Wednesday with Burt and Julie

We have been busy of late with our real estate business, which usually includes all of the weekends as well.  We have tried to take Wednesdays off together to run errands, AND to enjoy some of our awesome Northern Michigan treats! This week we visited the Soul Hole in Old Town in Traverse City. What [...]

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Sweet Days

As we spend our last days basking in the warm island breezes, we have been out-and-about painting some of the area icons.  The above painting is a rendering of Island Girl Cakes.  We bought a luscious lemon cake with lemon curd filling there, the flavor running neck-and-neck with the free sample of Rum Spice cake. [...]

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Damn the Tornadoes, Full Speed Ahead!

Carol and I braved sheeting rain and dodged tornadoes through Tennessee and Kentucky on our way to Florida recently, putting yet another travelling adventure  behind us!  Never a boring moment with Those Bowman Girls!  Thankfully we weren’t home for the 17″ + snow and ice the same system dumped on our corner of Michigan, downing trees [...]

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Roller-coaster Winter!

It is a glorious, sunny day!  Very unusual in February in the “lake-effect” snow belt!  We have had several sunny days in the last few weeks.  We are having a warm day with a high of 40, sending ice and snow on a melting retreat.  Not much of a winter for snowmobilers and ice fisherman!  [...]

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December 19th Advent – Gingerbread Houses

Big excitement this evening!  Family and friends are gathering to make Gingerbread Houses, and they are bringing their dogs, too! As the south- setting sun gets ever closer to the Winter Solstice, the kitchen is a-buzz with the final touches on the Paella we will soon share. The leaves are inserted in the dining table, making much [...]

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December 18th Advent – Who is Rudolph?……..and “Eggnog”.

Carol sent me an email yesterday with some interesting trivia about reindeer, and I thought it was worth sharing: “ According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December; [...]

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Advent December 8th – Donning of the Lights

Just a reminder…….this is what my yard looked like last December at this date!  Do you miss it?  It is beautiful and so clean looking when it is fresh, until you have to dig out to go to somewhere! We hung some lights on the porch yesterday afternoon.  It was 4:00 when I took these [...]

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December 3rd Advent – Doggies Decorated?

You know it’s Christmastime up north when you see the cut Christmas trees on their way to market.  We got behind some on the way to the train station to pick up our niece for Thanksgiving break from college. We enjoyed the International Christmas Tree show at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids before we came home. If [...]

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Do I Hear Bells??????

Where ever I have lived or visited, I have memories of different bells or chimes ringing in times of day or special occasions.  As a teenager, I recall the bells of the Catholic church near my best friend’s house ringing at seven am, reminding us we had actually talked most the night!  The last house [...]

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All Things Orange, Purple, or SPOOKY!

It’s the last week in October, and the colors are wonderful!  Much of the leaves have managed to hang on, in spite of 3 days of winds and gusts up to 50 MPH!. We have had alot of activities of late, and I thought the best way to tie them together is in the title.  [...]

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