September Sisters and the End of Summer

My sister-in-laws and I took a long weekend in Michigan and returned yesterday.  We splurged on the Lake Express ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, then drove north to the Leelanau peninsula.  We found a nice B&B, then just drove, hiked, sampled wine and chocolate covered cherries.

Over the weekend we celebrated a birthday (not mine), and the end of summer.  This scene was from a funky general store on the Old Mission peninsula.  The folks ahead of us bought their last pasties, but I did get a cherry ice cream cone.  Even if the calendar said autumn, it felt like a summer afternoon.

Water, water everywhere.   Leland interested me because of the vintage fishing boats, which used to be common on the Great Lakes.  I took this picture from the Cove restaurant in Leland, Michigan. We had delicious whitefish dinners, and I tried one of their "Chubby Mary" drinks. Don't know what came over me; it was a bloody Mary with a smoked chub in it.  I fished the critter out, and ate it with Saltines.  It tasted OK, but not something I ever need to try again.

Our B&B was on a country road, and at night we heard coyotes yipping.  It was a comfortable old farmhouse, remodeled by the new owners who provided elegant breakfasts, and who had bookshelves stocked with novels.  I made it halfway through Julia Alvarez's Yo! and now need to get to the library to finish it.

I haven't posted  a poem in ages.  I found this one in the calendar I use as a daily journal - the 2008 Wisconsin Poets Calendar.

Last Day of Summer, by Mary L. Downs

I begged her to stay

Bought her a new swimsuit

beach umbrella and sandals

Served lunch alfresco

with champagne  Pavlova

for dessert

She thanked me as she left

for siesta  didn't tell me

that her bag was packed

that she planned to slip away

when late afternoon

melded into twilight

That she would sail off tonight

with a chevron of geese

honking its way south