Captain Mike's Birthday

We drove up to Bayfield to visit Susan and Mike, the occasion being Mike's birthday. A few months ago I was fortunate to find two relevant postcards which I colored and embellished.

The first card showed the River Hotel (now made into an apartment building) just down the road from where Susan and Mike's beautiful new  home stands now.

Susan enjoys a break from her busy preparations. The large veranda makes an outdoor entertaining room in nice weather while the clear glass railing breaks the breeze.

I had e-mailed the second postcard from the 1950's to Mike some months ago and he wrote back that he recognized at least one of the boats in the picture as well as the shanties and a cottage to the right which are still standing today.

Susan's friend Wendy was vacationing in town and stopped by before departing to her home in New York city.

This is Susan and Mike's beautiful home which stands where Susan's cottage used to be.
CLICK HERE To see the blog entry showing two other pictures and from postcards that I did last year. Or visit My "Artsy" Portfolio above and click on "Bayfield".

A weather vane adorns the rooftop.

Susan, as usual, spoiled us with lovely hors d'oeuvres and a fine barbecue lunch before we went down to the harbor to board Mikes beloved 24' Limestone for a ride on the lake and river.  It was nice to get out on the water again. CLICK HERE to read about the Mark Ellis designed Hinterhoeller 24 Limestone.  A very seaworthy and substantially built boat

It was nice to get out on the water again.

Bayfield harbour is home to hundreds of boats including a few commercial fishing vessels.

You can see the same shanties and dock as well as a modern car parked beside them in this shot from roughly the same place as in the post card sixty years ago.

Susan and Mike's dog Lucy seemed to enjoy the boat ride too.

"Bayfield Boat Ride" Click to enlarge.

"River Hotel" With added figures.

And finally, here's another picture of the relatively rare 24 Limestone. This is "Chances R" owned by our condo neighbor Mike Miller I did this picture for him last year and gave it to him and his wife M.J. for their recent (July 22nd) wedding anniversary. Mike tells me this was the only Limestone ever built with a navy blue hull. It was built for a cancelled order by the RCMP (budget cuts?) before he bought it brand-new back in 1989.
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A Drive to Port Stanley

Click to enlarge.

With a brisk south-west wind the lake was stirred up and there was a Caribbean-like hue probably due to sand suspended in the water, illuminated by the sun and reflecting the clear blue sky.

Of course the harbour is always a good place to snap a picture.
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Tim and Wendy... Married for 15,298 Days!

I treasure every moment

that has passed since we said I do

and I'm thankful for each one

I still have to spend with you.

St. Swithin's Day today

St. Swithin's Day is July 15, a day on which people watch the weather for tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days.

There is a weather-rhyme is well known throughout the British Isles since Elizabethan times.

    St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain

    For forty days it will remain

    St. Swithin's day if thou be fair

    For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.' 

Who was St. Swithin?

St. Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and building churches.

Why do people watch the weather on St. Swithin's day?

A legend says that as the Bishop lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden on and rained on. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm either during the ceremony or on its anniversary.

This led to the old wives' tale (folklore) that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.

However, according to the Meteorological Office, this old wives' tale is nothing other than a myth. It has been put to the test on 55 occasions*, when it has been wet on St Swithin's Day and 40 days of rain did not follow.

* source: the book entitled 'Red Sky At Night'
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A Fishing Party

On our way to go fishing in our dinghy we encountered our condo neighbour and good friend Harold who was in the midst of a shore-fishing party with his grandchildren. They were not catching fish with their large hooks and artificial bait so our daughter Erin handed out small hooks and live dew worms. That did the trick and a catch of sunfish and rock bass followed, much to the glee of the kids.

Click the pic to enlarge.

You might find it interesting that, through the magic of Photoshop, I actually created the above picture from 3 different shots. The bright sunshine made for dark shadows and it's hard to get everybody except the fish to cooperate at the same time so I merged the three pictures together and adjusted the light levels to suit.

What do you think of that?
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Cruising Lake St. Clair and its Fisheries.

We were up bright and early so we could make our way 45 miles downriver for our second Discovery Cruise  this summer.  The boat left from Metro Beach Metropark at Jefferson Avenue and Metropolitan Parkway (16 Mile Road)  With clear skies, a calm sea, the temperature in the low to mid seventies, and no evidence of flying insects like the ones that inondated us on last years trip, we  boarded the M.V. Clinton (named after the Clinton River, not Bill or Hillary) at 10:00 AM and headed out onto the lake.

During our boat ride out to the middle of Lake St. Clair we were given talks about various fish and aquatic life species.

Among our eight or nine crew was Captain Greg, two or three Metroparks employees from the Nature Center located in the park, several University of Michigan reps and a marine biologist from the Department of Natural Resources.

As we approached the research vessel "Channel Cat" we could see a crew of DNR scientists were waiting for us. We tied up on their port side and had a good view of the whole deck. Read about the "Channel Cat" CLICK HERE.

 Before we arrived, the crew of the Channel Cat had dragged a large, open-meshed net designed to allow smaller fish to slip through. The net was dragged for 5 minutes, catching two Sturgeons. Then the net was dragged again for 5 more minutes, capturing one more.

There was a large plastic tank containing huge fish, a weigh scale with a specially constructed platform, and forward of that, another specially made measuring trough.

As soon  we arrived,  the scientists began a demonstration of what they do. Two deck hands wrestled one of the large fish from the tank to the weighing platform. Then it was transferred to another station where it was measured and an electronic identifier chip inserted under its skin. This chip can be scanned and read if they catch the same fish at a later date. This is the same kind of chip that is imbedded in our cat Dash.

After the measuring and e-tagging, the huge fish was released back into the lake.

They have determined that some of these sturgeon come from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Georgian Bay to bask in the shallow waters of Lake St Clair in the summer. The reason is still unknown.

The largest Sturgeon was really fairly average in size at around six feet long and weighing 77 lbs. with the largest ever caught more than twice as heavy at 180 lbs.

On the way back there was more specimens to view and some frozen samples of native fish which we identified using a wall chart.

Gary and Ann had recommended a restaurant so after the cruise and a quick visit to the Nature Center, we drove the lake road to Algonac and Catch 22, our lunch destination. Then we took a scenic ride along the St. Clair River and back to our condo in Point Edward.

The restaurant was decorated in photos and pieces of old Chris Craft boats. Algonac was the home of the famous yacht manufacturer and the factory used to be located right across the street.

The portions were VERY generous as you can see by a shot of my Reuben sandwich. Very economical too as all three of us were fed for under $30. After lunch we drove the river road back from Algonac through Marine City and St Clair to Port Huron and then across the Blue Water Bridge to our condo in Point Edward.
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