Spring on the Island

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!!