Mackinaw Island & Whitefish Point

Carolyn & I began the day by taking a 7:30 am ferry ride to Mackinac Island. It was probably the roughest ferry ride that I have experienced due to high winds and large waves. We were both glad that the ride to the island only took 16 minutes and that the cabin was enclosed. Tourist season on the island runs for 4 months per year. Of course, we're at the end of this year's season. Everyone was cold today (we were glad that we weren't the only ones). The locals reported that temperatures have dropped significantly over the past few days. Of course, the high winds didn't help the situation.

We learned that it is warm enough to swim in Lake Michigan during August and September. I'm guessing that it's still cold by east coast standards.


We spent the morning exploring Mackinac Island via foot and carriage. Automobiles were prohibited from the island beginning in the early 1900s.

Of course, I had to take the usual flower related photo of rose hips.

Here is an arch that is located in the state park that's located on the island.

Pretty fall colors everywhere.

A view from Fort Mackinaw:

Next, we headed back to the mainland and north to Whitefish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Here's a photo of Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world (between anchorages). Shore to shore is approx 5 miles.

Northern Michigan is very remote and beautiful. It looks like a paradise for people that love the great outdoors and hunting.

Here's an interesting set of directions regarding diving that was part of one of the museum's displays. Would you meet the criteria?

The museum had the bell of the Edmond Fitzgerald on display. Sad story but only one of hundreds of shipwrecks that have occurred in the area.

Here's a quilt made using the Lone Star Quilt pattern that Mom used on her quilt (yes, it was part of an exhibit at the museum). I found the impact that using like colors had on the overall quilt to be interesting.

We visited the shore of Lake Superior. It was windy and cold

with big angry waves (mid 40's). The Edmond Fitzgerald was lost about 17 miles from this point.

An employee at the museum reported that the average temperature of Lake Superior is 38 degrees. Sailing anyone?

Here are a couple of shots:

The stones looked like what I would call river rocks, smooth and round. I didn't have any luck finding any "sea" glass but I'm not sure that it could survive the lake very well. Notice the dark pieces of wood that have washed up on the shore.

Please note that not all of my pictures contain flowers.

After a long day, it's back to Mackinaw City for dinner. Here's the beautiful bridge at night. I was pleased that my camera almost did it justice.

Tomorrow, we're heading south back to northern Indiana and milder weather.

Indiana & Northern Michigan

We arrived on Saturday afternoon. Ended up spending a little more time in Indianapolis than planned but went to a quilt show while there. This one dated back to the Civil War. All of us like the pattern.

Spent some time on Sunday afternoon looking through lots of old photos with Mom, Paul, and Christine. Here's an interesting one that illustrates how sweet and innocent all of us really were (Clean too!). Please note how Carolyn looked up to me even then.

Off to dinner with the family. It's always nice to see and visit with everyone. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to come.

On Monday, Carolyn & I headed for Michigan and found us a couple of Big Boys. It was the best we could do! Carolyn recalled the "Big Boy" piggy bank that she had when she was young. If I remember correctly, it was a gift from Mom and Dad when they went to Nashville leaving us behind.

The fall colors are lovely just like I had hoped with lots of reds. We also enjoyed the tremendous variety of evergreens...like seeing Christmas trees everywhere. Many were such a rich shade of blue/green that they looked as if they had been painted.

The lake looked choppy with lots of waves. At one point today, we even saw people surfing in Lake Michigan. Of course, they had on wet suits. We knew we had arrived in Mackinac City when we saw the towers for the suspension bridge. Upon arrival, advisories were posted due to high winds (65 mph) with speed limits of 20 mph for tractor trailers. We decided to cross the bridge tomorrow and take a ferry over to Mackinac Island (lets hope the winds are calm!!!!).

Pad Thai Inspired Stir Fry

I enjoy Thai food. Two of my favorites are Pad Thai and Thai Fried Rice. This evening, I decided to create a stir fry that included some of my favorite ingredients from both dishes along with lots of other veggies. I stir fried asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, minced garlic, pickled onion, pickled ginger, fresh pineapple, raw cashews, mushrooms, and tofu in 1/2 tsp of chili sesame oil. 1/2 tablespoon of Pad Thai sauce was added. (All of the bold faced items are used in the either Pad Thai or Thai Fried Rice.) I enjoyed the mixture with 1/4 cup of white rice and 1 tbsp chili honey sauce. My need for Thai food was met. Bean sprouts and some fresh lime juice would have been good as a final garnish but I didn't have any readily available.

Thank goodness for vegetable oil spray and non-stick pans. Otherwise, using 1/2 tsp oil to stir fry would not have been possible. I cut the tofu into small strips. After stir frying, they had an interesting chewy texture.

At an estimated 300 calories per serving, my calorie consumption should be much lower than I'd consumed had I ordered from the restaurant.

Eat to Live

I've tried a couple of recipes that I gathered from Karen and from the Moosewood Cookbooks including pickled onions made with slices of purple onions and champagne vinegar, creamy Italian dressing made with tofu, and country chili made with TVP. The pickled onions and dressing were great on a salad made with romaine, green peppers, chopped pepperoncini peppers, chopped kalamata olives, and carrots. I've also decided that fresh spinach is a great addition to lentil soup.

This & That

I'm always thinking about the next quilt project. One of my favorite ways to explore the possibilities is using a program called EQ5 or Electric Quilt.

Here's one of my Electric Quilts:

I identified a quilt block that I wanted to try called Picnic Bouquet. One thing that I've determined is that the next time I use the pattern, I'll make it larger. However, this size did make a nice potholder.I enjoy seeing the garden spiders this time of year. Here's one that's living outside our window. I work with someone that reported that when they were a kid, they called them "writing" spiders.

I also tried to capture a picture of several butterflies (without any luck) over the weekend. I've been on the lookout for butterflies for several weeks now because earlier this summer, my parsley was invaded by about 1/2 dozen tiny black worms with a bright orange stripe. A couple of days later, they had turned into fat bright green and black caterpillars. Then, they disappeared. After searching online, I've decided that they were swallowtail caterpillars given their appearance in addition to the fact that their host plant was parsley. I hope that they turned out beautiful given that the only thing left of the parsley was a bunch of stems. Maybe I'll purchase some more parsley next year and capture the caterpillars on film.

The Quilting Continues

My weekend was consumed with quilting. It's a good thing that it's a relaxing activity. One of the big challenges associated with machine quilting a queen size quilt is getting the quilt rolled tightly so that it will fit in the sewing machine. If you look closely, you can see some of the quilting lines in the back of the quilt. The quilt must be re-rolled each time the direction that is being stitched changes.





The second challenge is controlling the quilt as it moves through the machine. I completed machine quilting the diamond star. I was pleased that I purchased cotton batting from the sewing shop in Raleigh. It was "needle-punched" and much easier to manage that the cotton batting that I've used in the past. The experience makes me wish for a sewing cabinet that would allow the bed of the machine to be set at the same height as the table top. There was a reason that sewing machines in days gone by were sold with cabinets. Do you think Buddy could find a space on his future sailboat for a sewing machine and cabinet? I'm guessing that I best learn to enjoy sewing by hand.



Next, I'll do some free motion quilting in the big squares but am waiting for the special stencil that I ordered to arrive. The good news is that the 84" square of fabric is beginning to resemble a quilt.

Yet Another Quilt Project!

For my latest project, I've committed to completing a quilt that Mom started a couple of years ago. Mom sewed a lot (288 to be exact) of small diamond shaped pieces together to make 8 large diamonds and then retired (at least temporarily from quilt making). She purchased the fabrics using a gift card that Kevin, Debbie and the kids gave her for Christmas a few years ago.

I determined that the light gray paisley background fabric that we originally picked out just didn't do the quilt justice and decided that it was time to find a solution. So, Buddy and LH were nice enough to ride with me to Raleigh on Saturday afternoon so that I could select fabric for the squares and for the border. They hung out and enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant while I went to my favorite fabric store. Hopefully, Mom will like the fabric that I selected on her behalf. I think it looks like a shade of pink that she would like. The border is actually a dark green with pink and cream flowers in it. Dad might appreciate the dark green accent. After a few relaxing evenings, the quilt top is complete but now I've got to actually quilt it, by machine of course. Since it is a queen size quilt at 84 inches square, this will be an adventure. It's the largest quilt that I've tackled.

Here's one more rose that's somehow blooming in the 100 degree weather that we've endured this week. Chosen because it looks like the roses in my wedding photo. One day I plan to use the pixels from some of the flower pictures that I've taken to develop a color scheme for another project. For example, this one might help me choose a lovely pink and cream combination.

Here's my little helper, Capi Lou, carefully monitoring household activities. In her opinion, it would be a tragedy to miss an opportunity for a treat.

Sail Away

I have several quilt tops that are ready to be quilted. Today, I decided that it was time to quilt one that I completed over a year ago. It was constructed using a kit that I purchased at Island Thread Quilt Shop in Pawley's Island, SC when my family gathered nearby for Christmas. The pattern by the Sweet Tea Girls is called Sail-A-Way http://thesweetteagirls.tripod.com/index.html. It is listed as one of their kids quilts...guess I'm just a big kid.
Of course I had lots of help... I put together the quilt sandwich using lots of safety pins to secure the top, batting, and backing together. Now, it's ready to quilt. Look closely to see all of the safety pins.

The lollipop gerber daisy is still blooming. I can never resist taking photos of flowers.
Earlier this summer, I purchased a rose called "Gold metal." It's now blooming for the fifth time. I fell in love with the color since it capture so well my favorite shade of yellow with just a touch of pink. The flowers become creamy white after blooming.

Baby Back Ribs

During one of my trips to Lowe's earlier this spring, I fell for the Mango Lollipop Gerber Daisies. So far, they are doing well even though keeping them watered during the recent heat wave (98 degrees) has been challenging.

I decided to try the receipe for "Sticky Balsamic Ribs" in the July '09 edition of Gourmet magazine.

Following the receipe gave me an opportunity to harvest some rosemary from the plant that Carolyn gave me several years ago.

After lots of chopping, the mixture of garlic, rosemary, salt, balsalmic vinegar and cheyenne pepper was ready. The ribs were coated, covered with foil and placed in the fridge to marinate for 8 hours.

Then they were roasted for 1 3/4 hours in the oven and finished off on the grill.

We enjoyed them with grilled corn on the cob.


The receipe is a keeper.

Vacation on the Chesapeake

Karen finally convinced me to create a blog so that I can share pieces of my life with family and friends...hopefully, things won't get too mundane along with way but I'm not making any promises.

A fantastic view from a swing at a marina along the western shore of the Chesapeake.