At the risk of ....

starting a stampede to the UP, I give you these photographs of 1) The most sumptuous Cinnamon Bun ever. (Yep, beats Cinnabon and yep, it was as good as it looks.) and 2) Sunshine. (Also, as good as it looks.) You can get your very own cinnamon bun from The Conglomerate Cafe. If wine is more your speed, as I mentioned before you can get wine in the evening on Fridays. This Friday there is LIVE music. Babette told me what kind of music but, of course, I forgot in the one minute it took me to cross the street to my apartment. Oh well, at least I remembered there's going to be LIVE music. As far as the sunshine is concerned, well....

The Calvary is coming!

The Calvary is coming! Eric and Jake, of Chris Arden Homes, Perrysburg, Ohio; will be here and ready to start The Big Finish Faze of The Secret Cabin on Monday morning. More good news today came from The Husband. He had to take feLIONs Tim Tim Tim Tim Tim (that's Tim to the 5th power) and Mars to the vets. Just a little infection for each of them so nobody is old and dying or just plain old dying and breaking our hearts. All this was cause for celebration. So, I went shopping. I got this cool bowl by my friend, Artist Ed Gray (Jikiwe) from the Ed Gray Studio-Gallery. You'll be hearing more about Ed from me. He is a major force behind the arts in Calumet. He's the reason we have the Calumet Art Center. I have been admiring this bowl since I think November's First Friday so I'm pretty excited to be able to have it. This week is kind of my getting settled in week so I'm a little all over the place but I will have a lot more coverage of the Calumet art scene in the future.

Fabulous Fabio

But not so fabulous picture. Sorry about that. I'm going to have to work on my fish photography there. Whoa. Anyway, it is good to be home. I had breakfast at The Conglomerate Cafe this morning and got to see some friends. Babette, the cafe owner and my friend, greets all the regulars by name. She can remember each person's "usual". Very "Cheers"; only real time and with food. Wine is on Friday night. And, she bakes all the bread herself! I know. She bakes all the goodies in the goodie case too. If you're ever up in our neck of the woods (that's so literal here; anyway) you have to stop in and treat yourself to something. It's on Fifth Street. My beta, Fabio, has been living in Babette's office and Aunty Babette has been taking care of Fabio for me while I was in Ohio for the holiday. Saturday night and Sunday (the cafe is closed on Sundays) at the apartment was a little empty and lonely without Fabio. So after I got to visit with my friends, Fabio and I made the short walk through the snowy streets of Calumet back to our apartment. All I need now is The Husband and our really furry family members and we'll be all set.

She's back

I'm back Up North again. Here's some shots of my apartment. Just one of the many historic sandstone buildings in Calumet. Pretty swanky, eh? Trying to get geared up for construction round two or Faze II - The Big Finish.

Happy Holidays

Fried Wifi Brain

Cripes. Mike and I are super exhausted. We've seen each other for four days in the last five months. It is Winter in the Keweenaw. So, while we had planned on having the cabin done by the last week of October (our very latest, back up deadline if we didn't make the other deadlines) so we could move in, here it is December with lots of snow so we called it quits for the year. I am going to refer to this part of the cabin remodel as Faze I - Rough in with emphasis on the word "rough" and declare this phase over. I leave the Keweenaw this Saturday and fly back to Ohio. Mike will come up to the cabin the week of Christmas and finish hooking up the solar system. Our plan is that he'll be back in time for Christmas Eve. Then, Mike and I are going to take a little break from the construction stuff and start back up when we feel ready. The contractor that we had working on the cabin this year is all cleared off our property and it's a big relief. We are talking to another contractor for the finish work.

Getting a little on the side

Ya know, I find myself saying things that are weird to say about this whole construction drama. So, things are NOT working out with my current contractor and I want to toss him out and fire his ass. It's so reminiscent of a bad relationship break up only he never bought me a ring to throw at him as I stomp indignantly off into the sunset. It's hunting season. This current contractor's usual level of lack of customer service has left me alone for two weeks without any workers or any work being done. What's a girl to do to fill her lonely, quiet, construction worker-less days? Not let the job site get cold. That's for darn sure. The last shipment of Loewen Windows came in along with a couple of guys to install them. So, yes, guilty. I'm guilty of cheating on my contractor with another contractor. So, these new guys are amazing. We stopped work and went into town for lunch. We went our separate ways for lunch and I was took my sweet old time as I usually do with my other crew. I had lunch. Set my fork down between bites. Chewed slowly and thoroughly actually tasting my food. Then I ran some errands. Then I drove within the speed limit. Good thing the old ticker is still a work horse. I'm still suffering from a little disbelief though. Eric and Jake were done installing the windows. As if that weren't shocking enough, they were, get this, cleaning up. Then Eric said, in slow motion with the camera in tight on a shot of his lips, "Is there anything else you would like us to do for you while we're here?" After, visions of laying on the ground and getting the electric paddle treatment to the chest cleared my head, I responded with an intelligent, "Uh, no?" After as much a recovery as anyone in my shoes could make, I was able to point at the cabin and kind of stutter, "Come back to UP? Proposal to finish cabin?" while refraining from throwing myself down on the ground and holding them by the ankles and crying, "Don't leave me; finish my cabin, please." So, I'm getting a proposal. And so, yes, I'm guilty of courting another contractor on the side while I'm still hooked up with this current contractor. My new contractor has a cooler truck too! Na, na, so there.