Time to wrap up vacation memories. The lake was lovely, the little 60+ year old cottages winsome and cozy, the company unsurpassed. But autumn is almost upon me, and it’s time to turn thoughts to apples mellow, pumpkins yellow. Blessings on these little homes and my daughter-in-law’s wonderful family who share them and all the lake toys, big and small, that go with them.

These little ones had magical poles. They caught a bright yellow fish EVERY SINGLE TIME

Except for the time Uncle was going to demonstrate casting, and caught a pine tree

The absolute coolest swing ever created

The hammock was a big hit. Once you got used to it.

Discussing life, and bait.

Best seat on the beach

How to raise a delinquent: let him gamble while eating pizza. How to delay delinquency: don’t give him any coins to insert.

I adore this kitchen. Maybe not to cook Thanksgiving dinner in, (but worth a try).

Full disclosure. We didn’t stay in the little cabin this year, but in the bigger “Big Cabin” next door. This is a photo from when we did stay there. This table and chair almost make me swoon.

Till next time. Goodbye, little cabins.

Raindrops weren’t the only things in the air on our recent trip to Lac Courte Oreilles. (As described here: Lake Luck )

Love was everywhere. I mean everywhere, and expressed in the sweetest possible ways. (Except for the expressions of love we saw by the Ring-Tailed Lemurs at the Wilderness Walk zoo. They express love—or something—in the grossest possible ways. Don’t even ask. And whatever you do, don’t let your mind wander to the absolutely most disgusting things an animal can do.)

Young love in all its pathos was demonstrated by my smitten 2-year-old grandson and his little playmate. She would have none of it, and he was absolutely flummoxed.

Tales of his prowess as a pantsless fisherman weren’t working

So he tried the ol’ “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and rubbed his eyes. Too late. She was on to toes.

She’s up! That’s a good sign. Right?

Wait. Did she just WALK AWAY?

Confusion and dejection. The course of true love never did run smooth.

We still hold out hope. They have about 22 years to work things through.

You can tell a couple is meant to be together if, after 9 years of marriage, they still can cooperate to untangle fishing line.

Baby Girl loves her Grampy—

and her uncle.

Big boy loves his Grampy too.

And me? I love the whole kit and caboodle of them.

Morning storm coming

No, I don’t believe in luck. Sometimes, though, we are the recipients of good fortune, but “Lake Fortune” does not convey the same associations as “Lake Luck.” The first could be a lake named Fortune, or it could be an adventure story about a fortune found at a lake somewhere. So at the risk of incurring wrath, and because I enjoy alliteration way too much, (oh, and because I couldn’t come up with anything else) the title stands as “Lake Luck.”

We are fortunate that one of our daughters-in-law has a family who owns a couple of completely charming cottages on a lake, and doubly fortunate that they will share the these cottages with us.

The cottage side of the lake. We stayed in the two middle ones.

The lake’s name is “Courte Oreilles.”

Here, dear non-Romance language friends, is how you say it: Coo-da-Ray. But it is so much cooler, when saying Coo-da-Ray, to picture all those interesting vowels with random consonants thrown in for variety, isn’t it?

We were up there last week, at the tail end of the summer, when we saw more storms brew than sunshine. It was marvelous. Want to see some photos of this wonderful little region of the north woods? (That is a strictly rhetorical question.)

The second morning, the second storm moving in

Below is a sports bar and grill. We took the pontoon over. The name escapes me, but let’s just say that if Santa Anna and Davy Crockett had met over a plate of their sublime nachos, we’d have no need to remember the Alamo.

Lake loon

There’s fish in that there Coo-da-Ray

Lake life, where you shed stress, and, if you are so inclined, your pants

These photo essay posts are so easy! I’m going to do this again, soon. Maybe tomorrow I’ll put up “Love at the Lake.” Can’t hurt to come back and check, right?