How we party at Michigan Wineries

Beautiful fall day at the Harvest Stompede on the Leelanau peninsula in MI.  Ellen Morgan, Suzanne Dahl and I did a girls day tasting and eating paired foods.  Yum.

Kinesio tape

Well I went for some help with bursitis in my rt hip and tendonitis in my left wrist and I got the full physical therapy treatment including this tape.  Only could take a photo of the wrist, a hip shot would have been too risqué.

Cute cuddling cats

I can't get enough photos of my two girls, Cocoa and Carmen this summer.

In 1950 at St. Joseph's hospital in Flint Michigan, they identified new babies with a small bracelet that was made of tiny letter beads.  I found this at the lake and had an adult version made.

Corvette Crossroads at Mackinaw 2104

The old red girl made it another year to Mackinaw for the vette party. We crossed the bridge with 250 cars of all years.

Mike and 

suzanne at the Flint Northern 64 50th reunion, Atlas Valley CC

Today I have over 50 tomatoes waiting to ripen, more than I can use or think of new recipes to use them in!  I am harvesting 3 a day.

Here is a Michigan "sweet" onion.  HUGE for $1.

Big corvette fun. Twenty five cars rode up the leelanau peninsula to Suttons Bay and the garage of former GM VP Joe Spielman.  He owns a number of vetted and was instrumental in convincing GM to continue to make the cars when they wanted to exit the brand in the 80's.  His "garage" is huge, heated floors, moisture protection, well lighted, totally finished off with a bath and smallish living space.

This is a shot of the plants today.  On the top is a cherry style, high producing plant.  I am harvesting 5-8 a day.  The other is 2 plants, an early girl just starting to produce and the patio which is hard to see but had given us 3-4 tomatoes so far.  All good!

Time for fun on the lake

Proof of summer!!!  Cobalt out in the lake, just taking in the sun.

My garden in July.

My garden is in full bloom.  Mostly native MI plants that love the soil and sun.  They also love to throw off babies so I don't have to buy more each year.

Blue Angels in Traverse City

A hard to catch shot of the Angels in flight over the west bay of Traverse City.  Fun to watch.

My office on the lake

We have only had a few nice days but here I am working ( with a cocktail ) one evening on the new Cobalt 220S.  Pretty nice and way better than an actual office.

It is a bit lazy at the lake for some people and cats.  Me, I am busy with my flowers and garden.  I made chimichurri sauce,  and a pesto sauce from my herbs. I am trying to cut a few flowers for indoor enjoyment before I start buying glads at the market. I will pick strawberries at least once more and raspberries are due soon.  I don't pick cherries but they are about to be ripe in a week or two.

I wish we could send some of the rain here to CA where they want it!  Not many boating days due to winds or rain or both. We want to enjoy the new boat and hoping the summer will come soon.

Mosquitos biting like crazy, they love the wet weather and us.

Getting ready for the 4th with parade and fireworks in Frankfort, Blue Angels in TC.

strawberry season

I picked these today in Beulah.

Here is shot of the sand dunes and Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.  About 20 min from us.

Here are some nice photos of my natural Michigan garden.  Most of these are natives and they are just starting to bloom in June. I can't remember the names or find the paperwork of course but they are pretty either way.  The thing with natives is they throw off babies and now my yard is filling with various shoots all over the yard. I have been moving some or just removing some.  Fun to see what will bloom and when.

June 2014,  Joyce and John visiting from CA. Fun at Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes and the new boat on Crystal Lake.

Ok back to tomatoes.  This is the 2014 crop. On the left is a patio waterfall cherry which already had some small fruit and know has about 20.  Nursery says it can produce 600 tomatoes!  In the middle is a Early Girl, very small.  On the right is another patio but a bit larger fruit.
I am also trying another jalapeño, some mini basil and parsley.  I also planted mesclun and cilantro.
Check out the new planter, raised bed, cedar and fancy red cages.  I am upscaling!

Mike's Beta Theta Pi brother and his wife Joyce visited for a few days and we toured the area.  Here we are at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan.  Luckily we are too smart and too old to climb the dunes!

How Asparagus grows

We have a great farm that just grows asparagus and it is in full harvest.  Wonderful in omelets, in pasta with morels and cream or just steamed.  I actually learned to steam them without making them "mushy" as Mike so kindly insinuated.

Welcome to blog 2014, Michigan summer.
We got here early and NOTHING was blooming due to late cold and snow. So now I get the pleasure of seeing all the spring flowers like these trillium.  They grow in the woods all over here. See don't pick because as cousin Judy will attest they smell like wet cement in the house. (circa 1967)