Drummond Island, Michigan

We just got back from a relaxing weekend on Drummond Island.  It is an absolutely beautiful place!  We stayed at a nice cottage right on lake Huron from Saturday night to Wednesday morning.  Charlie and I went fishing (we didn't do too bad either -- some rock bass, sunfish and a pike).  We went exploring the island and saw some amazing wildlife!

The deer were so mellow that they would just stand there and let you take photos.  Here is my favorite one.....

We also saw a bald eagle fly over and a couple of bears swimming in a pond we were fishing in.  That was really cool!  

I also spent some quality time with my family.  We played games in the evenings and cooked most of our meals together.  We went out to eat on my Birthday too.  

My favorite part was just sitting on the porch swing enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the birds singing... and dreaming about it being my way of life all the time.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Today I got in to work only to find that they had granted my vacation day request.  I wish they had told me before I drove into town, but I guess I can't complain too much.  It is just gorgeous today.  I went down to Yasmeen's and bought some hummus to bring on vacation and then headed back home.  

I decided to take some wilted lettuce out to the chickens and cut some fresh lettuce out of the garden.  Those chickens just love green veggies!  Sometimes I'll stand out there and pick handfuls of grass for them because they have picked every last piece they can reach from the fence.  I took a few photos and got one that I just love!  

I also took a few in the garden....

Then I sat out in the sun a while and started sanding the varnish off of a shelf that I am going to re-finish.  Well, I'm gonna give it a try.

When I downloaded the photos into my computer I looked up from my desk and saw a deer across the field from where I was at earlier.  I love the country!  Now if only I could get all of my friends and family within 20 minutes of me (or vice versa)....

Last Weekend

I've been pretty busy lately trying to get ready to go on vacation this next weekend.  I'm so excited to get a little relaxation time.  I just wanted to do a quick blog about last weekend.  

I took my cat Sassy to Grand Rapids so that she can be taken care of while we go on vacation.  She hates riding in cars!  I guess most cats do though. 

 

I got to spend some time with Dawn and Corryn on Friday night.  We had a good time just talking and drinking coffee (insanely strong coffee) and eating pie.  

The next morning I went with Mom and Dad to a beautiful garden and we walked around a while.  Then Mom and I went to some of our favorite spots and shopped a while.  Everlasting Blooms was having a clearance sale on some of their stuff -- we just love that store!   

  

After that I went to the Avenue for the Arts Market that Jen had a booth at.  I tried to help out but I had to leave shortly after I got there.  She sold some tie-dye for me (what an awesome friend -- love ya Jen!) and she had some really cool hand made goods too.

 

So, then I had to zip back home and meet up with a few girls from work.  Then after that I met up with Charlie at some of our other friends' house.  We got home fairly late and I was exhausted.

Sunday we went to a graduation open house and then over to Charlie's parents for Father's Day.  It was all pretty hectic last weekend.

Now I'm midway through the week and trying to figure out when I'm going to get everything done before vacation.  I have to get groceries and pack up everything and...  Phew!  I didn't know relaxation took so much preparation!  

Stormy Weather

Wow!  It has been pretty crazy in Michigan lately.  It seems like storm after storm have come rolling through with nice hot muggy weather in between.  

We had a pretty bad storm on Friday night and I ended up staying at work for extra hours due to power outages.  For those that don't know, I work in a call center for one of the major utility companies in Michigan.  On Sunday, Charlie and I were watching a movie and when the movie was done we noticed it was getting dark out.  It was only 4pm though.  Charlie decided to put away the lawn chairs and I decided to cut some lettuce from the garden before the rain hit.  I walked out the door and about 50 feet to the garden and then saw lightning. I turned around to see the other side of the sky that I couldn't see when I first stepped out of the house.  I saw very scary skies and the trees across the street were waving wildly and bowing over in my direction.  A split second later I got hit with a face-full of dirt and was almost blown off my feet.  A second after that I got pelted by a wall of rain flying horizontally.  Charlie and I ran back to the door and as soon as we got there we heard a huge crack from the top of the tree breaking off.  Luckily it was not a tornado - although we were ready to run to the basement.  We lost a lot of trees in the area and a electric pole down the street.  I've just never had a storm sneak up on me like that!  It was intense.

I thought for sure they would call me in to work, but my phone never rang.  I think our cell tower must have been out, because I noticed I had a message when I went to bed that night from work.  Oops.  It never rang though.  Storms are always a blast at work.  People call in wanting to charge us money for their lost food or for the hotel that they chose to go to.  I don't think that they understand the meaning of "act of God" and that they should check with their home owners insurance.  We had nothing to do with creating the tornado that ripped out your trees and our lines.  Some people just don't get it though.  Hopefully soon all the power will be back up and everyone can just call and complain about their bills like normal.  

Another Saturday

I love Saturday!  It is my favorite day of the week.  Today I got up and checked out my little garden.  Things are coming along pretty well so far.  Here is a picture of about half of the garden.  It's lettuce, parsley, snow peas, brussels sprouts and onions (front to back).  

Then I went to the farmer's market to check things out there.  Not too much yet.  Mostly just lettuce and rhubarb (which I get for free at home) and plants for sale along with the soap, honey, and bakery place.  I thought about buying some basil but then I realized I had left my money in the car.  Maybe next time.

Then I had to go to work for some training.  While I was in town I decided to go to Walmart.  I really can't stand that place, but I had heard there were some nice blouses there for cheap.  I didn't have any luck with that.  I did splurge on the new Lego Indiana Jones game for my DS.  I have the star wars one and it is really fun.  I always feel bad for spending time playing video games, but sometimes I just need to escape reality for a while.  

Charlie is on his way home right now.  I'm not sure what else will happen today.  It is just so darn hot and humid right now.  I need to cut some lettuce out of the garden and I should do some laundry at some point this weekend.  We have a couple of movies we could watch.  Or we could enjoy the "free" air conditioning at the casino (although we shouldn't).  I'm glad tie-dye was last weekend and not this one.  It would have been way too miserably warm for that.  Here is a photo of me I just shot on my Mac.  

Tie Dye Weekend

This past weekend I went to Grand Rapids to do a batch of tie-dye with Jen and Rich.  I wasn't real thrilled with how the stuff I dyed turned out, but it was a really fun time.  I was experimenting with stitching the design into the fabric rather than folding the fabric and that didn't really work for me.  

Anyway, I got to spend lots of time with Rich and Jen and the girls and I got to see Jenna and her family.  I also made two new friends -- Rachel and Jane.  Making new friends is something that doesn't happen for me very often, so it was cool.  Rachel is staying with Rich and Jen for a while (originally from Portland, OR) and is interested in intentional community too.  Oh, and she can bake a mean gluten-free brownie!  Jane is the hippie-est chick I have met since I traveled around with the Rainbow Family.  It turns out that we went to the same Church growing up and I even went to Brazil with her brother and to Spain with her sister.  It is a small world.  

We did a bunch of tie dye on Saturday - until evening.  Rich made an awesome vegetable curry for dinner!  Then we hung on the porch until it got too cold and we went inside.  I got back to my folks house pretty late, but I still got up in the morning to go to breakfast with my Mom and Dad.  It is becoming a tradition for us to go out on Saturday or Sunday morning on the weekends I visit.  Then I packed up and headed back to the Holshoe house to rinse out the tie-dye.  The weekend flew by and I didn't get to see Amy or Dawn like I had wanted.  :(

Jen is going to try to sell some of our stuff at the Farmer's Market in Grand Rapids.  What doesn't sell there will probably go up on Etsy.com so be looking for future posts about how to find our "store".  What?  You've never been to Etsy.com?!?  Well, you should check it out!  It is only the coolest place on the internet for a crafter who wants to quit their day-job and just create full-time.  -sigh-