And Forever in Peace May You Wave

 

I'm a little late too for Fourth of July greetings, but not too late to say that I hope it was a happy day. I'm also never too late to quote George M. Cohan and my favorite lyric from "You're a Grand Old Flag." 

"And Forever in Peace May You Wave."

This beautiful scene is on the spectacular Mackinac Island in Michigan. You leave Detroit and drive 300 miles north. You take the ferry to the island and you blink once and you've entered paradise. There are no cars, but lots of bicycles and some of the most fabulous scenery ever. Have a lemonade, eat some fudge, listen to the water lapping at the shore and enjoy the calm.   

I want to share my very first Fourth of July card from dear Buttercup friend, Darlene in Tennessee. Firecrackers, stars, stripes and good wishes! Darlene, can't begin to thank you for your thoughtfulness. Much, much appreciated. 

I didn't spend much time out-of-doors today -- the dreaded holiday rain descended -- but I did see the latest version of Indiana Jones and caught up with a dear friend. I also began my birthday celebration with a great Mexican dinner. Thanks, E, both the food and company were a treat.   

I hope your day held good times and I hope, too, that Old Glory waves over a peaceful and just nation. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and happy summer.  

It's TLC (Book Tour) Tuesday

Like so many things in CyberLand I have no idea how I discovered the Facebook group for TLC Book Tours, but happily I did. I stayed at the edges at first, adding a comment from time to time. But in the last month I've become more active and am so enjoying it. There are book giveaways, reviews and a wonderful group of readers. 

TLC Book Tours arranges virtual book tours for authors, which are among my favorite blog events. I spent time this afternoon looking at the website and found a number of books I'd like to read. I know it's going to be a favorite stop for book browsing.

I'd like to share two new posts at Coffee Light and Mysteries (Mostly) Noir, I found some great mysteries that take place on Mackinac Island, including Heart of Ice. I've almost finished it and am enjoying it very much. Great characters, a good mystery and a return trip to Mackinac.

During a trip to the bookstore last week I also discovered Francine Mathews' Death in the Off-Season, which takes place on Nantucket Island. Nantucket is near the top of my to-visit list. Unfortunately a visit there isn't on the schedule, but happily, I can get to Nantucket via reading. I'm looking forward to reading this -- with thanks to James Taylor -- and going to Nantucket in my mind.

What's on your summer reading list?

 

I spent a quiet day today, but I got to the gym, paid bills and had a nice walk along Broadway. Tomorrow's treat is a manicure. My poor cuticles will be very grateful.

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and keep cool! 

 



Mackinaw Island Pink Saturday

Time for a some pretty in Pink Saturday fun. This may -- or may not be the last of the Mackinac Island photographs. For a two day visit I took a lot of pictures and I still have a few post ideas. Happily I was there in peony season and the island looked beautiful. These first three photographs are my Pink Saturday inspiration.

 

I also found this fabulous pink refrigerator in one of the gift shops I visited. It's too big for my kitchen or I would have been looking for a way to ship it back to New York, via horse drawn carriage to the ferry to a van. It would have been quite a project. 

I loved this pink merry-go-round pony at the Pink Pony, restaurant and store. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. The high point of the weekend was a trip to Staten Island to see the Yankees farm team, the Staten Island Yankees play. I had a great time and have some wonderful pictures I will be sharing in a post this week.

As ever, thanks for visiting and wishes for a peaceful week ahead. Take good care!

Oh Fudge!

Sadly, I'm going to miss the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival in August, but from my observation every day is a fudge festival on Mackinac Island. This sweet has been the main treat for over a century for visitors to the Island, Though I'm not a particular fudge fan -- toffee is my special treat -- I made sure to become a "fudgy." The latter is the nickname for tourists to Northern Michigan and especially Mackinac. 
 

There are a number of fudge and candy stores along the main street, approximately every twenty yards. They all looked good, but I chose Joann's Fudge because they seemed to have the most sugar free varieties. There were twenty-nine kinds of fudge with sugar and four that had artificial sweetener. I limit my sugar, and artificial sugar, too, but succumbed to a small piece of chocolate walnut fudge. I enjoyed it a lot and I was glad to be counted as an official Fudgy.
 

Some of the flavors that were offered. They all looked tempting, but in the interest of wearing the same clothes when I got home, I elected not to sample the bounty of sugar and cream.

If I was really going wild, I would have gone with one of these fabulous apples.

Candy makers at work. 

The temptation was at every turn and the windows were so pretty. 

 

There are still several Mackinac posts to come -- I took a lot of pictures -- but I'm thinking of taking a quick break in the next day and sharing some New York fun I happened to come upon yesterday. A hint...It involves a Tom Hanks movie.

 

The heat has come to New York City and I was up and out early to get my exercise. Sending cool wishes to all. Take good care and thanks for visiting! 

Dressed up for Fourth of July on Mackinac Island Pink Saturday

I'm going to take Blogger's Prerogative -- just coined this term -- and switch the order of my announced posts. I'm in the mood for sharing my Fourth of July pictures from Mackinac and that's just what I'm going to do. To paraphrase Lesley Gore, "It's my blog and I'll post what I want to."
 

I'm not sure I've ever seen a place in America that looked as pretty for the Fourth of July as Mackinac Island. We were still ten days away from the holiday and the decorations were everywhere. I'm sure flags fly there throughout the year, but the decorations abounded and the flags flew high.
 

One of the landmark inns of the island dressed for Independence Day

 

Fort Mackinac -- on the hill -- overlooking Lady Liberty.

 

The fort was built in 1780, on the site of a French fort. The fort went back and forth between America and Britain until the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812 and in July 1815 the fort went back to America. Mackinac Island and the Straits of Mackinac were important to America for control of the Great Lakes.  
 

Another beautiful inn, this one surrounded by the peonies blooming everywhere on the island.

 

Yes, I love this island and I love sharing its beauty with you. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and very happy Pink Saturday and Sunday wishes!



I Love Mackinac Island

 

When I'm asked what I blog about, my response is short. I write about (my) life in New York City, books and coffee, and though I've never done an analysis, that is the content of about ninety per cent of my posts. But there are times that I leave New York. The fourth topic I like to write about is travel and the places that I am fortunate to visit.  One of the places that I long wanted to visit is Mackinac Island, and last weekend I got my wish. I've already done a post, but in my too short stay there were so many great pictures. I'm only going to share a few of the place that caught my heart. 

This is an art gallery in the center of town. Cars were banned in the nineteenth century and bikes and horses are the mainstays of transportations.

This is the early morning looking to the boat docks. The clouds are as beautiful as any I've ever seen.

I couldn't do a photo recap of my visit without sharing a picture of the Grand Hotel, built in 1887. It was the setting for the movie "Somewhere in Time," and is both imposing and charming, with beautiful grounds. It was well out of my budget for this trip, but I definitely had to see it.

Mackinac Island is surrounded by Lake Huron and the Straits of Mackinac, with beautiful views in every direction. This is one view of Lake Huron, taken during one lunch.

This is another view of Lake Huron. I took a long walk -- actually miles -- while I was there enjoying every inch of the scenery.

 

Later in the day I enjoyed sitting in the waterside park, with a view of the harbor. The sun had come out and it was relaxation at its finest.

I took this picture waiting for the ferry back to Mackinaw City. It's the Hotel Iroquois, and alas, I didn't stay here either. I did get to eat lunch here -- fabulous -- and took the picture of the kites and Lake Huron while seated on the patio. It's even lovelier in person and the fabulous gardens complete the ambience.

This is just a quick hop through my visit to Mackinac Island. I'm planning to share pictures of some of the island's churches tomorrow. On other days there will be posts about fudge-making (the main tourist purchase), Fourth of July decorations and on Coffee Light and Mysteries (Mostly) Noir, I'll be featuring mysteries set in Mackinac. Mackinac isn't easy to get to, but so worth visiting.

I hope all of Buttercupland is enjoying the long weekend. As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care!

 

Greetings from Mackinac Island

This will likely be the first of several posts from Mackinac Island, MI. I've long wanted to visit here, and I am so not disappointed. It's beautiful, historic, fun and peaceful. There are no cars, miles of gorgeous water's edge of Lake Huron, charming and historic homes and what seems like literally an infinite supply of fudge stores. The nickname for visitors is even Fudgies. 

Tomorrow I start heading south. Beulah, Michigan and The Cherry Hut, here I come!

As ever, thanks for visiting. Wishes for a great week!