Chased Home By Rain

Left for South Bend, Indiana, last Friday a.m. Parked the motor home in front of Andrea and Ryan's house for the weekend. Played with Charlie and Julia, ate Andrea's wonderful white chili. Paul and Ryan went to the Notre Dame game on Saturday. I knew it would be too hot and long for me. They had a great time. Ryan had friends tail gating before the game, and they took a city bus instead of driving and finding a lot. Less stress all around.

Andrea wasn't feeling well on Saturday, but we still took the kids to the new park. It is awesome, the ground is all covered with a spongy, rubber like carpet, painted nice, not that shredded black stuff that rubs off on clothes and hands. The equipment is handicapped accessible, with ramps and toys around the big structure as well. I didn't get any pictures, was too busy chasing kids. It was very nice, it is near the zoo.

Andrea felt better on Sunday and we did some power shopping, found cute kids clothes and a few things for myself too. South Bend has a nice shopping area in the south, south of the river and north of the bypass road. Lunch at Panera.

Paul found a campground on the Internet that was on Lake Michigan, just north of Muskegon. So about 3 pm, we headed north and found the county park by 7, with a stop for groceries. And another for beer. West Michigan is very Dutch Reformed Church, and they have blue laws in some places, no alcohol sales on Sunday. Turns out no alcohol is allowed in this county park, which is why the Catholics invented big sippy cups. No hassle anyway, it was full of quiet, polite old Yankees, who just ignore everyone else. No one saying "hi" except us and William and Mary Ann. They just camped down the way from us. They had a Harley, a small trailer, tent, screen room, table and chairs. They were master packers to fit it all in the trailer. Very impressive. We had campfire with them one night. Very nice people, from Ferndale, MI.

Anyway, Paul chose this park because it had 2,000 feet of clean and sandy beach. And it sure did. It also had huge campsites, mature trees, clean restrooms, three decks overlooking the lake from the top of the dunes. We can't decide how high, probably 40 to 60 feet, maybe higher, people looked real small by the shore. I will post pictures and you can decide. It was beautiful, and cheap! Very middle class, we had the best rig there, that has never happened before.

We had a rainy day, and some perfect sunny beach days with long walks on the shore. Just before we got there they had a big storm and the lake temp dropped from 77 degrees to 55 degrees. It got warmer as the days went by and Paul did get in swimming. The sun was really, really hot.

We planned on staying and attending the Irish Music Festival in Muskegon this weekend but the weather coming in was all rain. Time to give up on that notion.

Computer Update

My Dell needs the os reinstalled. And Dell's don't come with a backup disc. The repair guy wanted $90 to do it. I am doing it myself, I did my other computers several times. Instead of reinstalling with the disc, now you back up to an older version. Did it once, need to go farther back. First I have to buy some CD-RW discs and save what I have that I want to keep. If that doesn't resolve the problem with the usb port and my cell phone connection I will just get a new laptop. Once these problems start, it is a slippery slope. Lately I have had nostalgic feelings about my old HP computer. The photo softwear and and cd burner softwear was so much friendlier. So much of the new softwear makes all of the decisions for you. I know what I want, it isn't what they want.

What is your favorite computer? Need ideas and suggestions.

Hitting the road

We are heading out to South Bend, IN to see the Notre Dame game on Saturday, and the darling grand children who live there. And their very good and cute parents too. It looks like a rainy day today, so will leave on Friday. Leaving there on Sunday to camp up the west coast of Michigan. Need a dip in the big lake. This is our favorite time of the year to travel, not so busy and the lake is really warm. My laptop is in the shop, internet connection quit working on it. sigh. I will save up my adventures and put them on when we get home.

More Weekend Hilarity

During our campfire Saturday night the subject came around, as it often does, to Brenda's pierogi's (but spelled Latvian style). And being so nice she quickly offered to make some, or maybe it was the vodka. No matter, the end result was we all had breakfast on her deck and the pierogi's were the best ever. She didn't have ham and bacon, so she chopped up some pork chops and sausage, and sauteed them with onion for the filling. And she and Pete pulled some fresh strawberries and melon out of their, um , refrigerator, and it was a lovely brunch. Followed by another beautiful boat ride. Followed by grilled hamburgers, etc. Finally, the survivors fell into a stupor and just floated in tubes on the lake. It was great. We had so many laughs and some really interesting conversations this weekend. Love our neighbors!

Pic of Krista and Steff, and the party barge, Brenda and Pete, and the sunset on Sunday night from the party barge. John, Tony and Paul after the potluck eating frenzy. Had some great conversations about WWII, etc, between the history prof and the history major, and the history buff, and John, who fought in it. Always interesting.

Labor Day Perfection

This has been the most perfect holiday you can imagine here at the lake. Weather in the mid 80s, sunny with a nice breeze, no humidity. All of our neighbors and long time friends are up for the holiday and we shared a very yummy potluck dinner on Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed stimulating conversations and quick wits. Tony took anyone who was interested on a sunset cruise of the lake on his party barge, the light over the lake was rosy and soft with an uneven blending of the darkening blue sky and the rose colored sunset. When we got back to shore it was cool enought that we appreciated the nice campfire down on our beach. A few hot dogs and marshmellows were toasted. Lots more jokes and laughs.

I fixed the salmon that Paul caught when he was fishing with Rex on Lake Michigan. I used the www.recipezaar.com Southwest Grilled Salmon With Cilantro Lime Butter, number 11478. A very simple marinade and baste with excellent flavor. Jeff did a great job of grilling the fish.

As promised, here is the Beer Bread Recipe, I used a Mexican mix of cheese:
3 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 12 oz . bottle/can of warm beer
1/4 cup butter, melted

Stir first three ingredients together, pour into lightly greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Pour melted butter on top, bake 10 more minutes.

For Cheddar-chive bread: Add 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives to dry ingredients.

Pictures posted after I find my camera cord, stashed in a "safe place."

Deep Thoughts on Deep Frying

Awhile back, Paul caught a nice Walleye fish in Lake Erie. Walleye is, indeed, a very mild, tasty white fish. We discussed cooking this wondrous fish. Paul wanted it deep fried and we didn't want to go the route of the big gas turkey deep fryer. We received a deep fryer as a wedding gift long ago and far away, long since sold or given away. It worked well, but we didn't like the odor of fried food in the house. Progress in deep frying in the last 40 years was huge, Fry Daddy, Cool Daddy, P Daddy, and Kohl's had a sale on the Cool Daddy. It had an odor filter. It can't splash hot oil around the kitchen. Sounds great.

So on the next trip to Kohl's I purchased a wonderful saleful Cool Daddy. I looked at the box and thought about it for, oh, five weeks, maybe more. Had the receipt taped to the top of the box, hoping to change my mind. Finally, I couldn't put it off anymore, thawed said fish, checked the peanut oil in the basement. It failed the nose test. Bought soybean oil.

Had fish to fry. And french fries, and chicken legs. Smelled pretty bad. Nothing like the fresh scent of fried grease. As Paul said, he could smell it coming out of his pores the next morning when he got out of bed. I just picked up Mr. Cool Daddy and moved him, still smells. Think his new home will be in the little cottage, in case guests want to fry fish. Spent one whole day messing with straining the oil. I am thinking Miss Pricilla's pigs will love that oil poured over their pig gruel.

The fish was great.

Lake musings

As I laid in bed this morning I was thinking about fall, my favorite time of the year. It is cool and crisp at night and sunny and warm during the day. Heard the geese flying over just the other day. There is mist over the lake every morning made by the cool night air and the warm water. The fall feeling is in the air. I miss the lake when we are gone, even if I know I don't want to be here fighting the snow and the cold wind. It gets in your blood. Growing up among the lakes in Michigan made us water lovers.