Well we finally made it up to Washington Island to open the house and plant a few flowers.
Only two winter problems- a broken pipe in the upstairs shower and broken part on the small dishwasher in the kitchen. Dave fixed them of both- he is a wonder!! I also got to plant my front flower boxes with some pretty purple perennials. Sorry don't remember the name- see why i am a challenged gardener..hehe Looks like i will need about 12 more perennial plants for the other places i have left to plant- no annual flowers for me any more !!
Dave got the boat ready for the summer season and I cleaned and dusted off the winter a bit in the house . Then we stopped in at Kenny's restaurant for a fresh perch fry for dinner. Kenny is the only commercial fisherman left of Washington Island .There used to be 13 commercial fishermen on the island in the 70's but the fish are diminishing and it is a hard life. Kenny not only fishes but also farms and owns his restaurant just to make a real living on the island- it is a hard place to economically survive. He plants wheat for the famous "Island Wheat Beer" now sold at the Brewers games in Milwaukee!! He told us that this year he is planning on planting organic potatoes with an off island investor. You have to be creative and flexible to make a go of it as a business person on the island. My brother Gary who is a friend of Kenny's, owned a historic prohibition tavern on the island for a few years - then called "Up the Road- Bitters End" as they used to sell Bitters to drink during prohibition times.Gary was an electrician but always had a second side business but after a few years realized island businesses rarely make profit and are a real testimony to endurance to find enough employees so sold his tavern.
This weekend the weather was cool but sunny ...60's there but 70's in Michigan and now 80-90's in Illinois.Sometimes there is a 30 degree difference in temps of the three places we spend time at!! We flew in to the island and used the new runway at the airport. Yes they have finally added a cross runway after a number of years of controversy... so now it is much safer to have two runways as landing on the shorter grass runways with a fair amount of wind are challenging enough. It was a little bumpy but was the better runway for both landing and taking off so we were grateful as it was quite windy.Dave is a great, safety minded pilot and spends much more time checking weather- winds and cloud heights than actually flying. It's a lot of work for him to determine when and if to fly, but well worth the time we save in not having to drive !!
The trip to the island, if flying, takes us about 1 hr and 20 min vs. about a 5-6 hr drive from Illinois!!We were able to sell our hangar on the island last week as we are going in on our friend Mike's hangar which will fit both his plane and ours--- a big savings and better for the little use( short season) we enjoy on the island. The weather is cool on the island till about mid June ,although it looks like the island is getting this new hot weather this week that we are experiencing in Illinois. Ahhhhh global warming perhaps!!
Its a lovely place in summer when we are roasting in Illinois from hot summer temps- a lovely cooling island effect from Lake Michigan. It cools down nicely every evening so sleeping is divine!No need for air conditioning here!! I am not a hot weather person so this suits me just fine. It' s usually a lovely 75 temp in June, July , August and Sept. except for a week or two in August that gets pretty warm( always fell on the week I taught VBS for 10 yrs of course!). We will just have to see whether Wisconsin or Michigan has better weather for the Memorial day weekend coming up soon.
Salmon fishing starts up in June and we can't wait for the fun times to begin and the lovely sunsets on Lake Michigan to fish by. I don't even care if we catch any fish as the sunsets are so beautiful but usually we catch about 2-3 good sized Salmon. Dave smokes them and we freeze alot to give away at Dave's work, as too much for just us!!
Well I guess pre-summer has officially begun! God has so blessed us with such beautiful places to spend time! We try to share it with others as much as possible!!
Yeah to the fun of changing seasons.... a Midwest delight!!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Searching For Treasure in The U.P.
I had a bit of a U.P. "treasure hunt" this past weekend.
Yup, that sounds a bit strange you say?Well there is a lot of treasure there you know, like shipwrecks, agates etc... But no, I was not searching for that type of "treasure". There is so much natural treasure in the woods...sometimes we just have to hunt for it a bit.
I was on a mission... and three hours later I emerged totally exhausted but satisfied about it. What was i doing you ask? Well I was simply raking the the many layers of Fall leaves away from the ground to un-earth the treasure of natural wildflowers and previously planted perennial plants around my yard that simply could not find light or moisture under those many layers of fallen leaves. This was such a delight!! I felt like I was giving birth to a natural forest floor! It was amazing how many different wildflowers were hidden in those leaves!!Now i can't tell you all their names, but there were so many different colors and shapes and sizes ...some white, yellow blue, purple, and pink and some were tiny and others huge! The most prolific were the Trillium's. They are often the first sign of spring on the forest floor , as this lovely white petaled endangered wildflower is really dense here. They are so very hardy,surviving in all conditions and luckily without much help from me!!
Some people love gardening and yard work but this is the only real type of gardening I love!
My Dad was a real green thumb. But i am sorry to say, that plants panic when I look their way as although i do enjoy seeing them, I simply forget to water them until it is too late! I have always said that I am good with kids and pets but NOT plants!! I also love the "natural" look of a garden or lawn!Yes, I even love those fuzzy Dandelions! Why can't we just let nature take its course? We work so hard at trying to control it all! Now you say... well, you were controlling things a bit by removing the leaves?This may indeed be somewhat true, but whatever I uncovered was already there and I added no chemicals or expense to unearth them from their leaf covered darkness. I simply let them breathe in the sunshine and moisture that nature will provide.
I made a vow last year not to buy anymore "annual" flowers to plant in my yard. It is such a wasteful and expensive venture as they only last one year!! I cannot believe I bought into this practice of manicuring a natural environment for so many years! I may plant a few perennials this year without the aid of chemicals i might add, and then simply let them do their stuff naturally...and that's all folks! Although it is a bit of a battle with my husband who thinks yard chemicals like lawn fertilizer and Miracle Grow are a must... a throw back perhaps to our German Milwaukee upbringing- WHERE YOUR YARD IS YOUR PRIDE AND JOY!! I say NUTS to this! If God intended our yards to look like this it would happen naturally! I do not think we need to spend hours and hours and hours away from family and friends to do all this yard work! I prefer nature to take its natural course, but perhaps this will only really work when we move further north to the U.P. in our retirement where this is more the case. I also realize that this yard work and gardening is a real pleasure and relaxing hobby for some folks. But for others like me, it is just plain a lot of unnecessary work, as i just prefer to spend my free hours walking, biking, kayaking,golfing etc... or with family and friends.
Well I can't wait to see what nature provides the next time we are up in the U.P. I hope to see a host of wildflowers greeting me!! Happy Spring to you all!!( photos to follow)
Yup, that sounds a bit strange you say?Well there is a lot of treasure there you know, like shipwrecks, agates etc... But no, I was not searching for that type of "treasure". There is so much natural treasure in the woods...sometimes we just have to hunt for it a bit.
I was on a mission... and three hours later I emerged totally exhausted but satisfied about it. What was i doing you ask? Well I was simply raking the the many layers of Fall leaves away from the ground to un-earth the treasure of natural wildflowers and previously planted perennial plants around my yard that simply could not find light or moisture under those many layers of fallen leaves. This was such a delight!! I felt like I was giving birth to a natural forest floor! It was amazing how many different wildflowers were hidden in those leaves!!Now i can't tell you all their names, but there were so many different colors and shapes and sizes ...some white, yellow blue, purple, and pink and some were tiny and others huge! The most prolific were the Trillium's. They are often the first sign of spring on the forest floor , as this lovely white petaled endangered wildflower is really dense here. They are so very hardy,surviving in all conditions and luckily without much help from me!!
Some people love gardening and yard work but this is the only real type of gardening I love!
My Dad was a real green thumb. But i am sorry to say, that plants panic when I look their way as although i do enjoy seeing them, I simply forget to water them until it is too late! I have always said that I am good with kids and pets but NOT plants!! I also love the "natural" look of a garden or lawn!Yes, I even love those fuzzy Dandelions! Why can't we just let nature take its course? We work so hard at trying to control it all! Now you say... well, you were controlling things a bit by removing the leaves?This may indeed be somewhat true, but whatever I uncovered was already there and I added no chemicals or expense to unearth them from their leaf covered darkness. I simply let them breathe in the sunshine and moisture that nature will provide.
I made a vow last year not to buy anymore "annual" flowers to plant in my yard. It is such a wasteful and expensive venture as they only last one year!! I cannot believe I bought into this practice of manicuring a natural environment for so many years! I may plant a few perennials this year without the aid of chemicals i might add, and then simply let them do their stuff naturally...and that's all folks! Although it is a bit of a battle with my husband who thinks yard chemicals like lawn fertilizer and Miracle Grow are a must... a throw back perhaps to our German Milwaukee upbringing- WHERE YOUR YARD IS YOUR PRIDE AND JOY!! I say NUTS to this! If God intended our yards to look like this it would happen naturally! I do not think we need to spend hours and hours and hours away from family and friends to do all this yard work! I prefer nature to take its natural course, but perhaps this will only really work when we move further north to the U.P. in our retirement where this is more the case. I also realize that this yard work and gardening is a real pleasure and relaxing hobby for some folks. But for others like me, it is just plain a lot of unnecessary work, as i just prefer to spend my free hours walking, biking, kayaking,golfing etc... or with family and friends.
Well I can't wait to see what nature provides the next time we are up in the U.P. I hope to see a host of wildflowers greeting me!! Happy Spring to you all!!( photos to follow)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)