Author: Susie

When we lost the porch roof of the Lake house in Katrina it was as the eye wall passed over. It sounded like a freight train. The hurricane is most viscious in that part of itself. The eye wall is just about to hit Big Pine Key (730 am Sunday). If I was ever property proud, I think I will have little left. I am hoping everyone on our street has left. We don’t know where our friend Wayne went but we do know that all our other friends are spread over Florida and Georgia. God bless us.

Chuck and I are at cousin Carol’s waiting… For Irma to turn away, waiting for Irma to get destroyed by the hand of God… Waiting for it all to be over. Most friends from Keys are evacuated to Tampa, to Georgia, out of the Keys. With storm headed for the Keys, Chuck and I can only rejoice that our friends got away and we will deal with property after we get back from this (who knew ill conceived) long trip out of Florida. God, if you will, destroy this hurricane… Please make it turn away from our homeland and destroy its strength. God bless America. God bless my friends.

Yesterday I got into my flee mode…. "Go home" was screaming in my head… My neighbors are working to make my home safe and I’m driving across the beautiful Michigan upper peninsula… All I could think of was "I75 south…. At least go quickly to cousin Carol’s and hunker down with family to pray and watch the eather channel…" But Chuck insisted we stay with the plan which was cross the Mackinaw bridge south and head south on route 31 which drives along the beaches and dunes of Lake Michigan. We had a few towns in our sites to stop for the evening… but it got to be lunch time and Chuck said we should stop for lunch. I spotted a cafe at an intersection and I yelled, "Turn left here!!!!" Chuck is pretty good at following directions and he managed to turn into the parking lot of the Torch Lake Cafe. There was a sign, "Music tonight." The cafe was really nice! We had a great bottle of Pinot Noir wine and some appetizers and Chuck said, "If there’s a hotel nearby, we could do music tonight. " I asked the hostess who pointed across the street. "You go there, or you drive a long way." We are truly in the middle of nowhere on the coast! We finished lunch and drove across the street and found a sweet little motel with a beautiful room for us! Read for a while and took a nap and headed out to see sunset on a beautiful sandy beach on what is called Traverse Bay. It was pretty cloudy, but some colors and the lazy waves and sandy beach might make a nice photo. Back to the Cafe for the music, pizza, 2 more bottles of wine… Made friends with a table of 4 gentlemen at the next table who are here to play golf!!!! Spent the evening 2 hours dancing and singing to late 60s and 70s music. A lot of Margaritaville Jimmy Buffet and other favorite singers!!!! We closed the restaurant and went back across the street to tumble into our beautiful room. Tonight will be wine and left over pizza. All our friends and renters are evacuated from the Keys, and To my friends in Miami who are working hard against being in the "cone" of hurricane Irma… I say God bless you dear friends. Use my house, use my pantry, take anything you need, fill my bathtub with water. God be with you. God bless south Forida with a hurriane that goes east…. and God bless Texas.

We went out for breakfast at a deli and ate homemade bagels (Chuck’s with egg, bacon and cheese and mine a cherrybagel with cream cheese). We ate with 2 other couples and taked about about the Army, Vietnam, and one whose grandfather was in the 101st Airborne and landed at Normandy!!!! It was an exciting discussion. Headed over to the cruise desk for a noon cruise and… cruises cancelled for rain and wind. Oh darn. So we went into the interpretative center and watched a video of the Pictured Rocks which started as a single man taking people for cruises to see the beauties of the lakeshore here at Munising… Then his son took over and finally sold it a few years ago to 2 Musining natives. Keeping it alive locally! We bought a book of pictures and tried to keep warm until the craft market at 4pm and the outdoor in the park concert at 6pm. It wasn’t easy to stay warm in drizzly 53 degrees weather! When the concert started I tried to sit outside but was freezing in the wind and drizzles… About 1/2 hour later Chuck and I realized all the people there were huddled in the pavillion/band shell so we picked up our chairs, my blanket, my extra jacket and went into the pavillion and finished the concert out of the wind!!!! We are eating microwave Popcorn for a snack and we have made plans for tomorrow…. heading east to cross the Mackinaw bridge down to the sand dunes on the south side of Lake Superior. Thinking constantly of Miami and the Florida Keys who are facing the threat of Irma. God bless you my Miami and Keys friends. God bless Texas.

We left Ironwood, Michigan at 830 am headed for the 3pm Pictured Rocks cruise at Musining, Michigan. An hour later the time zone changed and we "lost" an hour. I got a little concerned because the road was slow as we drove along a picturesque Lake Superior seafront…. But we arrived at Musining in plenty of time but the 2pm and 3pm cruises were cancelled due to wind and waves. OH darn! So I rescheduled for tomorrow Tuesday 12 noon. We figure we can eat a good breakfast and then cruise for 3 hours… we made rservations at a new recommended restaurant named Tracys at 4pm so our bellies ought not to be too far between meals … Meanwhile, Rain might cancel tomorrow… but I’m not worried. We have the luxury to stay another day if we want. We got a room with TV, wi fi, refrig, microwave, king sized bed overlooking the water!!!! We step outside and walk to the seawall which has benches, barbeque… waves… I could stay here a week. Its a bit blustery albeit the sun is shining!!!! Time for a walkabout along the shore! God bless You.

Yesterday might have dawned cold and misty, but we dutifully got on the road and as we crossed the border into Wisconsin just after Duluth and the day began to change. By the time we got to Bayfield, the sun came out and we began to feel better about cruising on Lake Superior. We were about to go on the ferry to Madeline island but there was no long term parking! So we went to lunch instead opposite the Apostles cruises office….. Chuck said, "What’s the 2pm cruise?" He wasn’t sure about driving out of town for our hotel and then driving back in the morning and making the 10am cruise…. So I trotted across the street and exchanged our 10am "tomorrow" tickets for 2pm "today". We then ate lunch and got on the 2pm cruise. When we cruised into the wind on Lake Superior it was windy and chilly!!! People began to put on jackets and I put on jacket and scarf!!! We cruised past the 12 Apostles (12 islands out in the bay from Bayfield,) we drove past amazing rock formations and caves and generally enjoyed almost 3 hours cruising the largest freshwater lake in the world (I think)…. Coming back into Bayfield at 5pm it was sunny and warm! We had a drink up at the Bayfield Inn overlooking the harbor, basked in the setting sun and then headed out for our hotel. Turns out the nearest place I could get Labor Day weekend was 1 1/2 hours east! When we got into Ironwood, and checked into our hotel, we both agreed we were grateful that we took the cruise already rather than try to get up and rush over to the 10am cruise on Sunday morning. As it turns out I got to go to 8am Mass at Our Lady of Peace with a wonderful priest who gave a good homily and prayed a long and beautiful Eucharistic prayer. I told him after Mass that the church is a very peaceful place; it could be that Our Lady really does protect her people and helps them to find peace. We went out to explore and found a sale at a sporting goods store… and are now going out to a restaurant that has music on the patio from 2 to 8. Ironwood is a beautiful hilly town with a ski lift for ski fying! They call this the Northland! Snow is very important to these people!!!! Have a wonderful Labor Day! God bless you.

We spent a whole week in bliss at Clear Lake and I didn’t write anything! The Grotto of the Redemption was about an hour drive west of Clear Lake past corn fields. A tiny town with a beautiful church where a priest from Germany (trained in the Seminary in the US from the age of 20) built over about 14 years a big series of grottos depicting Adam and Eve in Paradise, the birth of Christ, the time in Nazareth, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection among other events. The priest went all over the world using his own money to find rock (agates and other fine rocks…) and just built what was in his head. I caught a tour and enjoyed about 2 quiet hours and finished in the church with a tiny grotto of the Nativity. It was beautiful. We spent every sunny day on the lake, caught a beautiful sunset, and I got one day in the pool. I just don’t like to go into a cold pool and I need a hot sun shining to go in! We worked on the puzzle, ate out a lot, visited new friends at the VFW, and I got to go to daily Mass on Wednesday and Thursday at St Patrick’s. All in all it was Idyllic! We left Friday morning and drove north through St Paul and Minneapolis, cut in half by the Mississippi River. So we said a final hello and goodbye to our river that we visited for about 2 weeks solid on this trip. Today, Saturday, dawned muzzy, cloudy, foggy and rainy; chilly too!!! So we will go out bravely on route 35, cross into Wisconsin, and I hope, drive along a tiny route 13 which skirts the shore of Lake Superior to the town called Bayfield where we will catch the cruise to the Apostle Islands tomorrow. Then we will go to our hotel which I took for 2 nights. OK! It’s not clearing up, and we can’t stay here forever, so up and out. God bless you!!!

This weekend was full with Tim and Kyla visiting us… We ate out at Taco night at the VFW and Italian at Gejos in Clear Lake. Saturday was market day so we got apple pie and sticky buns and sat and munched and listened to the guitar player at the market. It was a rainy cool day so we stayed in and read books and for dinner was steak in Mason City. Sunday was Mass and then boating to town and a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We then went to a benefit for a friend of Tim and Kyla’s who has lung cancer. Of course Chuck and I signed up for many items in the silent auction and we "won" a gift certificate for a shop in town, some beauty items from Bath and Body Works, a hand made afghan by Ellie, a cat rug for Karen’s cats, and…. I think that’s all!! Sunday evening Chuck and I went to the park for a concert. It was wonderful!!! Two ladies playing guitar and keyboard singing songs from the late 60s early 70s. Of course I sang along and clapped loud!!!! Today to the Grotto of the Redemption. I’ll fill you in later…. God bless you!

Friend and hostess Kyla came yesterday after attending a funeral. We went out to the VFW where Kyla had agreed to help make Tacos that they sell on Taco night also corresponding with "Thursdays on Main" when bands and vendors and old cars set up on Main Street. We ate tacos and set out to walk the 4 blocks of Main street that vendors were set up on. We admired old chevys, corvettes, Ford trucks, a Model A and many others. Chuck bought a plaque for his barroom and I admired a beautiful Golden Retriever ! It was a beautiful example of "Main Street USA"

Today we returned to Main Street for breakfast and Kyla and I went over to Mason City to pick up some gifts for a silent auction for a sick friend. We’ve spent the cool and rainy day with Kyla solving a water bill issue, me and Chuck playing on the puzzle, laundry, playing Word games, watching Hurricane Harvey… Praying for our Texas friends. God bless you.

August 21 Eclipse Day united the nation. Everyone was lookng up… at the Sun and the moon in their cosmic dance… A giant predictable clock whose order was established at Creation by an Intelligence who exists today. This thought was inspired by the morning homily on EWTN. Who can deny the intelligence of Creation from the universe to DNA? Look up and not inward, and certainly not at current events. Look up to the future and rejoice! Look at Genesis 28, and Revelation 21 and rejoice that the ladder is our bridge to Paradise. We all enjoy the gift at Baptism. It is ours to accept or reject.

Yesterday was a lot of fun here in Clear Lake. We boated to The landing and sat outsie and ate fried white fish. It’s very hard not to eat fried…. I peel off all the coating… The fish is white lake fish and it is smooth and sweet. Then it was so sunny that I thought the pool might be warm. I haven’t been swimming on this trip due to my broken toe, but this week I say it is healed so I said….. "Let’s go for it." I put my bathing suit on and braved the out door pool. The sun shining brightly warmed the pool water and I spent a pleasant 1/2 hour doing water aerobics. Would like to do that every day at 3pm when the sun has had a solid 6 hours to heat the pool. For dinner we went to PM Park (fried chicken… again i peel off the covering) and watched a really wonderful play of volunteer actors who read the script but it’s OK. That’s what I did when I played a character at the Marathon theater. The play was about the second year of 5 "winners" of a karioke contest on a cruise ship. They sang many great old songs (Sonny and Cher’s "I’ve got you Babe" and "Joy to the World" along with Frank Sinatra and a wonderful song that included great harmonica.) I sang along with them and we clapped and hooted! Just fun comedy in a little tiki bar in Clear Lake Iowa. This morning dawned chilly – 59 degrees with light rain. I guess it’s time for autumn up here. We are going north to Lake Superior when we leave Clear Lake… will probably freeze our patoodies off. Chuck took me to church and Kyla is here with us (she had to go to a funeral in Mason City). So we will take her out for lunch someplace fun later. Have a wonderful day! God bless you!