Friends and Feathered Friends

Sean and Michelle Coakley were at the Grand Traverse Resort for a conference so they stopped by for a great visit with children Alyse and Conner. Kalee, a dentist in Chicago, took a few days off and drove up, too. It was great to see them and we had perfect weather!

Pat looks like he needs a Harley!

Two lovely ladies. And, look, they each have their drinks.

Sean, Alyse and Grandma Katie enjoying the night on the deck.

Conner and Mommy Michelle having fun with the bus.

On the trip back from Hessel and Mackinaw Island a large freighter passes under the Mighty Mac.

One freighter going under the bridge, another just having come under and a Mackinaw Island ferry boat occupy some close space on the water.

A long day at Hessel and on the boat ride back for Rose. But, look! You see the real reason for the nap she had to take.

Gourmet brunch...beer and smoked fish!

Jim Sygnecki put on quite a spread. It was great fun riding on the ferry with our own cooler packed with food and drink. Few people know about, or take advantage of, this great service. Hessel always has their antique boat show on the second Saturday of August and the Arnold Ferry line offers a special deal from Mackinaw City. For one price you ride the ferry to Mackinaw Island for a brief stop to pick up other passengers going to Hessel. The ferry continues on to Hessel and then offers a tour around the Les Cheneaux Islands. Then at 4pm the ferry returns to Mackinaw City (via the Island). Jim had smoked whitefish, whitefish sausage, salmon spread, cheese and crackers all packed. What a feast!

Left to right: Bob Smoker from Bronson, Jim Sygnecki, Jim's son Paul and Rose obviously on the ferry and before we broke out the food and drink.

Pat and Katie after a hard day of golf.

Our ritual afternoon cocktail hour. This time on the lower deck in the back.

Look hard in the center of the photo for the hummingbird perched on the wire. Click on any photo to enlarge.

A poor photo but you see the male oriole on the right, the female on the back of the hook and an unknown bird on the other side of the feeder from the male oriole. We wondered if it was a juvenile oriole.

Male oriole feeding at the hummingbird feeder. A daily event for the last week or so.

Rose and I took a nice trip to Mackinaw City for the weekend of August 11. We stayed with some old friends from Bronson (where both of us grew up), the Sygnecki's. On Saturday we caught the Arnold Line Ferry to Mackinaw Island for a brief stop and then on to Hessel in the UP for the antique wooden boat show. Sygnecki's had a great feast packed and ready to go for the ferry ride. Jim has done this several times and knew exactly how to make a nice day. A couple photos show the spread.

Pat and Katie Coakley have been our house guests since mid-July but we have not gotten some photos of the relaxing times that we have spent with them. So, decided to take a couple representative photos and post them.

Finally, we have been graced with literally hundreds of birds in our backyard. Evidently they like to feed on all the wild flowers that we have. A pair of orioles have been around all summer and we got a couple photos of them. Hummingbirds have also been around and we got a couple photos of them "roosting" on our deck rail wires. The photos aren't so great because we had to take them from the inside but you can see the birds nontheless.

Booger our cat has always prowled outside and is a great mouser. But, the hummingbirds showed Booger up. We could not get a photo of the action but twice now as the cat was on the deck the hummingbirds would roost on the deck railing just a few feet away from the cat. When the cat showed some "interest" the hummingbird would not fly away but would literally taunt the cat by moving back and forth right in front of her....but on the other side of the wire deck railing. It was great fun to see Booger be the hunted for once!

Enough for now. Hope you all will keep us posted with your life happenings and keep in touch.