Eight years

Eight years of marriage means that you celebrate with clean laundry and an easy meal at home, didn't you know? And sparkling wine to boot.

Endings

Yesterday, while Calvin enjoyed the air conditioning at his Gram and Grampa's house, Jon and I made it to the Art Fair for its last couple of hours this year. Though we missed our usual rendezvous with family on the opening day of the fair (because we were up north enjoying cooler temperatures) we couldn't let the year go by with walking through street upon street of booths.

While we were downtown we also made it to the downtown Border's store—the flagship store. Borders started here about forty years ago and though it hasn't been the family owned company it once was for the last twenty of those years, it is still looked at as a part of our community. It has been a part of our downtown longer than anyone else's, and it will be missed. I am torn when it comes to the debate on physical books versus e-books. I understand that e-books are an ecological plus, but I love the feel of a book in my hand—the smell of the paper, the softness of the pages and the way their weight shifts as I turn them. Reaching the end of an e-book has never been as fulfilling to me as turning the last physical page of a novel and plopping it down in front of me with a sigh upon finishing it. And you can't loan an e-book to a friend, or donate it to the library. Have I mentioned that we buy most of our books used? Maybe I'll have to set a new rule for myself—if I can't buy it used, buy it as an e-book, but oh how I will miss dog-eared pages, notes in the margins, and sharing with family and friends.

Falling in love with home again

Pure Michigan is a tourism ad campaign. I live here, so they don't need to sell it to me, but how often it is that we overlook our own homes when planning trips, as though we must go far to find things that are worthy of exploration and enjoyment. I have often taken our home state for granted. Jon and I have traveled much of our continental country together, and everywhere you look there are things to explore, things to love, the same being true close to home. We have often vacationed in northern lower Michigan, but this trip was about really falling in love with it again, not just calling it home. It was about revisiting old haunts and inviting Calvin to love them with us.

It doesn't take more than a moment relaxing on one of the sandy beaches in the breeze of the big lake, or traipsing through the dunes, or hiking through a woods along a crystal stream, to understand the meaning of the Pure Michigan ad campaign. All that water, the blue sky, the floating clouds, the deep green forests, the rolling farm lands with their road side stands and farmers markets bursting with colors, smells, and flavors. All that white sand molded into the art of the dunes, decorated with bright green beach grass. All that history.

This trip was definitely about falling in love with our home again, and it was an easy affair to rekindle. Tomorrow we return home, to higher temperatures and a traffic congested city in the days of the Art Fair, and really I'm looking forward to that also, because it is home as well.

More:

Pure Michigan

The Mackinac Bridge

Mackinaw City

Sturgeon Bay

Into our vacation a little rain falls

From our retreat in Northern Michigan I've been watching the heat wave hit the southern half of our lower peninsula. Every time I visit my home weather bookmark online I am bombarded with bright red and orange warnings: "heat advisory," "air quality alert," "excessive heat watch." I'm not sure how all these are different, but they make me even more thankful to be on vacation, a trip that was planned when the temperatures at home were still in the 80s, the kind of days we are enjoying here now.

Blue skies, intermittent clouds, a soft breeze to cool our warm days, I wish I could share them with the friends, family, and pets we left at home. And the rain we got today—sweeping in with showers and sprinkles, sending us to town to enjoy books stores and adventure golf before sweeping back out again in the evening—that rain would have been appreciated at our house, too. We didn't mind it here either, though. It gave us a break from the sun, a chance to play golf, some reading time at the house, naps, daydreams. These are the traditions from my own childhood vacations in this area, and we're soaking up as much of this relax time as possible.

For more information:

Petoskey (Chamber of Commerce)

Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf

Rolling Sculptures Auto Show

It's that time of year again. Jon and I have been feeling a little out of sorts; besides the strange weather throwing things off, we are missing out on three summer staples this year—Top of the Park, The Townie Party, and the first day of Art Fair—and that leaves a big hole in the middle of our season. There are still other events to be had, of course—we'll be catching a Friday Nights in Dexter one of these days, and last night was the Rolling Sculptures Auto Show in Ann Arbor.

It was warm, but not a bad night to be downtown. Calvin had asked for a redo of the scavenger hunt we took to the NAI Auto Show in January so we worked that out together and he looked for things like pink cars, glittery cars, a variety of engine make-ups, and even a rumble seat. I was disappointed that the old fire truck was not there this year (someone else is missing their summer staples, I see) but the fairy car was there to serve as an alternative fueled vehicle (because nothing is a more alternative fuel than Vernors).

We enjoyed shakes at Frita Batidos, and later had dinner at Grizzly Peak—some old stomping grounds and some new. We went with Gram and Grampa, we ran into some friends, and we got a call from Jon, who had been in New York for two days, saying that he'd been put on a different flight and would be home before bedtime, and that equals a good day.

The future is electric!

Austin-Healey, the happy car

Being the car...

Isetta, the other happy car

Discussing the oddities of the Isetta

Smart selling, at my favorite book store