Janele at Arch Rock...are my eyes closed?  I can't really tell.  ;)

Good morning, friends!

The house is so quiet now since I am the first one up.  The crickets and cicadas beat me though.  It's just a bit hard bringing my eyes into focus this early but I woke up thinking about what I wanted to write to you all about and I needed to get up and get going before I forgot.  You know how it goes when the "creative juices" start flowing, you've just gotta answer! :)

I want to talk to you all about the mosquitoes.  Yes, kind of a goofy topic to wake up to, I guess it's because I woke up itching my elbow!  Dog gone it!  We have a lot of barn swallows around our property and have had for the last several years so I haven't been bothered so much by mosquitoes at home but Tom and I took a little 5 day vacation up to Mackinaw Island two weeks ago and I got chewed up (I did just get a new one or two last night in my own backyard, too)! I hate those little buggers!  When I get bit I get bit hard and they last too long!  I'm itching for weeks.  Tom gets bit and has no ill effects.  Not me, that poison is hard on my body and it's incredibly annoying.  I'm not like some who swell up but I know when I'm good and bit.  Why can't the effects of the sun be like that?  Why can't we soak up the sun all summer long and that essential vitamin D that our bodies so desperately need and our beautiful glow last all winter long?  Or chocolate, why doesn't the pleasure of one of those super size, giant, lovely Snickers candy bars last for at least a month?  You'd think it would but no, I could go back to the store the very NEXT day and get a fix again!  How about you?  The very things I love to indulge in are fleeting at best like my addiction to the sun and chocolate but those dang mosquitoes......I pay the price for weeks!  Isn't that the way of it? 

Have you all ever camped?  Well, if you haven't it's quite an experience, I'll tell ya.  Tom and I love to camp although over the years we have upgraded a bit, we now have to have a blow up mattress.  For years we just slept on the ground.  No more.  We'd probably be crippled these days if we had to sleep on the tree roots and seashells like long ago.  We also just sleep in the van if it's just the two of us.  We take out all the seats and put our blow up mattress in there, which fits perfectly with room to spare. A couple weeks ago we decided to take  a short trip up to Mackinaw Island.  We camped in the Wilderness State Park which is East of Mackinaw City.  If you've never been to the Island I would strongly recommend visiting.  First, you get to experience a great ferry ride on a Catamaran.  Take a jacket because that ride can be a bit chilly but it is a beautiful 20 minute boat ride across the lake.  There are no cars on the island, just horses and bicycles as a mode of transportation.  There is plenty to do just walking too.  There is a state park right on the island, a fort you can tour, and plenty of shops to browse.  So many of them sell fudge lots and lots of fudge!  I asked one shop owner if they have a school on the island, she said "Oh yes, it's a year around school.  We have an average of 60 children attending K-12."  I asked if they ride their bicycles to school, she said, "Yes, and in the winter they all have snow mobiles they ride."  Now if I had to live way up there with the kind of winters they have and go to school, I would love to ride my snow mobile to school every day...I would be tempted to ride it even in the summer!  ;)

Oh, I've got to tell you all about our trip around the island.  Tom and I rented two bicycles to ride around the island which is 8 miles.  We had walked 3 or 4 miles around town before we decided to take the long tour so our legs were pretty well used by then but we hopped on our bikes with vigor and set out.  We decided not to break any records but to have kind of a leisurely ride.  We took a little detour which went right by the lake into kind of a little park, found a drinking fountain, said "hi" to some people then got back on the main trial.  We exclaimed about the beauty of the lake, mountain like hills, etc.....about this time we saw a couple on a tandem ride by us in a flurry.......not only were they going way faster than us but they were very interesting!  They were probably in their 50's. She was driving, he, in the back. She had the brightest bleach blond hair ever, and it was VERY big. Everywhere!  She had a tiny little shirt and shorts on.  But it was her knee high, bright red suede boots with buckles on that caught our attention (don't get me wrong, i like bleach blonde hair and red suede boots, it was just so hot that day!)!  The guy behind her was dressed nicely, khaki long pants and a guys tank.  His hair must have been styled by his wife's beautician though.  It wasn't blond it was dark but it was a giant mohawk!  The top standin up straight and proud as you please!  Tom and I both said at the same time, "WOW!"  Not only at their appearance but at the speed of which they were traveling!  Well, we just kept on a riding, we stopped once to climb up the side of the hill (mountain) to see the Arch Rock, a place in the side of the hill that the lake eroded over time and made a huge hole and a point of interest.  That was quite a climb, straight up with a few rickety steps.  We weren't up there long and the whole stop maybe took 1/2 an hour.  So off we went.  We rode and rode and low and behold, you aren't gonna believe it but here come our tandem friends!  Blondie and Mohawk!  No Way!  We said, how could they have lapped us?!  It's an 8 mile ride!  But nope, there they were!  Wind blowing their hair, they went whooshing right by us!  We were astounded, Tom said, "Surely they turned around and are just passing us coming from this direction!"  "Surely," I said.  So we rode on.....we looked at the lake, stood on the giant lakeside rocks that have been there forever, I'm sure.  By now, that 8 mile ride was not only burning our tired legs but our buns were getting a bit saddle sore too. We rode and rode, saw some cute island houses all on their own and a couple abandoned ones too.  We were just coming up on our last little bit of riding, kind of panting....just a bit, and definitely exclaiming about our sore buns and wouldn't you know it but here comes BLONDIE and MOHAWK AGAIN!  NUH HUH!  Tom and I said!  NO WAY!  Tom says, "THEY HAVE TO BE ON STEROIDS!"  "YEAH!" I say! WHAT THE HECK!?  They were just chatting up a storm just like the other two times we saw them, not even out of breath at least from what we saw!  Super human to be sure!  But Tom and I were brave, our pride a bit hurt, or maybe challenged....but we gathered what little pride we had, kept our chins up and willed our legs to take us the rest of the way into town.  We made it, just so you know.  We rode into town with smiles on our faces, the towns people didn't know what had just happened to us, lapped by Blondie and Mohawk not once, not twice, but THREE times! For crying out loud!  Those red suede boots just a flashin!

Now that I think about it, there's a lesson to be learned here, no?  Whether you're motoring through life and the mosquitoes are chewing you up, or there's a "Blondie and Mohawk" chronically lapping you in life, even though your buns and pride are chapped and sore...keep your chin up people, keep your chin up and come riding into town with a smile on your face anyways, just like nothing ever happened!  AMEN!

You all know I love ya! 

Blessings on finding your rich homespun heritage!

janele :)