I know I'm going to save the best for last, but how to begin?
I guess I will brag that I am finishing my last bite of a wonderful chocolate zucchini muffin. Oh, yum! I pick four zucchinis each time I go to the garden, so I have to make lots of zucchini dishes. Let me know if you want a zucchini!
And thank you Grammy Linda for that great muffin recipe.
Now let's rewind.
This weekend Copper Harbor saw, what I believe to be, the most consecutive days of hot weather for the 2023 summer. It also saw sooooo many mountain bikers that it took me two minutes to pull out of a parking lot in downtown Copper Harbor. Two minutes to go straight! That's why I don't drive, but that day, I had to.
It's such a weird feeling.
I think all the festivities went off without a hitch for the most part. Esa and I checked out the festivities on Saturday. It was neat to connect with people I haven't seen in a while or don't see much anymore.
I've been living here for 17 years, and a lot has changed in that time! Not all of us ride like we used to, or we have families or work or, you know, other life things. But it's always good to catch up. We even did a little dancing before the band was done.
The other weird feeling about this is that I used to be on the Copper Harbor Trails Club board and this weekend would be soooo busy for me. Selling raffle tickets, carting volunteers, getting more cups for the beer tent, and so on.
But this year, I just went out and enjoyed a night. So kudos to the current CHTC peeps for keeping up with all the behind the scenes planning and nitty gritty. It's exhausting!
We also had to escape some of the chaos by heading to our more secluded beaches. This one was nice!
On this visit, there were more divers and rock pickers in the water than people on the beach. It was cool to watch them. One (from the boat in this picture) hunted with a tank. One floated on the surface in a wetsuit. Another couple laid on a paddle board with their goggled eyes in the water.
Hopefully they found some treasure, Matey!
Here's a treasure!
This is the first year I tried planting gladiolus, and some of them blossomed!!! They make my heart so happy!
Heart-throbbing gladiolus
I made sure to get a picture of them before the weather turned. I sent this to my parents for their happy anniversary today. 43 years, I think. Hearts to them!
So, yeah, all that hot weather changed in a few minutes as the winds picked up, the skies opened up, lightning struck and thunder roared last night. Now today is chilly, wet and windy.
Just how it should be. Ha!
Want to know who else is just how they should be?
Brady P of love. He started school in Calumet -- the big school -- yesterday. He is surrounded with so many other people that I bet he can't wait to meet them all. His new teacher said he was "all smiles" yesterday, and today, he was so ready to go again.
This is a big, somewhat scary step from the one room schoolhouse in town, but he is crushing it. He is ready. On the eve before the first day I asked him how he felt about going to the big school in the morning and he said, "Friendly, happy, excited and proud."
He gave me a big grin and my heart just beamed.
"Oh, Brady! I'm so proud of you!" I swooned, and he hopped on me to give me a big hug.
Something changed in him. I think he feels like he has a place to spread his wings. He needs to be around people, and they need to be around him, so this is a good first step.
He even gets ready in the morning without me having to ask nine times or get upset. When a person finds their groove, they just flow with it. It's an amazing feeling for everyone involved so far!
Big man getting on the big kid bus!
He is absolutely so proud. He even enjoys the nearly 1 1/2 hour bus ride because, well, he feels cool like a big kid!
Good things are happening!
And here are a couple updates from CHV!
Here are the fall gallery hours:
Come on in! I have a 50% off sale shelf and a lava lamp going. Plus, you'll find a whole bunch of prints that aren't on my site. I can't keep up with that rotation!
And do you want to know a secret? The framed art in the gallery is half the price of what it is on the website. Whaaaaat??? I mean, how else can I offer free shipping on that stuff? The gallery is the bargain, baby!
But if you can't make it in, just know that if you are on the fence about ordering In the Dirt, two copies or more ship for free. People are contacting me out of the blue to tell me how much they loved it. See for yourself, if you haven't already!
And here's the link to the latest podcast episode with Kelly Raber. She is a rad friend of mine who scores the Lake Superior Gravity Series and coaches mountain bikers and snowboarders! Plus, we are sort of goofy together, so it's one of those to brighten your day.
I think that's all for now. I better publish this before we lose power! Xoxo!