Time Flies

When OSLO and the Grands headed home this evening, OSLO hugged TT, NCW and PP. She told them good-bye, and that she'd see them in Minnesota in a few weeks. I was startled -- their time here has slipped by so quickly, and it didn't seem possible that she was telling them good-bye so soon.

It has been the longest stretch of fog drenched weather that I can remember during our years here -- if it lasts much longer we will all need to learn to speak with an English accent.  Before we left the state park we stopped to get a photo of the board that displays the water temperature as well as giving an explanation of what the various flag colors mean.

Just so you know, today's flag color was green, meaning it was  OK to swim.  Unless 42 degrees sounds too cold.

Feels Like September

Some fun was had here today, I think.  PP did some paddleboarding this morning, and watched the fog banks roll in while she was out on the lake.  She was careful not to fall in -- the water's cold again.

And yes,  today's high temperature along the lakeshore was 66.  Two degrees warmer than yesterday's high.  OSLO and the Grands were here for a while this afternoon, to take PP back to their town for some Coast Guard Festival festivities.  They were all hard core enough to spend time on the beach but none of them got wet.  58 degree water is pretty dang cold.

Left to ourselves, the gang of geezers ate supper at a restaurant tonight. Later we grabbed our sweatshirts and took a walk to Tunnel Park.  This time we went down the street to the park gate, then up the stairs hidden in the woods to the top of the dune.  The fog bank prevented any hope of a sunset yet again. It was a pretty nice day in several ways, it just didn't seem much like July.

At what point does chilly become COLD?

The morning walk didn't happen today, and since my guests were entertaining themselves and each other at a tennis court, I took a bike ride.  I didn't go far -- it was not quite 60 degrees, with a north wind that had a bite to it.  A dozen miles or so, a ride for the health benefits only.

Buff as a headband, windbreaker over long sleeved shirt, long fingered gloves -- it was definitely chilly.  Still, when TT asked how my ride went, my response was  "invigorating."  Shopping broke out and took up a big chunk of the afternoon.   Late in the afternoon PP headed for the beach, returning a while later and declaring it to be too chilly to swim.  She eventually channeled some of her excess energy into making us her signature sweet potato pie.

 

In this photo she has the pie recipe open in one window of her computer, she's playing Irish music in the background, while dancing a jig and holding a bottle of vanilla in one hand. While the pie was cooling, the four of us decided we were up for a walk to Tunnel Park.  Or so we thought.  We didn't go far before declaring the venture to be foolhardy -- or maybe even insane.

It wasn't really even that anyone was under-dressed -- after all it's late July.  Long pants, sweatshirts -- if that isn't warm enough, it isn't chilly, it's too dang COLD.  We retreated to the neighborhood streets for our walk,  followed by a small sampling of the most excellent sweet potato pie.  We're hoping for a change in the weather.

Traditions

OSLO and her children (well, young adults) arrived here yesterday to help me prepare for a visit from "the family."  Bed linens were changed, grass was mowed, the stairs to the beach were cleared of weeds and wild grape vine.  They also acted as a welcoming committee when our visitors arrived.  Very cool.

A walk to Tunnel Park on their first evening here is traditional with these visitors from the west.  It gave them a good chance to see how much the beach has changed in the year or so since they were last here.  Water levels are up nearly 3 feet since February of 2013.

A run down the sand dune by the three youngest.  Notice the two sweatshirts and a long sleeve shirt.

The Prairie Princess sitting on the top of the Parthenon.  Another tradition.  Freshly washed blueberries sit  on the counter, and the Prairie Princess is snacking on some Crunch 'n Munch.  We do have a lot of traditions.

Coping with the Heat

That mid-day sun was really nasty today.  We'd been warned about temperatures and humidity that are unsafe for the elderly,  it was a clean air action day, and there were probably other warnings as well.  An early morning bike ride was my plan for getting some exercise in spite of all this.  They can even be enjoyable, once I get myself out the door.  It took me until about 8:15 this morning, so not bad.  LH rode along, and the morning light was really nice.  It was a short ride, only a dozen miles, but way better than zero. The breeze was light and by the time I got home, it was only 74 degrees.  So, except for the lack of photos, I'm calling it a success.  I did feel a little under exercised by this evening though, and decided a loop around the neighborhood on foot would fit in nicely.  The neighborhood message board had this on it:

I believe we saw a few of these in St. Paul last year.

It looks like we're not the only ones anticipating a summer reading festival.

When A and T and B were here last week we walked past this spot a few times, and every time it made B laugh.

Serious Bikers

Today was the 40th year for the Holland Hundred bike ride/race. I've done the half option a few times, quite a few years ago. (It's a metric hundred, so I rode the 32 mile/50 kilometer route.) I'd venture a guess that most of the serious local bikers were doing that ride today. Since I'm not really a serious biker any more, I felt absolutely no urge to join them. They headed east out of the south end of town -- and since we had a light wind from the northwest, I rode north.  For a weekend, the roads were pretty empty.

Today was the day I decided to have a pig. One of these a year is plenty.  It may even be overdoing it.  Ketchup seems mandatory.   (I found a website that claims that these have 788 calories and 40 grams of carbs.  Without the ketchup.  Seems unlikely, but it is a sobering thought.)

The roads were empty of bicycles, but not of motorcycles -- there were a bunch of them in and out of the PSPS while I was there.  Muskegon's summer events includes something called Bike Time, and it was today.  I rode a little further east before making the turn for home, so that I could check out 160th to see if the cardinal flowers were blooming yet.  Nope.   If the weather forecasts for the coming week are accurate, I won't be doing much biking for a while.  They're calling for high humidity and a temperatures around 90, with storms arriving midweek to break the heat.  Still, I've ridden three days in a row, something I seldom do these days, and I'm ready for a few days off.

Walk, Bike, Nap?

That's my idea of a triathlon.  Walk after breakfast, bike after lunch, go lie down.  This morning LH and I walked as far as Tunnel Park, using the streets rather than the beach.  The lake was calm with a light wind from the south east.

I read somewhere recently that when the wind is from the south, one should ride into the city.  That works here, too.

I crossed the bridge at the usual spot, passing underneath the bridge.  It smells really bad there -- it looked like boats were working at cleaning up a spill of some sort.  I caught the new connector path through Window on the Waterfront Park, which is clearly marked "Walk Bicycles."  I did not, I should have, but no harm was done.  I managed to keep the rubber side down.

The old windmill is the most memorable landmark in this city, and the best view of it -- without riding out to the island -- is from a little park that may be part of Window on the Waterfront Park, or it may be part of Freedom Village, a retirement center of sorts.  This was also my turn around spot, more or less.

I couldn't pass up a chance to add to the series of photos of benches.  These four all had a nice view of De Zwaan, which translates from the Dutch as The Windmill (Edit:  I don't know where I read that.  Wiki says it means "the swan").  The ride back was uneventful, except for being flagged down by two women bikers who had lost their friend -- she'd apparently missed the ramp that goes under the bridge that crosses the Black River.  The incident was notable only because while one woman was asking if I'd seen their companion, the other one was complimenting me on what she referred to as my outfit.  I found the lost woman on the other side of the bridge, on the wrong side of the street.  I let the three of them figure out what to do about their problem.  Only 15 miles, but it seemed longer.  Rides into town always do.

Shades of Light Purple

This week has been light on bicycle miles, but I finally got out for a little ride today.  I got a late start, due to a conspiracy by the Universe, but it was a nice enough ride.  A tour de neighborhoods, mostly.  LH rode along (on my old Bianchi -- she's planning to get her bike fixed, but the Universe isn't cooperating with her either).  My camera just came along for the ride, so I am including a few photos that I've taken at other times this month that look okay to me.  I've been playing with the settings on my camera, trying to get better photos in low light.  The first two were taken on evening walks around the hood, the last one just before sunset tonight.

200th Birthday

No, the title isn't a typo -- or even a math error.  Today my walking group celebrated its  200th birthday (that will be our combined ages, once we cycle through our upcoming birthdays).  In another odd coincidence, our birth dates occur within  a 7 day stretch.  Our waitress at the restaurant (Snug Harbor on the waterfront in Grand Haven, for the locals) took our photo.  Sorry I look so tired, but I am the oldest, by quite a bit, so I've sort of earned it.

It was too cold and windy to walk the boardwalk outside of the restaurant, so after lunch we spent some time browsing through a really interesting and unusual antique store in Spring Lake.  ( At least one penny farthing, several old canoes, vintage motorcycles, to name just a few things there that are not found at your typical antique shop.) The weather had improved a bit by the time we left and we finished our afternoon with a hike through Hofma Park on the south side of Grand Haven.

The park is almost all wooded, but the trails all eventually lead to a boardwalk and floating bridge over a creek that drains into the Pottawatomie Bayou.  There are miles of trails through the woods, but they are mostly pretty well marked.  We never got lost and spotted several plants and fungi that we'd never seen before.

We'll never be 200 again.  Probably once is enough.  We had fun.

Time Flies

The photo pretty much tells the story. Our guests loaded up the car and left for home this morning. They planned a stop for blueberries and, I believe, a stop at an A&W. We sure enjoyed having them here. I hope they had a good time, too.

We'll see them again soon in Minnesota.

Traditions

Tonight's sunset was a classic. We try to arrange to have at least one really nice sunset for every visitor -- it's kind of a tradition.

It was a nice family day. OSLO and the Grands spent some quality time on the beach with some of the Minnesota relatives. We had a taco supper around 6:00 with 10 people at the table -- I invited LH to eat with us, and OSLO's fiance joined us after work -- then later most of us took the traditional walk around the neighborhood. Yet a different subset of the group headed out for a (traditional) late night ice cream run, while a few of us stayed behind and watched the sunset. I love summer.

Welcome Visitors

Sometimes, if you're lucky -- and ask nicely -- people will travel long distances, past big cities, through road construction and such, and pay you a visit.  That happened here today, as many of you know, and I thought you'd like to know that they arrived safe and sound.  Photographic evidence.

It is good to have them here.  OSLO and her crew will arrive tomorrow, and I expect the fun to increase exponentially.  Speaking of fun, before they arrived I took the Allez north for a little bit.

The ride was suggested by the owner of the Raleigh.  She was willing to bike up to one of my favorite turn around spots -- the one where the river bends --

and the road ends.

My legs were tired by the time I got back, but I rallied enough to take a walk with my guests after supper.  Twice around the big loop, or just a touch over 2 miles.  Add that to a 19 mile bike ride and our morning walk of 2.5 miles, and it would be fair to say I'm knackered.   It's a good kind of knackered, though.

Delayed Posting of a Three Bike Story

Yesterday afternoon, before the celebratory dinner with OSLO and her fiance, I took a nice ride up the lake shore to Kouw Park.  You can't beat the view from the top of the stairs, and it was as nice a day as you'll find here this time of year.  The winds off the water were cool, but directly from the west.  No possibility of a headwind.

For the first time in a while, I was riding Ruby.  The ride is just a bit over 14 miles, so no problems to speak of with bending and stretching for the brakes and shifters.

She is a pretty thing.  The motivation for riding Ruby instead of the Allez was that I was riding with two other people, LH and her daughter, whom I will call LV (because those are her initials, of course).

LV, as I may have mentioned, is visiting her Mom this week.  She rode the Allez.  It was the second time she'd ridden it  -- I lent it to her earlier in the week for a family ride to avoid having her ride a folding bike.  She liked the bike.

And since LH has not yet gotten the shifter on her bike repaired, she borrowed my Bianchi Boardwalk.   (Think TRAM 1.)  She liked the bike.  As LV commented when we returned all three of the bikes to my garage/bike room -- bike rides courtesy of Sylvia's Outfitters.  A good time was had by all. (And thanks to all for the congratulatory messages for OSLO and her fiance on yesterday's post.  I think she's seen them, but I'll make sure that she does.)

Celebration Dinner

My sweet and lovely daughter returned from Florida with some news for us all.  Her significant other/boyfriend is now her fiance.  He proposed on their vacation and she accepted.

We had dinner together this evening to hear the news in person from the happy couple.  Her Dad and I are pleased -- like most parents, it makes us feel good to see that smile on her face.

The announcement process is nearly complete, with most of the immediate family members, parents and children having been informed of the news -- and I think you'll see something on her Facebook page fairly soon.  The Grands were with us all at dinner tonight, and as expected, they want their Mom to be happy, and are pleased for her.

They are still working on plans for a wedding, and want to take some time to figure out what how they want to do it.  As OSLO said at dinner, "I just want to do this for a while --"

Independence Day with Dogs, No Kraut, No Mustard.

Living in a cottage community can be quirky.  Every year on the 4th of July, the neighborhood organizes a parade.  When the Grands were young, OSLO and I used to help them decorate their bikes and do the parade route with them.  Eventually we all became spectators instead of participants, and for the last few years the Grands have timed their arrival here for the holiday for after the parade, to miss the traffic jam it causes on the hill.  I'm fine with this progression -- I enjoy standing at the end of my driveway with my neighbors and cheering on the cars, golf carts, lawnmowers, bicyclists, baby stroller pushers, walkers and dog walkers as they pass by.  Some years there are more people in the parade than there are spectating.

This year was Big Red's first 4th of July here -- and somehow -- I'm not sure how -- our morning walking group decided to join the parade.  Big Red is wearing a Team USA flag.  I think he was a little embarrassed, but as usual, he was good natured about it.

This is beginning to get out of control.  When my morning walk group showed up this morning, there were two dogs in tow.  LH's daughter is here with her family for the 4th, and they brought the family dog.  She's a gentle herding dog of a breed I can never seem to remember.  We didn't venture far -- once around the big circle, or about a mile.  I had watched the beginning of the TdF before our walk and got back in time to watch some KOM points being accumulated.  I then left for a short bike ride about the time the peloton swept up the last of the break away. It was really pretty in England today.

Topics from the Kitchen Sink

My daughter and her significant other went on a road trip recently, and she sent me the following two photos. The first one was from the night they arrived at the house in Pt. Charlotte and they watched a rain storm roll through over the water.

She didn't say exactly where she was when she decided to share this next one, but I'm guessing Fisherman's Village.  I've eaten key lime pie at a restaurant there, and it looked a lot like this.  I'm wondering if key lime pie can be considered a fruit, because I'm pretty sure I need to eat more fruit.

There have been a few bike rides since my last post, but none that involved a good story.  For example there was an end of the month ride that I took to meet a mileage goal of no particular significance to anyone but me.  I couldn't think of any way to make a bike ride on a windy day into a story worth telling.  I also rode yesterday, but it was another cool and windy ride, and I was pretty cranky when I returned, so that ride report is not showing up here either.  Today's ride featured the first appearance of tiger lilies along the edges of the roads.  These were along 164th.

It's been a week full of appointments of one sort or another here, including two mornings when a plumber arrived at the house shortly after 8 am.  We had two old toilets that were leaky and temperamental, and we now have two new toilets of the "comfort height" variety.  I think I'll skip any further discussion.

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, and expecting the appearance of hordes of tourists that like the big lake and its beaches,  today was my best bet for a quiet ride this weekend.  It was cool for this time of year, but fine for biking.  It was pretty busy at the Port Sheldon Party Store, so maybe I didn't miss the holiday rush after all.