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.

Rainy Days at the Lake...

are really just an excuse to relax! I left the shop in capable hands and went to Michigan for a few days to kick back. I did a lot of swinging and knitting on the porch since it was raining much of the time I was up there.

I finished a pair of Monkey socks. This is a lovely pattern available on knitty.com for free.

We rounded up the kids from our house and Hill's (and well, OK, yes the adults went too!) and we hit the Driftwood on Round Lake for some ice cream. This little shop has not changed since I was a kid...love that.

Old school...no soft serve here. And your sundays and splits come in glass not a paper cup.

A bunch of Harbins and Hills out for ice cream.

Another rainy day activity...painting rocks. Hey, gotta work with what you have at hand! I remember doing this as a kid too.

The sun finally came out so we were able to hang out in the lake. This is my sister and my cousin enjoying the day.

And finally, a little rainy day trouble!

South Haven on Dwellable

Giveaway Winner and Happy Birthday

The winner of the giveaway is Becky from Twelve Weeks at a Time. Congratulations Becky!

I want to thank you all for all the understanding about my empty nest post. It really does help to know that I'm not the only one who feels all weepy about my kids going off on their own.

Since I hate a post with no pictures (I'm like a little kid, that way!) I thought I'd share with you the day my hubby planned for me for my birthday. We celebrated it in August while we were on vacation. He knows just the kinds of things I like. We spent the day wandering around small Michigan towns looking at artwork.

We visited the small town of Buchanan. This little town has a wonderful art center with one of the best equipped pottery studios I've ever seen. And the volunteers and teachers there are so enthusiastic about their work.

Surrounding the art center are some fabulous life size metal sculptures of wildlife.

Everywhere I go, I'm always looking for great details on houses. You never know when you'll need inspiration for a fabulous railing!

We also went to St. Joe where they had a public art show of different artist decorated boats around town.


At the end of the day we went to see "Shenandoah" at this nice summer stock theater. The Barn Theatre is a wonderful place and you never know who you will see play here....some famous people have been Barnies. I just love the inside of this theatre. Click the link....it's a neat photo and really shows what it's like inside. Joe planned it all....he's very good at planning things like this and we have always liked to travel around and see new places. It's fun sometimes to do that right in your own backyard!

Berrien Springs 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

Another Man's Treasure

While were were in Michigan I wanted to visit some of the people and shops I visit on the internet. My sister, my mom and I reserved a day and took off across the state of Michigan. Our first stop was "Another Man's Treasure" in Plainwell, MI. We met Sharon, who owns the shop..in the picture above she is standing in the doorway...probably thinking, "thank goodness those crazy ladies are finally leaving!"
If you frequent the HGTV Trash to Treasure message board you have probably been inspired by Sharon who posts as "Sharon S" on the board. She makes wonderfully imaginative furniture (like the cupboard above) and accessories from things most people throw away. I want that cupboard in my living room!
Sharon was so sweet to us. She took us out her backdoor and showed us where some of her great junk is stored...that's the back door above. The back of the shop is cute too! Sometimes people just leave things back there that they think she'll be able to use.
Then she took me to her workroom. What a treat...this lady has a ton of good pieces parts for making things and the creative mind and know-how to do it.
She had dressers, benches, endtables, buffets, even a kitchen island all crafted from junk.

I bought this little table. It's going on my porch as a coffee table in front of our glider. I can't wait to get it home. We still have to pick it up this weekend...there wasn't room in the truck on the way home last weekend.
We had a wonderful time visiting Sharon and seeing her creations. Thanks Sharon!

Plainwell is a nice small town...we would have liked to have the time to shop at the other little shops, but we had to get back on the road to visit Red Shoes and Feather Your Nest. I'll share that part of the trip in my next post.

Fun in South Haven, Michigan

Two days after my laptop was stolen, we left for a vacation at our family's cottage in Michigan. I'll share some pics from there later, but I thought I'd share a day when we went to the little lakeshore town of South Haven. It's a charming little town with all kinds of wonderful little shops and historic places to visit.

Most of my pictures from that day are from a garden shop called Sweet Summer Gardens just to the south of South Haven on M140. The lady who owns this shop has the sweetest garden surrounded by picket fence. Don't you just love the little fanciful greenhouse? They are building another one out of salvaged materials but I don't think it will be done until next summer. If you click any of the pictures you can see them in more detail...I left them fairly large because there is so much to see.

They display and sell the work of several area artisans in their garden as well as selling plants. I loved this tin man.

And this one too! Wonderful garden junk! I think this one one is 175.oo.
Another view of the garden. Some of the paths were bark lined with bricks and some were all brick.

The gent who lives here makes wonderful chimes and whimseys from bottles and jars found on the property. Somehow he makes many of them look like beach glass....maybe with a rock tumbler?
Now how is this for a cute, cute fence? It surrounded a sweet little cottage in a South Haven neighborhood. Each post is topped by a dutch shoe.....and Holland MI is not far from here.
Here's one of the many charming shops in the downtown area. It's a lovely downtown with plantings that are very inspiring. There are a wide variety of shops and a wonderful upscale doggie boutique called Decadent Dogs. If you want to spoil your dog, that's the place. You could spend a fortune there or just buy your pooch a treat that looks good enough for us to eat! I didn't try to take Hawkeye into the shops, but I was pleased to see that many of the shops had a dog bowl with fresh water right outside their entrance.

If you are looking strictly for beaches I would recommend St. Joseph instead of South Haven. The beach in S. Haven is not bad, but not as beautiful or as big as Silver Beach in St. Joe.

I'm happy to be back up and running online again. I guess I got quickly spoiled having a computer I could tote anyplace I want.

Grand Haven on Dwellable