On Line Whine

Sailboat moored on Portage Lake



This is the head of the shipping channel, there is a lighthouse on each side.





Great beach day







A solitary Paul


Iconic Lake Michigan beach


This weekend we headed to Little River Casino in Manistee to camp in the motor home and put my car in the car show. My car because I can't drive the GTO or the motor home. After this trip I have pretty much given up driving very far. Way too annoying.

We got back from Manistee Tuesday about 6. We stayed an extra day and a half because my car broke again. This makes a new water pump, 2 alternators, and a air conditioning compressor, since we started driving it in early May. It appears if we accelerate fast something expensive breaks. And the air conditioner still doesn't work when it is very hot, which is all the time this summer. Or maybe it just breaks, who knows?? The car computer shows no reason.

As Paul backed into the drive way at home I noticed something hanging from under the motor home, a long black thing, flat, maybe a belt. Maybe the serpentine belt. Yes, it was that. The most important (expensive) belt on any vehicle, it runs everything. Some young, flexible mechanics are coming to the drive way today to fix it. Can't even tow the motor home there.

I hate to complain on my blog, but will make an exception to take away the Christmas Letter stigma. My life is not perfect, I just prefer to emphasize the happy and fun. Being happy is partly a choice. We choose it. And we think of our three dear friends who have been diagnosed with serious cancer recently, and we feel very lucky and blessed.

I didn't do well in the car show, many of the entrees were old car snobs. They don't recognize a new classic when it bites them in the ass. There are SHO car clubs! It is show worthy! I love my car except for the unfortunate and expensive breakdowns. And the quirky air conditioning. Sure gets hot sometimes. Messes up my hair to have the windows open, but my hair is messy anyway. So that makes it a hot mess. Ha

So on Monday we find out it won't be fixed by Tuesday, we head out with the motor home to find a beach we can fit in. There is a beautiful one just north of Manistee but the parking places are car sized. Darn. We did find a very nice park in the charming Village of Onekema, on Portage Lake. There were fishing boats dropping in and out all day, a sail boat bobbing on the waves, there is a beach and playground, swans in the lake, strings of momma and baby ducks strolling around, and a band concert at 7 pm! We grilled chicken and ate dinner right there. Paul loved the oldies concert, very entertaining. Yes, baby, it was good, I just didn't have enough vodka to get into it. I could hear it good, though, and understood the words.

On Tuesday we found the Portage Point Park, where Portage lake entered Lake Michigan. The beach was perfect Lake Michigan, white sand and blue water in all the shades of aqua marine. Very cold and beautiful water. The north wind on Monday must have turned the water over. Still, a thousand dollar day. It was getting crowded by the time we left at 2 pm, must have been 40 folks on the mile of beach that I could see.

Lazy Sunday

Saturday was very hot and humid in Michigan, up to 87 degrees with very high humidity. Around 4 pm storms started rolling in, the power blinked off three times. We got 1.8 inches of rain. Good for the farmers again. We cancelled our reservations to play golf at Buck's Run but still had dinner with friends Bill and Sandy Caul. Bill and Paul taught at the same elementary school for many years. I was taking my first walk down the hall in the hospital after Katie was born when Sandy rolled by just before her third baby, Jimmy, was born. That was over 36 years ago now.

Dinner was great, but the conversation was much better than that. We sat and talked from 5:30 till 9 pm. Bill retired a few years before Paul did, he is 66. He is running for his third term as our State Rep this fall. Sandy was our Rep before he was. Michigan has term limits. He told us the story of why he decided to run for office, besides Sandy's nagging. He was at a funeral for an older friend, during the eulogy he listened to the long list of Rollie's many accomplishments over his long life. A long, long list of boards served on and charities served. And Bill thought he should give some time back to his community. All he was doing was playing golf, and his handicap was down to 11. Quite an accomplishment. Not to mention all those years of teaching special ed. So the rest is history and he is a good legislator.

So on Sunday we went to church and are now sitting on our duffs. Paul is watching the Little League World Series and I am on my computer. Ta da.... my Pogo score is over 3 million points now. Very soon I am heading out to pull weeds and grass out of the flowers. But it is so nice to be doing nothing!

Posting some new pictures from Julie. She is becoming quite the photographer.

Fr. Patrick's homily today was very interesting. He talked about how in the 1850s Catholics were distrusted and thought not to be good American citizens. He read an editorial from that era that said they would follow Rome and not the USA. In fact, anti Catholics burnt down the original St. Cecilia's Church in Clare in the 1860s. That is why the new church has a tile roof that leaks in nine places. Tile is the only roof that doesn't burn, but is much better suited for Santa Fe than Michigan. Anyway, on the subjects of abortion, capital punishment, and people accumulating huge personal wealth, the percentage of Americans who think these things are wrong/immoral are the same percentage as are Catholic in the USA today. Since many religions are against abortion, etc. , this proves that some Catholics agree with the church and some don't. I think that is the idea, I listened real hard but it seemed quite complex. Let me know if I missed the whole point.