Soup Night for Sandpipers.

Soup

I need SOUP!

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Soup Night Info & A Request.

The World Famous

 Adopt-A-Family

 Soup Nights

are once again returning to Sandpipers

for the 2011/2012 season.

The schedule for this year’s soup nights is as follows:

Tuesday, October 11

Tuesday, November 8th

Tuesday, December 13th

Tuesday, January 10th

Tuesday, February 7th

Tuesday, March 13th

 

5:30PM FlipFlopz

$5 Donation

2 kinds of Soup

Bread and crackers and Dessert

BYOB, Dishes and utensils will be provided.

 

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We are looking for volunteers to make soup or desserts for the Tuesday, October 11th as well as the scheduled soup nights.

 See above dates.

We would like to have two soups, however it will be entirely up to the person making the soup as to what they would like to provide.

Those wishing to participate in this adventure

should contact Mary at Lot 5

or email to: mbmre_17@yahoo.com.

 

Thanks, John & Mary (Lot 5)

Yoopers are Cool!

Yoopers are folks from the U.P. of Michigan,

and we are about as far north as you can get...

in Copper Harbor, at Fort Wilkins State Park..

We finally made a fire after

carting fire wood around in the rain for days...

Saw a rare Pileated Woodpecker looking for bugs...

Took lots of leaf pictures...

We are camped right by this lake...

More leaves...'cause you just never have enough pictures of the wonderful colors....

Cool Northern Waters...

All you SandPeeps sweltering under the relentless sun of South Texas...this is what COOL looks like!

Tahqualminon Falls, Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Ferny, mossy boardwalk thru the woods to sparkling waterfalls....

Sleeveless here, but a cold front rolled in with rain and, brrrr....chilly temps!

Still...how lovely to see the changing leaves.

Gorgeous!

You CAN Go Home Again.....

You can go home again, if only to look. 

We lived in Charlevoix, Michigan in the early 70's.

That's 40 years ago!

Jeesh, that hurts to think about!

We hardly recognized a thing as we drove slowly through our former sleepy little town,

now a bustling, hustling tourist mecca.

Then it was on to Mackinaw City, to the KOA there.

 Nice place.  Great bike ride trail.

And then a ferry ride to Mackinac Island.

Another place that has grown like Topsy.

(extra points if you get the literary reference)

We played tourist all the way, doing the buggy tour of the island.

One of our drivers, Joe, a Marine just back from Iraq, at his first stateside job while getting a teaching degree, cracked us up with jokes and brought lumps to our throats with his war humor. 

The whole buggy applauded and thanked him

for his service...to us. 

How's that for remembering 9/11?

By the way, the above driver is NOT Joe.

*

We had several stops along the tour...Jim & me at the Arch.

We had planned on stopping at the Grand Hotel for a walk thru and the lunch buffet until we learned the price for the look-see was $10 each and the buffet $40 each. So we had a brat instead.

Been there in the past anyway, and it is GRAND!

As we left Mackinac Island that afternoon the kites flying on the beach waved good-bye.

Today is clean up, laundry, all the little chores that accumulate.

I am drinking a cup of coffee, laced with rum.

Not that it is cold...

it is 70 degrees, birds are singing, sky is blue..

It's just...

I like coffee laced with rum.

Time for a nap.

Labor Day

When Jim & I lived in northern Michigan, back in the day,
 we joked that on Labor Day
somebody pushed a button and the cold weather moved in.

Well look see....(that's New Orleans lingo...'look see'...)

Contrast the above picture with this earlier one...

Let's see...no clothes...

then every blessed thing we own...and we are still cold.

Happy Labor Day from the SandPeeps at Sunny Haven!

Dance of the Rain Goddesses!

Yay! It finally rained! 

I was so excited to hear thunder and feel the pitter-patter of rain that I broke out into an ancient Druid dance. 

Several fellow Goddesses joined me in an expression of joy...

and look, we even ran into a cloud of strategic butterflies! 

How fortunate!

I mean really...look at the absolute joy on our faces! 

They may have been a teeny bit of wine involved...

I can't remember.

I do remember Marijanne concocting a wine cooler with Pinot Grigio, bourbon....and I believe there were cherries involved.

Yes, I'm sure there were cherries.

That's what we were doing...eating cherries.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And the Fun Continues....

We spare no expense, nor dignity either, in our quest for frivolity and the recapture of youthful exuberance.

Last night, after much wine sampling from local wineries Jim brought out his toys...bubbles!

Marijanne hopped up on a picnic table

and sent the bubbles skyward.

Jim and Donna puckered up too.

But the champion blow-hard,

ummm,

 I mean the champion

pucker-upper, was H-less. 

Look at that concentration, will 'ya!

After all, he has had a lot of experience with hot air!

End of Summer at Sunny Haven.

We've all been having the best, the most relaxing time

here at SandPipers North,

known by some as Sunny Haven in Granger, Indiana.

 Petanque and pool in the morning...

Scrabble and pool dips in the hot afternoon...

out of the pool by Happy Hour for appetizers and wine.

Communal dinners...

We take turns providing the sides and

 chip in for the main dishes.

So far:

Bratwurst cooked in beer with onions and peppers...

Luscious pulled pork and every side salad you can imagine...

brownies, dump cake...

tomorrow spaghetti, salad, garlic bread...yummy!

Sunday grilled chicken and smashed potatoes.

There are picnic tables scattered throughout the grounds loaded with fresh produce from people's gardens.

Remember the pic of Marijanne and her bodacious melons?

Everyone has their favorite veggie...

mine just happens to be cucumbers,

a multi-functional vegetable.

You can do all kinds of things with cukes.

What?

Get your mind out of the gutter.!