I'm back in the saddle after Christmas chores and celebrations, still trying to write my way out of 2016 while I'm only one year behind. I admit my sense of urgency isn't what it used to be (and it was never really anything to brag about). But let's move on.
September
September saw the end of our heavy summer of entertaining, covered pretty thoroughly in my previous post
Hosting (I refer you there for a few more pics from late August and September). In that post I included some shots of the sisters' visit and of Nancy's 45th high school reunion. The reunion was held at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club with pre and post parties at our house, which is just a long city block from the club.
One item not covered in the Hosting post was a little after-glo we held back up at Wiser Times with two of our reunion house guests. One of those guests was one of Nancy's oldest friends, Sue Gallego-Villegas, who came to the reunion from her home in Austin. Here is a pic of Nancy and Sue recovering from the revelry in the healing sunshine of the Wiser Times beach.
Our other cottage guest was Eva Sundevall, who had lived with Sue and her family during her high school exchange student experience. Eva had travelled back from Sweden to celebrate the reunion with her former classmates. Here is a pic of Sue introducing Eva to the magic of Lake Huron. Eva felt we were very lucky to have our "very own lake". As we are often the only humans around when we are up at Wiser Times, we sort of agree with her.
For the balance of September we hung out at home, enjoying a little peace and quiet and recovering from our summer activities. A little respite before gearing up for our fall trip south and the coming holidays.
One exception was my participation in the annual Spinner Executive Council retreat. This is a gathering of the movers and shakers in the Spinner organization during which next year's Spinner Invitational golf tournament is planned. As security is high during the deliberations, no pictures are permitted. Sorry.
Now those of you with suspicious minds might think that this "retreat" is just an excuse for a few ne'er-do-wells to steal away for one more weekend of golf, gluttony and goofing around. And that music, sporting events and alcohol might be involved. So what's your point?
October
October began with a few customary events in the Burk calendar, as well as some new ones. In an earlier post
High School Reunion, I discussed the power of reconnecting with others, especially after long periods of time. I noted that I had learned how the memories of others have a way of interacting with one's own to refine and clarify the past. And it can be addictive. As such, I have made an effort to keep in touch with some old high school friends that I rediscovered at my 50th high school reunion in 2015.
One of those old school chums was a kid named Mark Gillman. He and I had many classes together at good old Thomas Lincoln Handy High, and spent time together socially as well. Turns out he lives only 40 miles north of me and is also retired. Nancy and I have met Mark and his wife Sue for lunch periodically since the reunion and found we have many things in common, like a rich history with Florida and Disney World. We've very much enjoyed sharing memories with them over lunch and are looking forward to continuing our get-togethers. As Mark and Sue now winter in Florida, we met them for a lunch in early October before their departure south to plan a visit with them at their winter home in Venice
(that fun visit has since taken place, and will be noted in my 2017 story).
Continuing the theme of reunion, Nancy and I also had dinner early in the month with her high school reunion committee. It was sort of an afterglow to review how the recently completed 45th reunion dinner had gone and to discuss how to keep the flame alive for the 50th in 2021. The consensus was that the 45th was a raging success. Having attended as a class spouse, I had to agree. Pointers know how to party. But the fun for me has been watching Nancy share memories with her old classmates, and getting the same lift out of the experience that I have been getting out of my reunion and post-reunion activities.
Having satisfied our respective reunion itches for the present, Nancy and I packed up and headed to Florida. Our first stop as usual was in Zephyrhills to visit with Mom, play a little cribbage, and catch up on my soap operas. To enhance the latter, my mother decided she needed a bigger TV. So we accompanied her to a few stores to see what was to be had. She settled on a 55" TCL, which is the fairly new Roku brand with "smart" TV features. Here is a pic of this beauty, complete with new stand, positioned for duty in my mother's living room (yes, she likes football, too).
As a long-standing subscriber to MLB.TV, this model with its Internet connection will allow her to stream Tigers games without having to link-in her laptop. How convenient. Anyone need an extra HDMI cord?
After a few days in this retirement community, we headed off for the main event of this trip - meeting up with Canadian cousins Lynne and Ron Cunningham for a week at Disney. At this time of year, the EPCOT World Showcase holds a food and beverage festival. In addition to the 13 countries permanently represented in the Showcase, many other nations are invited to set up temporary facilities to sport their culinary culture. There are also separate wine and beer centers to keep the tourists well-lubed (I'm sure in an effort to get us to spend more). Nancy, Lynne, Ron and I spent two days of our week together cruising this gastric gala. Cruising may be slightly overstating the case, although my Bride did log over 10,000 steps on her Fitbit each day. The visits consisted mainly of walking just far enough to get from one eating station to the next. We (and several thousand other tourists) literally ate our way around the world. It was way too much fun. Here are a few shots of the bread-breaking bacchanalia. First up is cousin Lynne with yours truly.
And Nancy and Ron.
In this pic Nancy and Ron are discussing options from the Poland menu with the concierge. You'd be surprised at just how many ways you can eat kielbasa.
Here the four travelers are taking a needed break, somewhere between Germany and Japan.
After circumnavigating the World, we retired to our vacation home. In keeping with the international spirit of the day, we partook of some good old Canadian whiskey tempered with a little Italian vermouth.
For a change of pace we spent a day seeing the sights at Hollywood Studios. There we had a slight run in with these guys.
But using my best Jedi mind-trick voice, I told the trooper in the black robe that "we weren't the tourists they were looking for". We then slipped off to a bar with a lot of strange looking customers in it, and waited for the coast to clear.
Most of Hollywood Studios was familiar and entertaining, with a number of roaming Disney creatures and street performers accenting the many thrill rides and theater shows. But we did have one interesting surprise. At the back of the park where the very popular "Lights, Motors, Action" stunt car show had been we ran into a big wooden barrier with these guys guarding it. We noticed that they had already taken some prisoners, so we didn't push it.
As it turns out, behind the barrier Disney is building Toy Story Land, due to open in 2018 I believe. For those of you with young eyes, here is a rendering of what the new land will look like.
At the end of the week, Lynne and Ron headed back to Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto. Nancy and I then journeyed down to Captiva Island to visit with our friends Dave and Robyn and rest up from our days of walking theme parks. Here is a shot of a very familiar scene - cocktails on the veranda with the Dyles, overlooking the beach and the Gulf of Mexico. Life is good.
I must add one final pic from our Florida trip. One of our regular activities when at Captiva is to play the gorgeous executive par three golf course. Below, I am about to score my only birdie of the season. The roar from the crowd as that little pill tracked right into the center of the cup was deafening. Either that or the batteries in my hearing aid finally failed completely.
November
Back at home from our travels, Nancy and I settled in for a quiet November and the usual fall rituals. The first of these was a leaf-burning weekend at Wiser Times accompanied by an excellent volunteer crew. I have written of this phenomenon before of course, most notably in my 2012 post
Leaf Burning. It still amazes me that most of the heavy, leather-like oak leaves that have engulfed Wiser Times in recent years have been raked and hauled to the fire by someone else. Life really is good. Here are a few pics of the 2016 episode.
In this first shot, project leader Dave Dyle is discussing work assignments with Mary Wyatt. Mary, captain of the catering committee, is lobbying for more staff.
Here Mary has taken over fire tending duties while Dave congratulates his bride Robyn on once again being named to the highly-popular garden cleanout team. I'm sure David was not unduly influenced by his spousal vulnerability. He was only duly influenced.
In this shot we see Robyn hard at her task,
Accompanied by her garden team partners Nancy and Coco. Actually, I think Coco is just looking for something to chew on.
Of course, every successful enterprise needs a little depth. You know, extra resources held in reserve in case an emergency breaks out. Like a shortage of matches, an empty drink glass or a worker desiring a different genre of music. Fortunately, we have a back up resource skilled in all of these areas.
Here's a shot of leader Dave deftly managing the actual burn, which because of the extremely favorable weather conditions (totally dry, no wind), was completed in a record three hours. Also note in the background Mary taking a drink order from our reserve resource, firmly planted in his usual leaf-burning weekend station.
As this entire event occurs in the wild, we always have security. Below is a shot of our chief of security at her favorite observation post - head sticking through the deck railing just under the bird bath. Best spot on the property to spot aggressive chipmunks, hungry songbirds or an attack by sea.
In this shot we have the full crew, including security and the staff photographer Quinton Anderson, basking in the warmth of leaves well burned.
And as all good things must come to an end, so goes the leaf burning festival. Here are the final death throes of 2016's pesky victims, soon to be wheelbarrowed as ashes back into the forest where their cycle of life will begin anew. Pardon me for a moment. I need to fetch a hanky.
I would like to add that in addition to his recurring event-documentation duties, photographer Quinton likes to capture the mood of each event's surroundings. Wiser Times in the fall is a quiet, restful spot, breathing deeply as it recovers from another summer of nearly ceaseless activity. Here are some scenes of the cottage grounds as captured by Quinton's thoughtful lens.
I love looking at these pictures and remembering just how lucky Nancy and I are to have found such a wonderful spot to "get away from it all".
This post has covered a fair amount of ground, so I'll end here. It will take one more post to wrap up 2016. Look for it soon.
