Unbelievable

A few nights ago my family and I were hanging out in the living room when we heard an odd noise. It sounded like someone had dropped something upstairs. Since we were all together in the living room, I went upstairs to investigate. I looked all over but couldn't find the cause of the noise.

Until I got up the next morning and was getting ready; that's when I noticed how sticky things were in the bathroom closet. After a little investigating, I found what had made the mystery noise the night before. Somehow my metal container of hairspray exploded.

I'm glad I wasn't holding it when it exploded because the torn metal edges were really sharp. Luckily the mess was contained to one shelf in the closet, but it took quite a while to wash down every item on the shelf, as well as the walls and the shelf itself - it was all a sticky mess.

Now I'm just really curious about what made the metal fail like that...

Homemade

Not much makes me happier than

homemade Ben & Jerry's ice cream. 

Unless, it's homemade Ben & Jerry's

Heath Bar Crunch ice cream.

My husband had the audacity to

suggest that I added

too much Heath to this batch.

(I hadn't added it when I snapped the picture.)

I mean, is there such a thing

as too much Heath?

I think not...

My Favorite Things

One of my favorite things abut summer is fruit salad! So sweet and delicious. I love to get myself a bowl and enjoy it outside in the shade. It's the perfect summer afternoon treat.

Poetic Visions 2022

My son won the Best in Show prize for the high school category in this year's Poetic Visions of Mackinac competition! When my husband and I arrived the Director asked us where our son was. Sadly, he was home - sick with Covid. The Director politely suggested we call our son at home and make sure he was watching the live stream of the event. We were glad we could take a hint. 

Lucky?

 I found this horseshoe while I was 

walking to town today.

I hope it brings me good luck.

Coffee, Scones & Conversation

My good friend, Stephanie, just arrived back on the Island from wintering in California, so we've started getting together, once a week, for coffee. I hosted this week, which was the prefect occasion to use all those things I have in my china cabinet yet rarely use. (I'm trying to be better about that. I'm also trying to note where things came from so I can pass that knowledge on to my kids - if they choose to keep my treasures.)

• The lilac china belonged to my Great Aunt Ruth. Neither of her kids wanted it and I thought it would be perfect for Mackinac Island.
• The Arklow cream and sugar set were purchased by my mom when we visited Ireland in 1985.
• The Dirigold cutlery belonged my Grandmothers. (They both had it and I consolidated it into one.)
• I bought the Dirigold platter for myself. I found it at a thrift shop for a steal and since it matched what I got from my Grandmothers, it made sense to me to nab it.

Stephanie's visit also gave me an excuse to bake. Ever since I made homemade clotted cream, I've wanted to make scones.  They're so easy, I'm not sure why I've never made them. They were so easy I made two different varieties: sweetened cream cheese and dried cherry. Hands down my family preferred the cherry ones (topped with homemade strawberry jam.) Follow this link for the recipe to make your own. You won't regret it, though one batch only makes six scones - that's why I made two.

Happy Day

Happy Independence Day from Mackinac! I hope you had a perfect day. We were lucky enough to get two fireworks displays this year. I'm still not quite sure why there wasn't one, larger display, but by all accounts it was wonderful.

Walking

While I was walking to town the other day I noticed something in the road. Don't see it? Here, let me zoom in...

See it now? It is a Eastern garter snake - a common snake on Mackinac Island. This little guy was completely unafraid of me. I kept walking closer and closer, until I was almost on top of him.

He just sat there, proud as can be, for a long time. Once he finally realized I was there, his head popped up in surprise and he slithered away.

Wait, What?

Did you know Meijer stores in Michigan sell Sex? Yup - Sparkling Sex no less. I snapped this picture and immediately thought, "Dad is going to think that's hilarious." And then, I remembered... 

Which was actually kind of a good thing because it meant that I hadn't been thinking about my dad at that exact moment, which is a step in the right direction. That first week or so, he was on my mind, literally, all the time. I'm not on the verge of tears all day anymore - another  step in the right direction. 

I know absolutely nothing about wine (I call my friend Michelle with all my wine questions) but apparently Sex is made by a winery in Suttons Bay, Michigan (near Traverse City.) It is described as "a fruit forward rosé with light red berry aromas and a balanced finish." Sex can be yours for $17.00 a bottle. The question is, is it good sex? I may just have to buy a bottle and find out.

The Potato Olympics

We needed a fun yet academic way to wrap up this school year and the Potato Olympics fit the bill perfectly. Potato Olympics you ask? Why yes!

First, the kindergarten through sixth grade students selected a potato and transformed it into an athlete. Next, each potato got a backstory and important measurements were taken.

The fifth and sixth graders spent time discovering what the term "an average potato" meant as they analyzed the length, girth and mass of all 20 potatoes. They investigated mean, median, mode, range and created line plots as they looked at the data.

Finally, it was time to coach the potato athletes to greatness! We held multiple events including:

the balance beam, 

bowling, 

the high jump,

and weightlifting.

The potatoes also competed in downhill skiing, the long jump and a relay race.

We all had an absolute hoot with these activities! While the athletes were taking a break the kids even got to play Potato Potato French Fry (Duck Duck Goose) and Hot Potato. Mrs. Lisk has decided we need to end every year this way; next year she wants a baked potato bar for hot lunch on the last day of school to celebrate the gold medal winning potatoes. Sounds like a good idea to me! (Just as long as we celebrate them, by not eating them. Those potatoes were a little worse for wear after all of those events.)