July 4: The Sun is Still Shining

Today's post is dedicated to my sister-in-law, Yvette. We have discovered that we have a lot in common and actually enjoy each other's company. One thing that we agree on is that you can't live life in the past - you have to continually live in the moment and always strive to move forward with your life...learn new things, enjoy what's in front of you, and as Tim McGraw sings, "Always be humble and kind."

"Don't expect a free ride from no one

Don't hold a grudge or a chip and here's why

Bitterness keeps you from flyin'

Always stay humble and kind" Tim McGraw

Fireworks - not a good picture from my camper window.

Lake Charlevoix Beach where we swam when we lived on the north side of town.

Petoskey Avenue house. There used to be a balcony over that front door.

I remember when we sat on the sidewalk and watched this house get moved to this location.

Behind the Lake Michigan snack shop where Dave Taylor and I would make out.

The rock cottage where my favorite principal, an ex-nun lived. I always dreamed of living in this house.

The draw bridge that is one of the attraction in Charlevoix. It lets sailboats and larger vessels go from Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix or vice versa.

Lake Michigan Beach. This was my beach. I spent most of my summer there or on the tennis courts.

This is THE hill where we would sled in the winter. The city would put hay bales at the bottom, so kids didn't slide into traffic.

The third house with Terry's mushroom wallpaper. We loved this house. It really broke our hearts to move from here.

The little grocery store on the corner of the Antrim House.

Once my middle school, now the city library.

Lucy's house. She would sit in her bedroom in those upstairs windows and flash her flashlight at my window directly across from there.

The Antrim Street house. My bedroom was the upstairs window on the right. This is the house where I "became a woman."

Charlevoix hospital where I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was in the 6th grade. I threw up so many blue popscicles.

Saint Mary's where I went to catechism once a week after school and on Sunday nights. I have a whole story about a volunteer teacher who was so lame and the other kids were not helpful and I had to finally put her out of her misery. Story for another day.

Once the High School, now the Elementary School.

This whole are used to be grassed and we would have our marching band practices there.

The track where we ran, also the football field where we had great games. It is such a fond memory. I had eggs in my pocket to throw later and someone knocked me down and the eggs broke in my pocket. It was disgusting.

Through those doors is where I learned to play the trombone (poorly).

I still don't understand the y in rayders.

The middle of nowhere

is where the new middle/high school is located.

Just took this pic because my brother's name is Terry.

That last window is where I learned to read at recess from Mr. Speigel.

This is where the Snake Dance would start every year before the Homecoming game. It was a great memory.

Downtown

Downtown amphitheater music in the park.

Park by the docks in downtown.

The nice lady at the fudge shop gave the dogs ice cream.

Waiting for the dogs to finish their ice cream.

Lake Charlevoix docks.

The canal. That's the Weather Vane Restaurant across the canal.

This area used to be grass without a railing. It's where we streaked.

The pier.

Everyone stopped here after school for sodas and candy. My favorite, $100,000,000 Bar.

This is the only place to ski in Charlevoix. My brother hit his cheek just below his eye with the tip of his ski here and got a horrible shiner.

Even though the camper is still busted, the sun is out and it is a beautiful Fourth of July. After breakfast, I'm headed out to search for some old stomping grounds to take pictures. We'll probably walk around down town and watch the fireworks later. We visited our old homes. The one on Petoskey Avenue is really transformed. It's the house where my dad dropped water balloons from the upstairs balcony in front of unsuspecting trick or treaters. So wrong for so many reasons. The next house we lived in was on Antrim Street. Lucy lived across the street and there was a little grocery store on the corner. Two doors down from Lucy was the house where we'd buy our weed. The house on Antrim is where Maxine dressed like a witch on Halloween and really decorated the house in scary Halloween tradition and she scared the present and future sh*t out of every little kid who came by for treats. I'm beginning the realize why I don't like Halloween so much. A holiday designed to scare little kids just seems wrong. The last house we lived in was on Clinton. It was very big - Dad and Max bought it. We were able to decorate our own rooms. I remember that we all decided on wallpaper. Mine was yellow, orange, and green, stripes on two walls and hanging chains in the same colors on the other two walls. Kathy I think just wanted blue. Terry, on the other hand went for this black, red, and white motif in what looked like random letters - that is until it was hung and it continuously spelled out "mushroom" all around and up and down. It was pretty funny. We lived there for a year or so and it was time for Dad to move us again. This is probably why I don't keep friends for very long. I'm a loner, but without Ben, I'm just lonely. Walking around downtown Charlevoix was not very pleasant. So many tourists. It was so crowded you could hardly walk on the sidewalk. Seems that the boating, sailing, jet ski thing and lounging by the lake are what the summer crowd does and they are all rich and kind of snobby. Everyone that I asked if they lived there (including people running the shops) are not locals. Charlevoix is a cash cow. It's been kept up very nicely but the shine is gone for me. The middle school I went to is now the library. The HIgh School is now the Elementary School and there is a brand new Middle/High School out by the airport. I walked the dogs along the canal and out by the pier, which is where Lucy and I stripped down and streaked along the canal while my parents were eating at the restaurant across the canal, The Weather Vane, which is still there. We also used to walk all the way out onto the rock pier on the other side of the canal, but now it's finished and not just made of boulders anymore. As we walked back toward the drawbridge we came across a fish that was on the walkway and gasping for oxygen. I picked it up and threw it back in. A fisherman scolded me because it is an invasive species. I said, I couldn't stand to see it gasping. He pointed behind him where there were probably 10-12 more laying on the ground gasping. He gave me a look, then said, " Don't even think about it." :0) You know I did think about it, but he was much bigger than me.

I looked for Murdock's Famous Fudge, but it is no longer there. There is however a Murdick's Fudge Shoppe, which was established in 1996. Same variety of fudge without the big window where you could see it being made. I sent a box to the little grandkids. Went grocery shopping at Oleson's (still there). Tiny, but a surprising variety of things to buy including gluten free crackers! Yay!

We took a long afternoon nap and then we went for a drive on the north side by the lake. So many dogs in this town. All the homes over here by the lake weren't here when we lived in Charlevoix. Lucy and I would ride our bikes over here and sing songs from the Paul McCartney and Wings album.

I think I've seen enough of Charlevoix. You can't go back and you really shouldn't. It's what I've said so many times before. Life is about moving forward. I've never enjoyed trips down Memory Lane, so I really don't know what I expected. We watched the fireworks from our camper window. Jean-Luc is such a scaredy cat. Every time one went off, he barked and whined. Bobby just laid there on the pillows like he couldn't even hear it.

Made dinner - Caesar salad for me and dog kibble with chicken soup for the dogs. They are so spoiled. No wifi, so I'm continuing to type journal entries into Google Docs until I get to a wifi area that I can use to upload to my site. Tomorrow I guess I'll figure out this busted camper thing.