28.5 hours of ... WAY beyond joy!

Wednesday afternoon I arrived at 37 Lighthouse Drive (isn't that an enviable address?!!) to spend a few glorious hours with some of my cousins. In their youth, they spent every summer in this location ... so they have a very cherished history with this place.

This is one of the cottages they rented for the week ... and this is where I spent the night with them ~ my cousin Annie (from near Chicago) with her two daughters, my cousin Suzie (Omaha) with her two daughters, and my cousin Mary with her husband (Pennsylvania) and two sons ... and me ... all stayed at this address. My aunt Jean and my cousin Beth (with her husband and two of her three daughters ~ Madison, WI) stayed at another cottage a few minutes away.

This was the designated walkway down to Lake Michigan ...

This is the darling kitchen inside the cottage ...

... and the gorgeous flowers outside the cottage ...

This is my cousin Suzie listening to the lighthouse volunteer tell us about the possible rebuilding of the lighthouse keeper's dwelling ... if they can raise the funds, it will be an exact replica of the original ... only built up higher on the dune with a boardwalk leading down to the lighthouse.

This is another cottage renter and his boxer, Joe, that Suzie just HAD to kiss! I was not so inclined ...

This is Little Point Sable Lighthouse ... I love this picture ... makes me want to dream or dance or write poetry ... and never leave ...

I do not know very much about the technical workings of my camera ... so while I was there, I wasn't sure HOW MANY pictures I had taken. It turns out that I took 808 pictures! That's just an insane number of pictures to have to edit! Many of them were of birds in flight ~ or at least attempting to GET a good picture of that ... and many of those have been deleted!

There is a very romantic story that I have to tell you! My cousin Annie's daughter (Anna) was proposed to by her boyfriend, Scott (pictured above with Anna), very early Wednesday morning. He got up and engraved his marriage proposal real HUGE in the sand right by the lighthouse and then got Anna to take a walk on the dunes, brought her to the place above where he had written in the sand, and then had her open her eyes and read ... WILL YOU MARRY ME? There was a BIG "yes" box to check or a much smaller "no" box.

I tried to get a picture of it, but this was the best I could do. Anna said "Yes!" and they are to be married in one year. Wednesday evening, while photographing the sunset, I was up in those very dunes and I overheard four teenage boys reading this message in the sand. They decided they would "do some damage" to it ... just because! So I told them that this was my cousin's daughters marriage proposal and that she was a beautiful girl and her fiance, Scott, was a terrific fellow and that she had accepted the proposal ... and wasn't it romantic? They actually agreed, and told me they wouldn't wreck it!

"He has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light." I Peter 2.9

The sunset made the sand kind of rose-colored ...

This is my cousin Mary with her husband, Doug. Luke (6) is sitting on Mary and Nathan (8) is in front of his dad.

After the sun set, a bonfire was made. Everyone gathered around and we sang ... beautiful songs of love for the Lord and the great things He has done for us! My cousins all have voices of angels and harmonize beautifully together.

I got up bright and early Thursday morning because the morning light is so ... alluring!

There was not one single person on the beach! NOW was the best time to get pristine pictures of the lighthouse ... with NO people to get in the way! I don't mind folk in my lighthouse pictures, but it helps if they are people that I know!

These delicate wildflowers were growing along the foundation of the ruins of the lighthouse keeper's ...

It was nice to get up close and personal ... with no one to bother me at all!

Little Point Sable Lighthouse was established in 1874 ... I'm too tired tonight to look up the interesting facts to tell you, but perhaps tomorrow I will insert that information right here!

Next day edit lists the following facts:

* Early in the history of this area, it is known as "Petite Pointe Au Sable" (little point of sand)

* In 1871, with the grounding of the schooner, "Pride," folk starting crying out for the building of a light station here on this spot.

* Building began in 1872. The brick walls are 5 feet thick at the base and taper to a thickness of 2 feet at the very top.

* Building completed and opened at the start of the shipping season in 1874.

* The natural brick of the tower was found difficult to see in the daylight, so the tower was painted white in September 1900.

* In December 1954 electrical power was extended to the lighthouse, the original kerosene lamp was replaced with a 250 watt electrical lamp inside the Fresnel lens, and the station was effectively automated.

* The unmanned station was repeatedly vandalized, so the Coast Guard felt compelled to demolish all ancillary buildings, leaving only the tower to stand (1955)

* The tower remained white until 1977, but to cut the cost of having to paint it every year, it was sandblasted back to the original brick.

* The tower stands 107 feet tall!

Since the lighthouse doesn't officially open for tours until 10:00, I had a few hours to roam around and explore ...

So I did!

I walked as far north as I could ... and then all the way back ...

I caught these birds just about right in the early morning sun ... they were SO beautiful!

I wanted to get a good picture of this juvenile blue heron (see it?) but it flew off as I approached ...

Before I knew it, it was 10:00 ... time to walk up those 130 steps to the tippy top of Little Point Sable Lighthouse!

Here is an old photograph or painting that was hanging just inside the door of the lighthouse showing what the keeper's dwelling used to look like ... I would have loved to have seen it when it was here, but I think it was actually demolished in 1955 ~ two years after I was born!

This is one of the top-most windows, showing the great view ...

In the last 6 years or so I have had real trouble with vertigo ... but I was SO exhilerated up here I didn't have any trouble. However, when I look at these pictures, I get sick to my stomach! There are little plaques all along the railing up here noting how many miles away certain cities are: 134 miles to Chicago, 210 to Detroit, 593 to Washington DC, 1100 to Houston, etc.

This is the view from up on top looking south ... breathtaking!

See the shadow of the tower in the sand?

If you look really close ... that's me hanging off the top edge waving at myself while snapping a picture!

And this is looking straight up into the light ... which shines out 17 miles into Lake Michigan ...

From the top of the stairs ... looking D-O-W-N!

After taking the tour of the lighthouse, I walked down to the "channel" that goes to Silver Lake. It's a beautiful and very shallow little waterway ... however, I did NOT walk all the way to Silver Lake!

In the early afternoon, more family arrived for an afternoon reunion of sorts! My Aunt Sally and Uncle Richard, as well as my cousin Lois and husband Joel (and all eight children) enjoyed a nice afternoon at the beach ...

This is one of the many castles the children built ...

A nice picture of my Aunt Jean and Aunt Sally ...

What it looked like when everyone arrived at the beach and had their hugs!

It was wonderful to be with my cousins again ... so many stories were shared ... so much fun and laughter and joy ...

Anniversary congratulations ...

This is wedding anniversary #9 for Jesse and Diana ... how is that possible?!!! Nine years of marriage is quite an achievement, you guys ~ especially in the times we live where marriage is so easily "disposable." This picture was taken late last spring when Jesse was "home" on leave from his deployment in Iraq. I think it is an especially pretty picture of Diana, and very nice of Jesse too.

We are sending our congraulations to both of you, wishing you the happiest year ever, praying God's best for you in every little thing! I put your card in the mail today ... a tiny bit late, I'm afraid, but with good intentions!

Our celebration of the fourth ...

It had been 3-4 years since Mr. Jones and I had gone downtown to see the fireworks ... we used to go every single year! But we decided, kind of last minute, to do it again this year. We drove down with our friends, Tom and Judy, got ourselves situated on the lawn at Ah-Nab-Awen Park, right by the Gerald R. Ford Museum, at about 4:30 in the afternoon. These pictures are somewhat out of order, but that's okay. When we first got downtown, it wasn't very crowded at all. We'd had a somewhat cool and overcast day, with a forecast of late afternoon showers ... but at a little after 5:00, the skies cleared, the sun showed up (!) and it was perfect!

There was a lot of music going on down there last night. Jerry Barnabe was the MC for the entire evening, and it was a good time!

Carissa Wilson started the entertainment with the singing of the National Anthem. We know Carissa's family, so it was cool to have her singing the anthem this year.

The crowd grew all throughout the evening. By about 9:00, there wasn't an inch of lawn unoccupied. There was lots of fun stuff for little kids to do ... Bozo the Clown showed up and did his stage show. There was even a talent show on the order of "American Idol!"

And the fireworks were simply spectacular! Amazing! Wonderful!

This glittery gold one has always been my favorite, since I was a little kid ... so I was pretty excited to get a decent picture of it! There were 3800 fireworks shot off last night. It was so worth going down to see ... even with waiting 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot and another 20 minutes sitting in traffic that was just NOT moving!

This evening, our church put on an outdoor patriotic concert with free food ... complete with honor guard, a demonstration of the honor ceremony given at military funerals (and I thought of you, Jesse, and how you've been doing this down at Ft. Bliss), and then the choir sang a whole bunch of songs ...

It was a great time! Do you see Mr. Jones in the back row, right under the flag by the stars? I hope your 4th of July celebration this year was as nice as ours!

Nothing compares to His glory ...

"I have heard about you, LORD, and I am filled with awe
by the amazing things You have done!" Habakkuk 3:2

We've had a quiet week here in COLD W. Michigan. For three days in a row, the temperature did not get out of the 60's! Outrageous. We did get some much needed rain, though, for which I am thankful ... but hardly any sunshine! Living where we live, close to some of the prettiest places I have ever seen, the weather is hardly an inhibitor to the beauty. I took a walk yesterday afternoon. Here are a few of my pictures ...

I love this horse and the property where he lives. It's just a quick 5-minute walk from our house. I often go there just to see this beautiful creature. If I make that sound inside my mouth that the guys in old cowboy movies use to make (you know the one!) to call their horses ... he comes as close as he can get to me! See how he has changed positions in the pictures? I think he likes me!

I was hoping that maybe the owners would be outside on a gorgeous day like this so that I could introduce myself, meet them, and learn about their horse. But no one was outside.

So I walked a few blocks and just took photos of the stunning flowers ... everywhere!

Their amazing color, design, shape ... detail!

The choir at church sang a song a few months back ... I loved it right away. Here are some of the lyrics:

The sun in all its brilliance blazing at high noon

but nothing compares to the glory of You!

The stars in shining splendor dancing 'round the moon

but nothing compares to the glory of You!

King of wonders here on earth

what comes close to Your worth?

CHORUS:
Nothing compares to the glory

Nothing compares to the glory

Nothing compares to the glory of You!

Endless open oceans pure and crystal blue

but nothing compares to the glory of You!

Strong majestic mountains, such breathtaking views

but nothing compares to the glory of You!

(Bridge) You, Our God and Savior

You, O great Creator

Earth and heaven worship You!

Repeat Chorus

[Nothing Compares to the Glory, by Tony Wood and Twila LaBar]

"God, the Holy One ... His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with His praise! What a wonderful God he is!" Habakkuk 3:3 What comes close to His worth?!!