September 24 More of the house

Wednesday:  I took too many pictures! Plus, we were inside, then outside, then back inside, etc. so all of my pictures are interspersed with being down on the beach or up at the house, or across the street at the barn (which I will show you in a separate post), so I had to kind of sort through the pictures and put them into categories!

This is the view from Lakeshore Drive (which is one of the most enviable street names in the entire world--perhaps only contested by maybe "Lighthouse Lane" or something of that sort) ... 

Remember--this is a century and a half old farm house that was nearly leveled to the ground less than 10 years ago. Isn't it SO lovely?

For some reason, the next group of pictures loaded backward and I am too lazy to delete them and try to get them to load in order. Oh well. Here is more of the view of the back of the house.

The gray part of the house was kind of added on. It is an enormous garage with an attic above for storage. You see, farm house bedrooms were typically small and there were NO closets. ZERO closets. Maybe people just didn't have many clothes to hang up back then ... maybe they had one set of clothes they worked in and another that they wore for other occasions. Since this home is on the "historic registry" in Fennville, there were many restrictions on how this house could be renovated. Thankfully, Scott is a builder! AND his father was also a builder who specialized in restoration of very old property.

Karen told me they host rather large gatherings back here, mostly family occasions, but lots of room for all ages to roam and play for sure.

This front porch/veranda reminds me so much of "Anne of Green Gables"!! It's just how I picture Anne and Marilla and Mrs. Rachel sitting and having tea together back 100 years ago. I love it.

This is the main indoor dining area. Karen told me the Amish made this table, and it has "leaves" that can be added in order to sit upwards of 20 people. Isn't it beautiful?

This is upstairs in one of the children's bedrooms that actually sleeps SIX. Oh my word. Can you imagine how fun it is to sleep here?

This is the view from the upstairs master bedroom. The lake is just through those trees ... I am serious when I say this: I would NEVER EVER leave this place. NEVER.

Upstairs in this house seems to go forever. I lost count of the bedrooms, but Karen told me there are 20 beds ... TWENTY.

One of the sitting rooms ...

One of the main gathering places on the main floor ...

Back upstairs is probably the most darling room in the house. This room can sleep 4-5 and Karen says her "older" granddaughters use this as an apartment of sorts when they are in town to visit. I've only shown you half of this space--what you can see here are the beds and wallpaper and pretty lights. Where I am sitting and taking this picture is a small round table next to a kitchenette and across from a very nice bathroom. Karen's granddaughters will have delightful memories of this space the rest of their lives. 

But I have more pictures to post! This time, we are going to go across the street to their property over there ...

September 24 Karen's Lake house

Wednesday:  My dear friend, Karen, and I have been rather out of touch these last few years. It's actually been three years since we have gotten together at all. Karen has a BIG family. Between Karen and her husband, Scott, there are over 100 people in their combined families including both of Karen's parents (who are in their 90's) and Scott's mom (also in her 90's) and until two months ago, Scott's dad (who died at age 96)--none of whom are in care facilities, but still reside in their homes. Plus, of their combined eight children, more than half of them live out of town (like NOT in Michigan, and one out of the country!) and there are 13 grandchildren (so far). Out at their lake house this summer, they have had 68 straight days of visitors, a wedding in France, and an upcoming wedding celebration this weekend ... they are super busy folk. 

I met Karen two days after Jesse was born. She came to visit me at the maternity ward over at St. Mary's Hospital (where I had given birth). Our husbands were "classmates" in college and Karen came to meet me, bringing a beautiful baby gift. I have never met anyone like Karen in my life and she has made a huge impact on me. She cannot be described in a little blogpost like this; but just let me say that she is the essence what it means to love and serve people ... and she just keeps on giving. I've never met anyone in my life who equals her almost endless energy and willingness to do whatever she can to help in any given situation. 

SO ... to even spend a few hours with Karen is a real gift. Truly. 

Today, I drove out to Fennville (a little less than an hour drive) and got to spend almost five hours just talking and listening and being refreshed by the incredible beauty of their place on Lake Michigan. Let me show you just a fraction of the 375 pictures that I took while there.

This first "bunch" of pictures are mainly of the outside of the house and the grounds and lakefront. The house is several hundred feet BACK from Lake Michigan, high up--which is a good thing because at least they don't have to worry about beach/dune erosion causing their home to fall into the lake.

This is the back of their house, which by the way was built in the mid-1800's and is on the historic registry in Fennville. It's a very interesting story about how Scott and Karen came to own this place, which was neglected for over 35 years and close to being bulldozed to the ground before they came and rescued it.

This is THE VIEW. It can be seen from many of the windows at their house; and even though it is kind of far from the house, it is a view I wouldn't trade for anything anywhere on earth. I love Lake Michigan!

There is a very well defined pathway through the back of their property leading down to the lake. Isn't it just the prettiest ever?

Once down on the beach, this is their view to the NORTH ...

... and the view to the SOUTH.

This is their beach front, which is quite extensive. They have a really nice place to grill and serve meals, or just sit and relax and enjoy the incredible sounds of the lake ...

This little creek runs from the lake all the way and past their house, running through a little gorge that I couldn't really get to (although I tried) ... Karen says that this is the favorite spot for the littlest of their grandchildren to play. It SO reminds me of the little creek that ran from Lake Huron past my great-grandparents cottage in Sarnia, Canada. Kevin and I used to love to play in it and dig tributaries here and there.

More of the  pathway leading down to the lake. I love the fencing. This is farm land, you see. I love farms. I have always thought that to actually have a farm with a view of Lake Michigan was absolute PERFECTION. And even though this is not a working farm, the house IS a farm house and the grounds are lovely.

More of the back of the house. Isn't this a great looking terrace? Karen told me they do a lot of entertaining back here.

They take this small sailboat out in the lake a lot. Wouldn't you love to be on it?

Let me show you more of the farm house next ...

September 23 Zero pictures AGAIN!

Tuesday: Rats. I had a busier day today than I usually do--maybe that's why I entirely neglected taking any photographs. I was meeting two friends for an early lunch today at 11am over at Russ', plus I was picking up the three "littles" from school (because of the lack of bus drivers this week at Forest Hills schools); so instead of the kids coming home at 4:15, I was going to leave their house at 3:15 in order to pick them up. All of this to say, that I figured I would be lacking ONE of the THREE hours I needed in order to accomplish the very baseline cleaning of their house. 

So instead of showing up at 1:00 to begin my little cleaning routine, I arrived at 10am and got a quick hour of cleaning in before I left to meet my friends at the restaurant. I'm glad I did it that way because then I was assured of getting at least the basics cleaned up over at the house, which I would like to do every week for them.

Lunch was good--have you ever had the fried chicken at Russ'? Oh my! Super crunchy, moist, and greasy. Perfect combination. The conversation with my two friends was a little more intense than I had imagined it would be and instead of feeling refreshed, I ended up feeling burdened by our time together. Sigh.

I went back to the house and got most of what I wanted to do accomplished before leaving to get the kids from school. Once we were home, I just enjoyed listening to Aidan, Erin and Gregory (I am still calling him CAL because I just can't help myself) talk about school. Aidan asked to hear the ring tones on my phone (some of them are really bizarre), so we laughed at those for awhile as I served them their after-school snacks. I was super tired from the little bit of "light" cleaning that I did and was a little drained of energy as a result (I am a wimp) ... so we didn't really play any games today.

I did get to see Brendan for about two seconds once he came home from Cross-Country practice, but just to say a quick "hi" and then he had homework to do.

I didn't realize that I didn't snap any pictures until I was driving out of their driveway, and then it was too late. Pooh. I'm going to have to do better next week.

September 21 with Emma

Sunday:  It was maybe a few weeks ago that Emma and I exchanged a few text messages and I discovered that she had time and a desire to take a walk with me on any weekend we were both "free" to do that. So we arranged that this Sunday was a good time for both of us and I agreed to meet at her place and decide where we would walk. However, rain interfered with our hopes for a walk--it had rained very hard over night and into the morning hours--which kind of led us to think (as the weather also predicted) that it was going to rain most of the day. But in reality, the rain had stopped until later in the evening. We probably COULD have taken a walk, but neither of us were completely psyched up to do it. We had discussed all of this at Chris's game yesterday and agreed that we could play a few games at her house if we decided against walking.

SO ... I brought a few games with me that are fun to play. A few years ago when my brother was in town and Emma was living here with me, we played a couple of rounds of Pachesi. Since Emma is quite competitive (so is my brother), it was very fun to play the game. I brought it over and just Emma and I played a VERY close game. Emma won basically by the roll of a dice. We also played a game of "stones" that I brought with me.

However, before we played any games, we talked for awhile and just hung out. Kota introduced me to LUNA, his pet tarantula. Now before you say NO WAY, let me just say that I did INDEED meet a pet tarantula and even got completely next to the cage/aquarium where it lives. It's actually quite a beautiful creature--very detailed and hairy--so much detail on its legs and body. I so regret not snapping a picture of her/him! I'll have to do it next time. I love to look at and think about the Lord designing all of the colors and shapes and textures of life, don't you? How completely awesome He is!

Emma showed me the "year books" of photographs she creates every year--I think she has done this since 2020. It was fun to look through these beautiful books with her. What a wonderful way to remember the events of every year and the people who shared life with her.

I snapped just one picture of Emma this afternoon. See Belle-Belle in the background? She is 15 years old! Very unusual for a cat to live this long and still be as healthy as she is--even though she does have arthritis and a kidney problem--she is still of a good weight, and look at her beautiful fur too!

Emma also taught me to play a new game! I love to learn a new game. This one is called "Skip-Bo". It reminds me very much of an old game my mom used to play with us called "Flinch." It's one of those games that is easy to play and still carry on a conversation at the same time. I loved being able to catch up with Emma for a few hours and listen to what she is thinking about and learning in her life. I love her so much and miss being with her. 

We talked about doing this again soon, so I am really glad about it. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of Emma.

September 20 Olivet vs Bluffton

Saturday: I drove today to Olivet, Michigan--the longest solo drive yet that I have made in my very nice 2025 Honda CR-V. What a breeze it is to drive this car! Attending at least one of the home football games of Chris is my goal each football season. I'd like to do more home games--but scheduling a Friday-night sleepover with one of the grandchildren is difficult enough without considering the football schedule too. But I made a definite exception this week and told Aidan that we would have to shoot for next weekend instead. It worked out really well, though, because Aidan had a "festival" at school that he wanted to attend Friday night.

Anyway, it's a very beautiful drive to Olivet--at least in my opinion; but I love farm land, rows of corn, silos, barns ... just the quiet and quaintness of the country, so far away from the concrete, gray, monotony of city-life. I breathe better in the depths of my soul when I am out in the country!

But ... did I pull over and take any pictures of that beauty? No, I did not. I meant to, truly; but I didn't want to be late for the game which began at 12:30. I pulled into the $5 parking lot at 12:25 and by the time I walked over to the stadium I had missed the kick-off. Rats.

Thankfully, Ella was already seated at a very nice place in the bleachers. She waved to me and I joined her there. Diana, Emma, and I thought Kaity were on their way to the game too. However, Kaity didn't come. I was sad about that; but I was also thankful that I got to spend time with her Thursday night (which I haven't gotten to do in a very long time).

The Comets (Olivet) got the first touchdown early in the first quarter, but the Beavers (Bluffton) ended up winning the game 37 to 28. It was a frustrating game. Our Chris was "booted" on both lower arms due to injuries--I believe both of his little fingers are presently broken, and he has other hand injuries as well. Since he is a senior this year and part of the advisory board of the football team, he had to change his jersey number to a lower one. He used to be #31 (which my long-sleeve T-shirt has on it), but now he is #15 (just like he was in high school).

Here are a few pictures I took while at the game:

See the "boots" on Chris's arms? It must be very frustrating to be plagued with injuries when he so badly wants to play. He practices with the team and, obviously, he works out and keeps in shape.

Here is Ella, unwrapping his "boots."

Ella ironed this on to her shirt last night and in the process, burned her arm. I recall "iron" burns back in the day when I actually used an iron. Ouch.

Nice pictures of Chris and Ella. Both of them are very photogenic. They have been together now for close to five years!

Here is Chris and his mom. Diana has quite a few health issues--and I am sad for her. The kiddos are worried about her too. I'm glad I got to spend some time with her today.

Sorry about the loss of another game, Comets. It's difficult to LOSE--nobody likes it! But I am glad I was there to see the game, and spend time with Ella, Emma, and Diana. Emma and I have made arrangements to maybe take a walk tomorrow afternoon--do you know how long it's been since we've done that?!?!? I can't wait!