Madeline Island 2022 - Got In a Lot of Great Stuff Today

Friday, July 29, 2022

Slept pretty deeply last night. Coffee on the porch with Dale. 

Worked a lot on genealogy stuff while Dale went to work. 

Susan and Bruce are having us over for dinner at their place tonight so we decided to pick up some wine at Lori's. Turns out they're closed for a few days due to some staffing issues which continues to be a problem in the post-lockdown world. Dale says it's too bad as Lori's has been better stocked than the Island Store this season. 

Anyway we went to the Island Store (which was pretty busy due to Lori's being closed) and picked up some wine. 

We also went to the candle store to pick up some gifts for Mom and Warren who are watching Sylvester back home. 

After dropping our purchases off at the car we went to the Beach Club for lunch. We both got fish sandwiches. Dale got grilled white fish for his and I got fried trout for mine. So delicious. Oh, and I got an old fashioned too. 

After lunch we stopped at Mission Hill Coffee to get some of Marie's most marvelous blueberry muffins. So delicious. 

After we got home we decided to take a walk on the Capser Trail. Dale's only been walking it for the past couple years although he's been aware of it for longer. This was my first time. We both found ourselves asking why we hadn't taken advantage of it sooner. 

To walk it is about a two mile round trip. 

It's one thing to be walking or driving "in" the woods on a wide highway but it's another to walk through on a narrow path and be completely surrounded by the forest. 

It was so incredibly beautiful. 

There's a turn-off on the trail where you can access a boardwalk that goes through a marsh.

Again, just beautiful.

This sign tells the story of the massive beaver dams that used to be there.

On the return trip to the car we ran into a couple of Islanders sitting on a bench and said hello. They asked if we had seen the little mini village of castles that someone is mysteriously building. We informed them we hadn't so they told us where the turn-off for it is in the path at the other end of the trail. We told them we'd be sure to look for it next time. 

Dinner tonight at Susan and Bruce's. Dale's been to their place before but it was the first time for me. It's beautiful and the view from their deck is incredible. 

Dale and Susan had a chance to catch up on some work related stuff. Susan and Bruce were very curious to know how my school year ended up. I told them how hard the extended year due to the strike was on teachers, families, and students. Their interest and concern were touching. 

Anyway, it had been a work day for Susan and she had worked until five when she threw together a whitefish and lettuce salad which was absolutely DIVINE. It was so delicious and what made it even more impressive is that we arrived at 6:00 and that she improvised and made up the recipe as she went along. 

Madeline Island June 2019 - Day 3: A Full Day

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Coffee on the porch with Dale and then some general putzing around after he left for work

Went in to town around 11:30. My first stop was a blueberry muffin from Marie at Mission Hill Coffee.

Second stop was a Bloody Mary at the Beach Club. I noticed the guy adjacent to me at the bar salting his beer. I've never seen that done before. When the man left I asked the bartender about it who said that, yes, people do indeed salt their beer. The woman next to me said she had never heard of this either. I asked the bartender why folks might do this. He said he wasn't sure but that he noticed it tends to happen more often when people drink light beer. I googled it and told the bartender that the top answer had to do with killing the taste of bad beer. Other answers included keeping it from bubbling too much and also the replenishing of salt by people drinking beer in pubs after hard manual labor. Hmmm. Now we know.

After the Beach Club I was off to Grandpa Tony's for a Hawaiian pizza. 

Next stop was Madeline Island Candles where I picked up a couple of vanilla candles and a pumpkin one for fall. Finally, before heading home, a stop at the Island Store for more broccoli. Dale and I ate it tonight with chili left over from last night. 

Watched round 2 of the Democratic debates on Dale's iPad after dinner was all cleaned up. Kamala and Pete were awesome. 

Madeline Island June 2019 - Day 2: Glorious Day

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Woke up to a glorious sunshiny morning and had coffee on the porch with Dale. After he left for work I continued to have coffee and I read for a while. 

Lunch in town at the Beach Club. I had a fish sandwich accompanied by a brandy Old Fashioned (what else?).

After lunch I stopped by the Island Store for broccoli and a few other things and then back to the cabin for a little walking and then a cigar. 

After Dale got home from work we relaxed on the porch and then made chili for dinner which we ate on the porch.

We finished out my first full day here by watching night one of the Democratic debates with 10 contenders.  Tomorrow night another 10 will debate. My understanding is that there are still 4 others who didn't rank high enough in polling or financial contributions to make the cut. After that, bedtime!

Island 2018 - First Trip Second Day: Afternoon Shopping

Friday, June 22, 2018

After lunch I did a little more shopping. I stopped at the Bell Street Gallery and picked up the piece pictured above. I love the dragonflies.

I also tried on some sunglasses at the beach store around the corner. They didn't have a mirror for their outdoor display so I took a selfie to see what they looked like. I didn't buy them as I thought they looked a little too big.

Also stopped by the Island Store for a brownie...

...and this little guy. Just because.

Island 2017 - 2nd Trip Day 8: Dinner

Friday, July 7, 2017

Dale made sloppy joes for dinner. I helped by walking over to Island Grocery to pick up some broccoli. Island Grocery also sells the best brownies. I picked a couple up which we had for dessert with some leftover caramel collision ice cream that Fran and Charlie had brought during their visit.  We watched Twin Cities public affairs programming on t.v. I know, we're exciting.

Island 2016 - First Trip Day 5: Ice Ice Baby

Monday, June 20, 2016

Behind the strip mall the contains the Island Grocery and the Beach Shop.

Madeline Island 2015: First Trip Day 4 - July 5th

Saturday, July 5, 2015

Beautiful concert last night. The American String Quartet played Quartet #11 in F Minor by Beethoven, Quartet #12 in F Major by Dvorak, and Sextet in D Minor by Tchaikovsky. The concert was at The Clubhouse which has a nice deck around it.  Before the start of the concert I tried to walk out one of the open sliding doors onto the deck but it was dim enough out that although I could see the sliding glass door was open I couldn't see there was a screen covering the open space which stopped me, stunned, in my tracks. A very sweet woman, who was standing nearby waiting for the restroom, asked if I was okay. I told her that, other than being embarrassed, I was fine. "Don't worry" she said, "I've done that before too." I felt better.

Walking home after the concert proved to be rather treacherous. It was dark and the only road back was not well lit. Charlie had a flashlight on his cell phone. I've always wanted to know where to locate it on my cell phone and he said it was an app. I downloaded it and how convenient it is. What a great tool to have. We had a couple of close calls but I think having the flashlight helped.

This morning the 4 of us had coffee on the deck. I offered to walk over to the Island Store to pick up a newspaper. The woman who runs it is still plugging away despite the fact her husband died recently. I guess he was sitting out in front of the store, as he often does, and died while sitting in his chair. 

The folks he was talking too kept talking to him for five minutes before they realized he was dead. Sad to hear. He was quite a town favorite and institution.

Fran and Charlie went to one of the strings concerts given by the camp's students at 11 a.m. I ambled down to The Beach Club at around 1 p.m. for a fish sandwich. I got the trout. After I ordered a couple of old fashioneds at the bar. The same gal was tending bas as Friday. She said she was out of oranges so she substituted Cointreau instead. It worked. Yes, I went for brandy again (When in Wisconsin...).

For dinner Fran and Charlie made steaks. What awesome house guests. They cook, they're self sufficient, they know how to take some time for themselves and schedule some things to do on their own, and, on top of all this, they both have such lovely dispositions! We ate on the deck and chatted for quite a while after after dinner over many things including church and politics (we sparred good naturedly with Charlie). Lovely evening.

Main Street Madeline Island 2012 - Island Store Grocery

The Island Store Grocery is always well stocked.