Walking to the mailbox

I thought I'd take my camera along as I walked up to get the mail. Here's a few pictures of what I saw along the way.

This is the short cut path back to the house. I remember when we purchased our home, the owners daughters showed me the path and said they used it if they were running late for catching the school bus. Times flies, those young ladies have long since graduated from high school.

~Michele

Heirloom Tomato Frittata

We love eggs and I just got into making frittatas this year. I was inspired to make another this morning after rejoicing, yes, REJOICING, that local heirloom tomatoes were at our farmer's market yesterday. And, they are too die for!


Nothing special here: finely chopped garlic scapes sauteed in Tuscan herb infused olive oil and spinach, pour in 5 beaten eggs. Let cook half way through, top with sliced tomatoes and broil until slightly brown on top, firm and/or eggs are NOT runny in the middle. I then garnished it with chopped cilantro. 


Sweet cherries are still in season as are raspberries. I pitted the former and combined with the latter to accompany a frittata slice. It was great!


Andy

Friday Night Music

There is SO MUCH to do in our area and July and August likely offer the most choices. When possible we love to take in music at the marina park in Northport on Friday nights. Commonly, a local business sponsors the event and volunteers (music lovers) come around during the show and collect donations.

Last night we enjoyed a blue-grass band ("Sour Mash"; their site is here and the name stems from this) that performed in the traditional method of how the genre developed--all playing and singing around one mic. I'd guess about 400 people or so set up chairs and picnics and enjoyed the show for about 2 hours. 

We seem to not only enjoy food and wine in our area, but pets too; I had to include the cute lab shot. (If you like labs, check out my employer's publication: Just Labs Magazine) 

Hope you had a good weekend too.

Andy

Sweet Katie

We haven't added a picture of Katie in awhile, so I thought I'd share this one. It's one of my favorites! She is such a sweet girl, I always tell her "you are the light of my life!"

~Michele

Wildflowers in the yard

We aren't good at gardening ...... OK it's safe to say, we can't grow anything! But, here and there in the yard, we are lucky to have a few wildflowers, compliments of the previous owners and the birds have helped out too!

~Michele

“Engagement Central” . . . w/ Pix!

There is something magical about this area in which we live. Of course, our post on 7/6/10 tells the amazing Coast Guard engagement story. And, now, we have another one.

Michele and I enjoyed a wonderful sunset on Lake Michigan last night. This was on the main public beach in Leland, about a 15 minute drive from our house. About half way through the evening a young couple with one of their parents sat down to enjoy the sunset not too far from us. After awhile, the young couple went to walk the beach for a bit.

When they came back the woman was crying, yet the whole group was jazzed—the young man had just proposed! And, then we heard the young woman’s Dad say, “My camera battery just died.” Of course, I had my camera equipment with me (“Don’t leave home without it!”) so Michele and I interpreted that as a cue. We’re glad we did.

Not only was the young couple delightful, but we had a chance to chat with the parents as well. Come to find out, they lived in Michele’s home town for over a decade—not even a mile from where Michele grew up and where her parents still live! In fact, it is almost certain that Michele’s mom served the bride-to-be a high school lunch at some point before she retired. What a small, wonderful world it is.

I got about 5 shots of the two. And, as you can see by the beautiful samples here, I don’t think they can take a bad picture!

CONGRATULATIONS, BRIAN AND LEAH!!

Andy & Michele

Summer Flower Pix

Had a wonderful photoshoot this morning. A friend of ours is, simply, an amazing gardener; berm after berm of gorgeous flowers, plants and landscapes. He was generous enough to host a small group of people who love photography. One in particular is incredibly talented at enhancing photos after the fact, or, what is called, post-processing. I'm hoping to post some of his creations later.

For now, here are some shots I took.
Andy