At the End of the Rainbow....

The rainbow ends right over our family's cottage. That's always a good sign!

And the other end over the neighbors.

And a beautiful sunset.

Crafty Goodness at the Lake

We went to the lake for the 4th of July. It was beautiful...the fireworks were loud and bright and lasted pretty much all night...perfect! But what I was really excited about was this:
Apparently the young ones are discovering knitting. This is my niece, Nicole. She is just learning to knit and is making a baby blanket for a friend.
The scarf on the left is Angelica's...she's loom knitting it. The one in the orange bikini is my daughter, Colleen. She's making a hat for a friend's baby. In the background is my sis, drawing in her sketchbook. Usually I'm the only one who brings up knitting, so I was so excited to come in and find all these young ones knitting away and chatting!
Here's the first sock of Jen's birthday pair. It's a pattern called Milo out of the wonderful new book by Cookie A. Complicated patterns...but really beautiful! If you buy the book, be sure to print out the errata...it's got a lot of corrections.

Weekend at the Lake

It was rainy and cold at the lake...so we did a lot of reading and knitting. I got my first sock done and it fits! I had trouble with the kitchner stitch that you are supposed to do on the toe....but I'm calling this one good. Maybe I'll "get it" when I do the toe on the second one. I started knitting the second one and I'm most of the way done with the cuff.


One day we went to Coloma, MI and visited the antique mall there. It's a good one! We also went to this charming little shop.....oh my, she has a lot of good stuff.


And it's all so charmingly displayed. If I was a young woman starting out in an apartment I would have bought this whole living room.


At night it was cold and rainy and we just curled up and read.


And during the day it was rainy...so we just curled up and read (we read a lot when it rains!)...this is my mom and dad. We were the only ones up this time, so it was very quiet.


Puppers curled up too...but I didn't see him reading.


I worked on an art project I've been working on all summer.


We also visited my favorite resale shop....Laurie Anne's in Dowagiac, MI. She always has good things...and she sells clothes too. I never leave her shop without finding something.


The sun finally came out and I dipped my feet in the lake....cool and refreshing!


This is looking out towards Scout and Hemlock Islands from our neighbor's yard.

On my way home I spotted this just east of Momence Illinois. I'd like to have seen how they got that tractor up there!

Lakeside on Dwellable

Cottage Living

I've shared pics of the cottage before, but I took some interiors to share the way it was constructed. These little cottages were made as fishing/retreat cabins around 100 years ago. There are still some on our lake in original condition. They are a treasure because most of them have been remodeled through the years. You can see there is some framing (horizontal and vertical) that the beadboard is nailed to. Originally the other side of that beadboard showed on the outside of the cottage like in the link above. Definitely a for summer only in the Michigan climate. In the 50s or 60s my grandparents added steel siding to the outside so they wouldn't have to paint. They also changed out the original windows to aluminum ones.


Only the windows between the porch and main house remain original.


All in all though, our cottage remains one of the more unchanged ones. Back in the day there was a hand pump in the kitchen....we are all glad to have modern running water and faucets of course.


You certainly wouldn't build a house this way today...there isn't a nice system of studs so many inches apart. But it has stood here for a hundred years and I hope it will for many more. To me all the little old fashioned things add to the charm. And the modern touches like flushing toilets add to our comfort. When my dad first started coming here as a boy they had an outhouse.


Here's my mom sitting on the porch in the late 50s or early 60s. We still have the same swing today....it's made from an old wagon seat. The grands were super at trash to treasure projects, but I bet they just thought it practical.


Here's the little back porch. It's a nice place for a cup of coffee or cereal in the morning. It's the first room to warm up during the day since it faces east.


Here 's the side that faces the road.


I love this pic of my dad. The cottage as it was when Nana and Granddaddy bought it behind him and the wooden boat. And Dad hamming it up for the camera.


And here it is today. My husband and I honeymooned here...we were young and making do on his apprentice salary. Granddad let us have it all to ourselves. And we had a wonderful time. Everyone today thinks they need palm trees for a honeymoon, but really all you need is each other.

Can you hear me now?

This is another charm of the cottage. We purposely don't have a TV here. Or a computer. Or a land line. And the cell phone reception is iffy. Does that sound charming to you? It is for us, because when we're not playing in the water, we sit and talk, tell stories, read, play cards and board games and make things. The kids almost automatically go into a different mode when they come here because they know the electronic things aren't available. They even told me once that they probably know more about their lake friends ideas than they do about the friends at home because they sit and talk more. Probably so.

We are so fortunate that our grandparents kept the place, and that now my dad and uncle are doing the same. I hope it stays in the family for a long, long time.

Southwest Michigan on Dwellable