to say that I was not as successful with the second promise. In fact, I have done many productive things this AM. I cleaned my bathroom and polished my sink. I cleaned all my beach glass and its respective containers. I cleaned up the kitchen and did all the pots and pans. I swept up the dog hair from our GSD, which stands for Generally Shedding Dog, NOT German shepherd dog. How he is not naked, I haven't a clue. I packaged up my crummy Dell computer to return to its original owner (Dell - pluth) and the nice DHL man took it away. I talked to two BFFs (Linda Z and Lynn) and did some blogging. That's pretty darn productive.

Now I need a nap.

Paul isn't returning until later this evening so I have the entire day to chillax. I started subscribing to a really cool magazine (and other than the HBR) I am not really a fan of anything in print. But I LOVE Real Simple. I read the thing cover to cover. And I read it AGAIN. It has great thoughts, ideas, recipes, links, info and just plain cool stuff to simplify life. Paul and I try and be thoughtful about resources, stewards with our stuff. We carpool, I take my lunch and drinks with a goal to never throw anything out, recycle everything, take our own shopping bags, replaced all our windows to save energy - so this little magazine is right up my alley. Of course, when I am done with it, I will recycle and share it with everyone. [And I am reading Children of God. What a great book, and sequel to perhaps the best book that I have read to date, The Sparrow.]

The best part is that it has AWESOME recipes. Wow. East of the Equator Cafe is coming back full force, baby. :) Of course, the Cafe will be rocking when the kitchen renovation starts. We have to figure out how to cook, clean and most importantly, make coffee without a kitchen. Oh, and minimize our trash. We have a good plan ..but you know that people plan and God laughs. So this should be entertaining, to say the least. I am excited out the kitchen renovation and a tad bit concerned. I don't like entropy and chaos and I know it's coming.

It's quiet here in EGR. Enjoy your Friday.

Life in Black and White

Despite promises of another winter wallop, we ended up with barely enough snow to warrant the snowblower. Paul does find almost any reason to use some power tool - whether it's the snow blower, nuclear-powered leaf blower, lawn mover and heaven forbid (and Henry's favorite tool) the dreaded chain saw. So he did power up the snowblower and proceeded to move some heavy wet stuff for us and for our grateful neighbors.

It's a normal January day here in Michigan. Not much sun filters through the clouds and everything looks like shades of gray. We took Samson out to play frisbee - his favorite thing to do in the snow - and he chased his flat disks until he could barely move. When he plopped down in the snow, it was time to come in.

We are watching the first ever NHL game played outdoors. When we were involved in hockey as kids, having hockey practices outdoors were very, very cold. Add snow, and it's difficult to skate. Should be a very interesting game!

The rest of the day will be relaxing. For me, it's enjoying the last day of my vacation before heading back to work. Happy 2008!

Do you REALLY need that pan?

Day 2 without much needed GE Deluxe dishwasher. Harumph. Once Plumber Dave gets his truck squared away, he will be back but until then, looks like our dishes require manual labor. Dang.

We have been busy updating the accoutrements in the updated bathroom. It is look tres chic!

Paul is getting dinner ready as we are having friends over for dinner. He is making lemon-drenched porkloin, salad with gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, shallots and balasamic vinaigrette dressing and MB and Rick are bringing the potatoes and cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

We have another 'severe weather alert' for our area with promises of heavy snow Friday afternoon and evening. We just need to get our GR parents on the plane to AZ and the sky can snow its little heart out!

What does Samson think about all this wildness?

Back to work

Ahhhh, the grind. Back at it, back to work. It was a Monday after being off for 11 days, so it was a Monday of monstrous proportions! I did not ease back into the grind; no, rather I was thrown full body, feet first into the grinder.

The Christmas holidays are bearing down on us and I am woefully unprepared. It just "us" for the holidays and I am SO grateful for the time off. Not sure what we have planned but I do know that after the next few weeks, one agenda item for certain is SLEEP!

We have our holiday decorations out including our Christmas tree. This is a very funny story. For years, we would get a really nice tree from the East Grand Rapids high school booster. Last year, we spent Christmas in Chicago and didn't have the 'fixins' for a real tree so treated ourselves to a cheapy tree from Ikea. Well, it's a keeper. It looks like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We have lights on it, ornaments and even a Belleek Star. I will have to take pictures and post them. It's a tree to remember but NOT a tree to envy... :)

The end of a really good vacation

It has been a glorious 11 days off. We have worked in the basement, working in the kitchen and chillaxed in the backroom. We have traveled hither and yon, fun places, grocery stores and puppy training. We have had glorious fires, snuggled under good, denin blankets and shared great wine. We have watched football, the Weather Channel and listened to good music. And I read when Paul was cooking.

We have high def thanks to Paul's efforts with Comcast, that give me (oh no coveting here) high def weather forecasts. WOO HOO.

Most fun has been getting to know Sammy. We started out rocky but tomorrow will be three weeks and he is a different dog. He is so much calmer. He knows his surroundings - what happens at the front door, the side door and the back door. He knows that sounds of our neighbors coming and going and goes WILD when sweet furry neighbor, Annie, is outside. He loves the stairs and will bound down them and up them, running in between Paul and me. He knows his place - under the table, on the floor at our feet, in his crate in the backroom and his crate in the bedroom. He has stopped trying to get on the furniture, no longer tries to take the holiday decor from the table (poor Santa) and has stopped 99% of the mouthing that seemed to be the biggest issue.

Mostly it has been fun watching Sammy with Paul. He is just a Daddy's boy, following Paul everywhere when possible, and howling mournfully when Paul is outside doing the driveway or the walk.

I will miss him when I go back to work.