and the Other Thing!

We've finished harvesting our thimbleberries. These bags of *red gold* are taking a time out in the freezer - joyfully anticipating the day when they'll be made into the best jam in the world! I did something new and special with some of them this year. Look for that in an upcoming post.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

That. . .

It's tomato time! We're harvesting about a dozen of these beauties every day.

Now that you've seen "This" and "That,"
stay tuned for "and the Other Thing."

All is well in the Keweenaw.

This. . .

Moon through the treetops.

Stay tuned for "That."

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Nuts Since 1904

Hello! Time to share my Peanut Pillow Project. You may or may not remember that I had a burlap peanut sack hanging on the back of our Amish bench in the garage entry/laundry room. I mentioned it in one of my June patriotic posts and said that I thought it wanted to be made into a pillow. Well, the peanut sack screamed at me loudly enough the other day that I finally made the pillow. 

Truthfully, I put it off until now because I hadn't decided how I was going to complete the top edge of the pillow. I had thought about sewing the top edge completely shut or maybe folding over the top edge and securing it with a button. Then, a random thought about the peanut pillow popped into my brain the other day when I wasn't even thinking about anything remotely related to decor. (Funny how that happens.) It's a peanut sack, so why not simply tie it shut?  #LightBulbMoment.

I gathered my supplies: The sack. . .

the twine. . .

and the polyester fiber fill for stuffing.

I washed the sack back in June, so I simply stuffed it with the fiber fill. . .

and tied it shut after wrapping the twine around the top about a dozen times.

It can't get any easier than that.

The Peanut Pillow is resting comfortably back on the Amish bench right now. . .

but I'm not promising it's going to stay there. It will probably begin screaming at me again when it wants to move around the house.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Changing Lights

The longest day of the year was 2 months ago, and we're losing about 3 minutes of daylight per day at this time of year in the Keweenaw. I was thinking about that as I sat in the great room at 7:30 last night and noticed the sun had just slipped behind the treetops.

There was still too much light streaming in through the wall of windows to make a lamp necessary, but the light was changing nonetheless. Before we know it, the light switch for the dining area will need to be in the *on* position when we're eating dinner.

You may have caught a few glimpses of another light change in my posts in the last month or so. We purchased 2 new matching lamps for the great room.

We walked into a furniture store in Hancock in July to look for some new chairs for the great room. My eyes were almost immediately (like within 30 seconds) drawn to some lamps displayed with one of the furniture groupings near the door.

Oh, the burlap shade. . .

the pebble-textured glass base in sort of a smokey gray hue. . .

and the wire wrapped around the glass - sort of like chicken wire.

The wire pattern was similar to the pattern on the rattan rope pendant hanging above our stair landing.

I fell in love - right then and there - and my darling husband said I could have them. Well, the lamps were so new to their inventory they didn't have price tags on them, so I didn't know how much they cost, and I didn't really *need* new lamps. I already had other lamps in the great room, but I was never really satisfied with them after moving to this house. The scale wasn't right for this larger living area. The gal who was helping us had to go look up the price, so I had time to think about it.

Score! The price was great, and Steve insisted we get them. I finally agreed - IF - and only IF - Steve would consider this my anniversary gift (even though our anniversary isn't until October 1st). 

We walked out of the store with 2 new lamps and some fabric samples. 

We returned the samples the following week and ordered 2 new chairs. One will replace the chair & ottoman that matches our sofa. The sofa is still in good shape, but the chair & ottoman are quite worn. The other chair will replace the brown recliner you can see in the first photo on this post. That recliner was in the Calumet house when we bought it, but it was like new, so we decided to use it for a while. It's not really that comfortable, though, so it was time for an upgrade. Besides, Steve "really needs" something that swivels. He says his neck gets sore when watching the wildlife outside!

I'll throw you an update when the new chairs arrive. It may be a few weeks yet.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

57 Years Ago

57 years ago today, my big brother was born. Here's a throwback photo of us from the 60's.

Happy Birthday to Dale - a great big brother who somehow managed to turn into a fine man.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

UPDATE: 5:00 p.m.
Guess I probably shouldn't have cropped my little bro out of the photo. Danny's the little guy with the baggy drawers.

All is still well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

On the Clips-Board: EAT

I like some of those rustic signs that say "EAT," but I wouldn't really care to have one hanging in my kitchen all the time. 

E-A-T works just fine as a message on my frequently-changed Clips-Board, however.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Being Watched

Did you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?

I was in the kitchen on Saturday - working to get dinner on the table - and I suddenly felt like someone - or something - was watching me.

Well, hello there!

We actually had 2 visitors. The twins were back! 

I'm sure their mother wasn't far away, but we didn't see her. They stayed quite a while as I was moving about getting everything on the table and even after we sat down to eat - such beautiful creatures created by the Lord. Nice dinnertime entertainment, huh?

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Strollin'

Yep, just out for an evening stroll.

(Sorry about the spotted windshield.) Too bad we couldn't photograph the bear that ran directly in front of us on Brockway Mountain Drive later that night. He/she didn't seem to be in any particular hurry either!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Copper Harbor 5th - Heading Home

This is the last post in my series detailing our annual Independence Day celebration in Copper Harbor. 

We slept well after the fireworks show and awoke to another gorgeous Keweenaw morning - documented by more photos from the deck door of our motel room - going from left to right. 

Marty & Donna had to leave early since Donna had to work that day, but we enjoyed a more leisurely morning down in room 25. Steve packed everything into the Traverse. . .

and we checked out just before 10 a.m.

We stopped down at the boardwalk along the waterfront to take one last look at the harbor.

I snapped a few shots from the railing. The rocks on the bottom can be clearly seen through the water.

We usually see ducks or geese swimming around the harbor - even an occasional loon. It was just one duck that morning.


I'm no duck expert, but I believe that's a female mallard.

She seemed in no hurry to go anywhere; neither were we.

After breathing in some more of that fresh Lake Superior air, we headed back toward Copper Harbor's main intersection where Hwy. 26 meets Hwy. 41 and parked near the Tamarack Restaurant. We decided it was a good morning for breakfast out.

Our once-a-year motel neighbors were also there, and breakfast was good. Steve decided he wanted to go across the street to the gift shop to see a lantern I had mentioned to him. I had seen it the day before, but I really wanted 2 the same color (for our future fireplace mantel). They had 1 blue, 1 green and 1 red. Since we usually try to buy something decorative for the house while we're in Copper Harbor every year, he insisted we go back to the gift shop to see if they could find another one. 

The gal in the shop looked around and said she didn't have 2 of the same color, but the owner was in her other shop down the hill. She thought there may be a second one down there, but she wasn't sure which color. So we trotted down the hill to the other shop to talk to the owner. She said she didn't have one down there, but she was sure she had more up at the first shop. She offered to check the basement and then meet us back upstairs at the first shop. A short while later, she came upstairs and seemed surprised that she couldn't find any in the basement, but she wasn't ready to give in. After looking around the shop a bit, she found one stashed away in a box. It was green. So, we took the one she had just found and the green one that had been hanging in the shop, and we had our 2 matching lanterns. I don't have the fireplace mantel yet, but I have the lanterns! In the meantime, one is resting comfortably holding a battery-operated candle on our front porch.

Now, it was time to leave Copper Harbor and head for home. 

We chose to leave via Hwy. 26 as it follows the shoreline much of the way.

We stopped at Esry Park to check the straps on the golf cart and snapped a few more scenic photos while there.

Less than 10 minutes later, we were approaching Eagle Harbor, and I got a quick shot of the lighthouse in the distance.

10 more minutes. . . and we were home.

Chloe even showed up to welcome us home that evening.

If you ever want a unique July 4th experience, book a trip to Copper Harbor. I know it's not Philadelphia, Boston, DC or some other place in America that would normally come to mind when thinking about celebrating Independence Day; but for some reason, being in Copper Harbor over the 4th feels like a very American thing to do. That may be because it feels like you've stepped back in time while you're there - to a simpler time in a simpler place that never changes very much.

All is well in the Keweenaw.