Up North again

 I've written before about being lucky enough to have friends with a summer house 

in Northern Michigan; 

and even luckier that they invited me to come up again

for another week this summer.

 

'My' week, in the past, has been at the end of the summer, 

so coming up this early in the season was a new experience.

 

It was glorious.

And its totally convinced me 

that I truly need to be living somewhere 

where it's cool enough to grow poppies!

I'm fairly certain this is what heaven looks like.

Add in the requisite barns, wineries that looked like we were in Tuscany,

roadside stands and tourist 'oddities',

and I loved every minute of it -

even if it rained 4 out of the 7 days I was there.

As you can see, the rain was fabulous for their gardens 

and , even on a rainy day, the beauty in the state parks was breath taking.

In the community where my friends live, the ferns are as big as shrubs!

Can you tell I'm still smitten with the area?

Throw in a few art galleries with local artists, 

a funky iconic restaurant and charming hamlets and you've got the perfect get away.

It was perfect from start to finish.

And, yes, that's what the sunset looked like - 

thanks, in part, I suspect, to some smoke from the fires in Canada.

There was also a stop in Chicago to see family while on my way home -

and those visits are never long enough either.

So busy gabbing, I didn't take very many pictures during that phase of the trip.

Plus, truth be told, I brought back a small souvenir from my travels - COVID.

The onyl symptom I had was a productive hacking cough that racked my whole body;

when I started hocking up green gobs of what looked like Superglue, 

I suspected I wasn't 'just' dealing with allergies. 

I was still shocked when I had a positive in home test -

this with all immunizations and boosters on board.

I can only imagine how scary it was to have this cough and lack of breath 

before they discovered Paxlovid.

I got started on the medicine right away and its definitely helping

although the metallic after taste is awful!

Small price to pay, though, if it keeps me out of the hospital

and off a ventilator.

Anyway, I'm home - and using this enforced downtime for more creations

I'm so easily amused!