Saturday, October 13, 2012



On the Death of a High School Friend who shared my youth.......


One of my High School friends, Kathy O'Brien Fox, fondly remembered as OB, died this week finally succombing to Alzheimers disease. One of her greatest joys was sailing and so her daughter, Lisa Ann, read this poem to us:



What Is Dying?
Bishop Charles Henry Brent

Written on the death of his wife
____________________________________

I am standing on the sea shore.

A ship sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.

She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her until at last she fades on the horizon, 
(I think she added here how horizon and sky came together until only a small spec remained and then disappeared ...)

and someone at my side says, 'She is gone' Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all.

She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.

The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, 'she is gone' 

there are others who are watching her coming, 
and other voices take up the glad shout, 
'there she comes.'


That is what dying is.
An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up O Lord, that we may see further
.

-------------------------------------------------------------
I could see Kathy's twinkling eyes in the eyes of her children and hear her laughter in the Heavens as she shared her last Hurrah at the Irish wake afterwards - ... I'm sure you all heard her laughter too as she flew across the sea toward the horizon, "at first a tiny spec, until you could see her no more"... None of us knows when, the hour or the day. But we can rest assured, 

She waits for us there.

I truly look more forward than backward these days, to when we can all be seventeen again and close - like then - forever and a day.

Three of us old classmates drove down to the beach to watch the pounding surf at Grand Haven whipped by the gale "winds of November come early." It rained all day and the roaring of the sea still crashes across my mind. 

I thought, "this is what she saw; this is where she lived, this is what she loved. She had a grand life and lived it widely. MayGod grant her eternal peace and may her soul find rest in Thee O Lord.

'till we meet again.........

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Northern Michigan Landscapes

View from Bill's Farm Market Toward Lake Michigan



Walsh Farm

Field of Sunflowers on Levering Road
Petoskey State Park Dunes
Haying at Bill's Farm Market


Summer Dreams Along Lake Michigan



Thursday, July 5, 2012

FOURTH UP NORTH



There is nothing better than the FOURTH UP NORTH - 

Come early and feast your eyes on Northern style, "Art in the Park," in Harbor Springs. Stand in line to grab a "Guerney's" sandwich, stacked with piles of fresh roasted turkey, deli sauce, and homemade bread. The homegrown, INGENIOUS Harbor Springs parade begins at 1:00 so set your chair up early along Main Street. 

Then jump in the cool clear waters of the Harbor Beach to chill out from the summer heat. Afterwards, head back south 20 minutes to Petoskey to watch another parade, led by the award-winning PHS band. Catch a 4th of July party along Mitchell Street for a bird's-eye-view - from Bill's Farm market veggie truck to fire engine soakers (relished by the audience in the melting 100 degree heat). Enjoy brats and dogs roasted by hosts in back-yard patios accompanied by neighbor's and friends' potluck surprises. Sparkle in the comraderie of friends and new acquaintances. 

As the warm evening fades, gather along Little Traverse Bay with the crowds that stretch for miles on the waterfront greens to watch the sunset and await man’s attempt to match nature’s fireworks. Outside the Perry Hotel, the Petoskey Steel Band fills the night air with drumming. Above, candled balloons float up from the pier like winged chariots of fire. 

A black sky suddenly ignites with fire. First, Harbor Springs explodes casting deep red, white, blue and green reflections across the blackened Bay illuminating flotillas of yachts and boats of every kind and their reveling gazers. Then spectacular booms from Petoskey's fireworks draws a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs” from the hoards of people who silently gathered in the darkness like a flash mob erupting without warning or sign.

Then the grand finale illuminates minds with the cost of freedom and our obligation to protect our liberties. Independence Day, a day of light, laughter and an awakening to America that freedoms must be defended despite the cost.


Grand Finale