Water fun in Michigan sun!

OK, I know I spend a lot of time talking about Cape Cod and the Caribbean, but now I'm living in Michigan. Can't I find fun here? Other than sunset walks and swims, playing with numerous dogs, and hypothetical sunrise walks in the dunes? Well, sure...

Just last weekend, for example, Cynthia and I rented a canoe an hour north of here on Saturday and spent a few hours paddling an estuary/marsh/stream. We saw four or five bald eagles, many turtles (including one we caught as it made a dash through the duckweed), many marsh flowers, and a few fish.

On Sunday. we went for a little sail on Silver Lake on a hobie 16. Not much wind, but so delightful to get out on the water on a sailboat again! Cynthia handled sails and tiller, Tio relaxed, Lucy's ears and fur streamed out behind her as she kept watch, and I acted as official photographer. The dogs REALLY loved the walk on the beach on the far side of the lake, but they enjoyed the sailing as well.

Splicing lines

Many, many years ago, when I was a lad of perhaps eight or ten, I spent a week or two at my paternal grandmother's house and, for the first time, spent some some extended time with my cousins Billy and Ted. I mostly spent time with Billy as he was a bit younger than me and still fun, while Ted seemed absorbed by things suitable for his advanced age (he was a couple year older than me!). However, Ted did show me how to make a few simple splices in three-strand twisted lines and I absolutely delighted in it and use it often to this day.

This last visit to the Cape found "replace mooring buoy" on my list. I purchased the buoy and line and snagged my nephew Alex to show him the ropes. One thing lead to another and we ended up rebuilding the whole upper end of the mooring, with Alex doing most of the splicing.

 

At the end, he even made a dog leash, using a dinghy clip that does not get fouled with sand,

 and thought about setting up a roadside stand to sell them to people walking their dogs.

What a delight to pass this on!

No sunrises? How about sunsets....

One thing that delights me on Cape Cod is my sunrise walks. I walk past the cars parked at the lighthouse, filled with people watching the rosy skies with a cup of coffee forgotten in their hands, down the stairs and across the dew-soaked sands, to the lapping waters. The salty scent, the building breeze, the cries of the hungry gulls... these wake me and stir me to life like an invigorating massage to my soul. The rosy light brings a magic to the shores and the early hour means that they are nearly all mine.

And, if I get warm, I can take a quick dip in waters where I KNOW I am not the top of the food chain. I MISS this!


What to do? The family cottage here does provide a nice sunrise...

but no good walk unless I wake early enough to get across the lake to the public side. This may be possible... I'll need to try it next time we are there.

How about sunsets? We live about a mile from Lake Michigan... so I've been walking there most evenings for this last week, in time to see some sunset,

pet some dogs, chat with dog owners, take a quick swim that leaves me delighted, and then drip my way home. Not the same, but pretty darned nice.... and I don't need to worry about salt getting onto my shoes,  phone, and camera!