Finally: Vacation Pictures

I did a terrible job on vacation photos this year. I forgot there even was such a thing as a camera until it was time to photograph that quilt. Then on the last evening at our cabin I suddenly whipped out the camera and tried to take photos of our cabin after it was really too dark to do it. So these are pretty bad.

We were staying at McIntosh Solitude Cabin on the south shore of Lake Huron, a few miles east of Cheboygan, Michigan. The word "cabin" is a misnomer; this is a full fledged house, with 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms and tons of space for two families to stretch out. We met Wayne and Roseann Stahl there (Wayne is one of Barry's two brothers). It was roughly halfway between our homes, though I think they had a little more of a drive than we did, getting around Lake Erie. Their little one, Sweet Baby E, kept us all hopping for the week. She is a very precocious 3-1/2-year-old bundle of energy and pizzazz.

Anyway, back to the cabin: It's on a piece of private shoreline and is built high up on the bluff overlooking the lake. Wayne thought it was only about 50 feet higher than the shoreline but I think it was quite a bit more. I counted the steps from the house to the shoreline and it is 115, plus then there's a path that goes down further. So we got our exercise going down to the beach. The water is crystal clear and not nearly so cold as Lake Superior's, so the kids spent quite a bit of time being wet. The cabin had several canoes available for guests, and everybody went out in a canoe at some point or another.

We didn't eat out much. Roseann and I figured out dinner menus ahead of time and took turns cooking. She is a wonderful cook. It was great fun cooking for each other rather than spending money at a restaurant! We ate most of our dinners outdoors on the lower deck, because it was the only table big enough to comfortably seat all 8 of us, and it was so relaxing. There was a very nice gas grill, so we grilled a lot; Roseann made wonderful homemade pizzas a couple of times. We all ate way, way too much.

We did a couple of outings (Mackinac Island one day, the Cheboygan County Fair another), but mostly we just hung around the place. We were really unplugged there, as our cell phones wouldn't work, the house phone would not make long distance calls, and there was no Internet. Of course it drove everybody crazy for the first couple of days, but by the end of the week, we were all used to it and enjoying the peace (except for Miss B, who never appreciated it much).

Here are some underexposed photos of the house/cabin.


Yes, that is a stuffed bear on the wall there. This cabin was a taxidermist's dream. I am not a taxidermist, so I didn't appreciate that part of it much.


Photographed from the sleeping loft where Wayne and Roseann slept.



Even the bathrooms were pine!

There was a telescope for viewing passing freighters, and lots of pretty double-hung windows.


This was the view from the upper deck, looking down over the lake.



And that is the upper deck, where we all did a lot of hanging out, and I did my morning prayers.


A blurry photo of the steps to the loft.

Not a good picture but I had to include it because of those two little blurs there dashing through the room - that's Lil Miss A and her cousin Sweet Baby E, playing some wild game. Hilarious!

That's Barry, Wayne, Ro and Miss B. They were looking at the photos Barry has on his Mac.

The cabin from the front yard. Love that porch.

Mark and Kathleen's House: Before and After

I don't even remember when Mark and Kathleen Hidingout started their remodel project. I think it was last fall but I'm not positive. It might have been longer than that. Anyway, I took this photo just before the work began:


And here is the house now. How adorable is that?



And did you know that they make vinyl siding in colors as interesting as that New England-y blue? I didn't. I read up on it a bit and learned that it used to be they couldn't make deep pigments for vinyl that would hold up to the elements, but now they are doing better with it. The siding Mark and Kathleen chose looks like old boards that have been painted a few times, when you look at it close up.

They added on to the back of the house, redid the crumbling front porch, and remodeled the kitchen. It's a lovely family home now. It wasn't bad before, but I really like what they did. Again it was the marvelous Frog and Wonder who did most of the work. When they do a remodel, they don't just do what you ask, they make great suggestions to make it better. The cabinet work was done by John Pitts. I have mentioned him on this blog before. He's Allamakee County's secret weapon, and no, you can't have him.

First Day of School 2008-2009

Miss B is entering her senior year of high school, Lil Miss A is a third grader, and Master K is in the 9th grade. For the first time in several years I do not have a child in each of the 3 schools in the district.

The elder two were both tense this morning, keyed up about how the year would start off. The little one was keyed up too, but for the opposite reason: She couldn't wait to go to school! I almost had to tie her down to keep her from leaving the house before 8:10, the absolute earliest I would let her leave. We rode our bikes to school together and she zoomed into the building and bounced off the walls a few times on her way to her classroom. School is so great. :o) I'm not one of those moms who can't wait for her kids to go back to school in the fall. I admit enjoying the quiet house, but it's really TOO quiet. I miss the kids! Yet Lil Miss A's enthusiasm is infectious, and I found myself with a giant grin on my face, watching her bouncing into her classroom, anxious to learn.

Her teacher this year was Master K's teacher in 3rd grade (I think it was 3rd) as well, so we know her pretty well, plus she is the daughter-in-law of our kitty-corner neighbors, so she feels like family for that reason. That's life in a small town!

Allamakee County Barn Quilt Project

Ever heard of the Iowa Barn Quilt Project? That link will get you started, then Google for more. Lots of counties have started this. I think Garnavillo claims to be the first. Fayette County has really run with it. Anyway, my friend Kathleen Hidingout wants to get one going in Allamakee County, and what better place to start than...

... at home?

Kathleen doesn't actually have a barn, but she wasn't about to let a silly detail like that slow her down. That's her giant garage there, with two wooden quilt blocks on the side.



I was supposed to do mine this summer too, but haven't. Barry said he will pick up some treated plywood for me one of these days. Mine will be just 4 by 4 feet; most of the Fayette County blocks are at least 8 feet square, so they aren't out of scale on a barn and can be seen from the nearest highway. Ours will go on the side of our garage. We need to take the New Albin Yacht Club sign down temporarily anyway, as it needs some restoration work, so I think we'll put the block there and put the NAYC sign somewhere else.

My block will be Indian Canoes. I'm going to use the deep blue paint left over from Master K's bedroom floor, offset by cream colored paint that matches our house trim. Here's a mockup.

Catching Up

Shortly after we started on our vacation, my laptop quit recognizing the AC charger, and my battery quickly ran out, so boom, I'm without my principal computer again. I still had limp-along Internet access with my work computer and Barry's iBook, but it's just not the same. Upon returning home, I contacted Dell and sneaked the repair under the last 60 days of my 3-year on-site next-business-day warranty. "Next business day" translated into "Three days later," but I did get a new motherboard last night - and boy does it feel good to have my 'puter back!

Now I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. The next few posts will be in no particular order, I'm afraid.

Hooooome!

A vacation is wonderful. So is coming home from vacation.

Finished by Friday: Yellow and Green Quilt Top

I pieced this quilt top this week at the cabin on Lake Huron. Veeerrrrryyyyy limited internet access so I'm just uploading the picture and I'll finesse this post later.

Finished by Friday: Block #1 of Judy's Star BOM

I'm in a pine-paneled cabin in the UP, with tired, crabby children and a sick husband (vacations! yay!), BUT I pieced Block #1 of Judy Laquidara's Star Block-of-the-Month project. It's pwetty! I'm very happy now with my fabrics. I wasn't so sure before.

I hand pieced it, and I don't have an iron, so it's rather rumply at the moment. I'm hoping I can press it out flat.