Why I Oughta...

On a recent visit to Twin Lakes , we spent some time with friends at their place up on Lake Elizabeth.  They have a few water toys that the kids got to try out including one of those massive water trampolines .  What was most interesting was that the kids figured out how to use raft and paddle that they boarded from the dock to navigate out to the trampoline - all the while staying mostly dry and out of the lake.  I talked with the Babe that night and she said that having the ability to pilot her own 'boat' out on the lake was a lot of fun. It was only about 20 feet from the dock to the trampoline, but that whole time, she was the captain and first mate.  She was on her own.  And, she expressed that she liked it!  So...while we're not in the spot to score a trampoline, we happen to be in possession of an old raft.  My Dad gave it to me as he was closing down Coloma and for the past year, it sat up in the garage in Twin Lakes.  Until now. I d...

Nat and I were watching the show "Feud" and I gasped when I saw the lamp next to Joan's bed in this scene where she's 'resting'.  That lamp!  We have one of those!  My Dad bought two of them back in the early 1990's and they lived up in Coloma for as long as I can remember.  Now, the floor lamp is destined to be in my office of our #newoldfarmhouse in the next few days.

After staring at - or at least referencing often - this clock for close to twenty-five years, it is now a member of the permanent collection of the Elmhurst/Downers Parrillos as it came home with us from Coloma this past week.  I'm considering it a kind of 'see you later' kind of token and as we build out my new home office in our new place, I'm sure that I'll figure out how to give this a prime spot somewhere on a shelf or bookcase and I'll always remember where it sat for a long part of it's time in our life. It isn't the prettiest or best looking clock, but it has been in my life for a long time AND it had something that drew my Dad to it two decades ago.  It has #147 on it - meaning it was an early member of my Dad's collection - so I'll honor it and keep it in a place of high regard.  And yes, that means my Dad was a collector of sorts and he even kept records on all the treasures he came across.  Good lesson to learn, I think.  Probabl...

We were up in Michigan recently to do our annual apple picking and I came across this sign at Jollay's in Coloma that celebrates the place being a Centennial Farm. From the Historical Society of Michigan site, we find out what it technically means to be a Centennial Farm : The Centennial Farm Program recognizes farms that have remained in the same family for 100 years or more and highlights the farm’s contributions to Michigan’s development. To be designated as a Centennial Farm, a property must be a working farm of 10 or more acres that has been continuously owned by the same family for at least 100 years. From the looks of this sign, they're *well* past the 100 year mark. A neat little program that highlights some of the hardworking family farms that make Southwest Michigan a great place with a bountiful harvest.

Thanks to our good friend Dannee down the block, we were not only alerted to this awesome White House cookie kit - she also gifted one to us after one of her trips to Trader Joe's!  And guess what?  The girls loved putting them together.  Of course they did, right? What's more fun than a gingerbread house?  Nothing, I tell you.  Nothing. This is a pretty fun, seasonal item, that is a great way to do something fun with our kids, but also, kinda, sorta talk to them about the White House and the president and the upcoming election.  Did they listen to any of it?  Probably not.  But, still...frosting!  cookies!  Candy! And, from a business stand point, the person at the gingerbread factory who came up with this idea is pretty clever.  I can hear it now.... "Hey, Bob!  Fire up the ovens!  I have an idea." "But...it isn't Christmastime yet.  We have months to go until the public wants our stuff." "You're right....

Way back at the beginning of August, we spent a weekend up in Coloma where we hit up our usual haunts like the Great Lakes Antique Mall, Silver Beach Pizza in St. Joe's and the Hilltop Harding's grocery store. But, we also timed it right in order to be able to partake in the 2016 Glad-Peach Fest goings-on.  You know....carnival rides.  Cotton Candy.  Avoiding the expensive pay parking.  Those kind of things that every local hometown fest has going on. I've written about the Glad-Peach Fest before on the blog.   Here's a post from the 2013 fest taken from just about the same spot as the photo above/below. The festival celebrates both peaches (harvest time for them!) and gladiolas - the flower.  They don't do a great job of incorporating the peach theme, frankly.  And each year we're up there, both Nat and I talk about how if we had the time and were able to get involved, there'd be so much more peach-stuff.  I'm talking peach cobbler, pe...

One weekend this summer, we were up in Coloma and Saturday was a bit rainy, so as we usually do, we found ourselves milling around at the Great Lakes Antique Mall.  Going up and down the aisles is kind of therapeutic and I seem to wander and linger in certain booths more than others now that I've kinda gotten to know them with each passing visit. In one of the booths that we've scored a few items, I came across this Chicago White Sox rocks glass.  It was all by itself, but I have to think it was clearly part of (at least!) a pair at one time.  Alas...this is the only one that's survived.  The booth was having a 50% off sale and this was only listed for $2.50, so I figured I had to have it for the $1.25 - no haggling necessary.  It was going to be a perfect gift for my brother-in-law who is both a Sox Fan and the owner of a basement bar.  It'd be perfect. Then I fell in love with it.  And...stuck it in the cupboard at our house.  To stay.

Earlier this month, we spent some time up in Coloma for our annual July visit and as we normally do, we went out to St. Joe's for some Silver Beach Pizza and what-have-yous.  On this trip, we went a few times and spent time both down below the bluff and up on top in town.   I covered one of the stops earlier this week with our visit to Silver Harbor Brewing Company . St. Joe's always has public art and this year is no different.  The theme is 'beach bugs' and there are lots of little statues/art that kids can climb on and have fun, but one of these bugs is a bit different. It is a caterpiller that was built by a team at Whirlpool named H-E-L-L-O.   You can read more about the bug here.   It was built by a cross-functional team at Whirlpool.   The team that built this thing can be found here . So...while it it *is* public art, this is interactive public art that takes your photo and then allows you to save it on your device.  There are instructi...

I have to tell you:  something just *had* to give in terms of St. Joe's Michigan restaurants.  I mean...the wait at Silver Beach Pizza sometimes gets to be like 2 hours on non-holiday weekends and sure...the pizza is great(!!!), but it also tells me that there's a huge unmet demand for eats in town. Couple that dynamic with the craft beer movement and what pops out the other end is the new Silver Harbor Brewing Company that has opened recently in Downtown St. Joe's.   Silver Harbor has a taproom that opened up in a 100 year old building and is located on the 'other side' of the main drag through town.  You can comfortably park anywhere in town like near the bluff and still walk to Silver Harbor.   We decided to bring all three kids and give this place a try on a Friday night.  They have a system of texting you when your table is ready, so we were given a 45 minute wait and we went to town to walk around and check out the public art.  Once we we...

As you can see, they were asking $12.50 for this beauty of a beer pitcher from Schlitz.  The slogan at the bottom reads - as you know - "The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous".  We don't have a house, let alone a place to put big glass pitchers like this, but if it is still around when we go back, I think I might grab this to start our barware collection that could reside in a potential butler's pantry.

That above is a cabinet of little vintage Christmas items that is located in a booth in the Great Lakes Antique Mall in Coloma, Michigan.  I've documented this very cabinet for the past few years.  I don't appear to have taken a photo of the cabinet in January of this year, so this one is about six months later than normal. Here's a post showing what the cabinet looked like in January of 2015 . Here's the photo from our 2014 trip . And... here's a photo of the case from 2013 trip . I've looked back and forth between today's image and the one from January of 2015 and I see VERY little difference.  Wonder if the stuff isn't moving?  The shelf in the middle looks a bit more crowded, but I can't confirm that there are indeed, more or less.  Can you?  

Whether you decide to build or buy, this book tells you how and why.  That's the promise form Howard H. Morris in this book that I found at a barn sale up in Coloma.  What's a barn sale?  Well...it is kinda just like a garage sale, but inside a barn.  There was lots of junk, but a few interesting items like this book.  Since we're *kinda* in the market for housing, this one jumped out at me.  Too bad the guy wrote [50 cents] on the cover in Sharpie, because he kinda ruined the cover.  Bummer. This is the second vintage book that I've posted about here on the blog.  Other one here is a vintage Red Cross text book and manual .

There isn't a brass critter that we spot at an antique mall or estate sale that doesn't make me pause.  There's someone in our life that has a small menagerie.  This pair of deer with candlestick holders on their backs didn't meet the imaginary threshold for purchase.  Could have been the price or more likely was the very thing that makes them unique - the candlestick holder - that made us pass.  Oh well.  Hopefully, another owner came along and snatched them up and put them in their proper spot in their home.

I've mentioned a bunch of our 'repeat' activities when we go up to Michigan and a lot of them have to do with food.  From Silver Beach Pizza to Uncommon Coffee Roasters in Saugatuck to Crane's Pie Pantry in Fennville  to Sherman's Dairy Bar in South Haven to Grampa's Cider Mill in Coloma , we identified over the years a number of places and experiences that we like and continue to go back to each time we visit southwest Michigan. But, I think we've found a new place that we're going to be adding to the rotation:  La Chula Mexican Market in Downtown Watervliet.  The first time we came across La Chula was last summer when we went to the Arclight Brewery in Downtown Watervliet .  Arclight is a BYOF (Bring your own food) place that focuses just on the beer.  They had a bbq guy going out in the parking lot and a few menus scattered on the tables.  One of the menus was for La Chula and was your typical tacos, burritos, chips + guac stuff.  Be...

Just a bit over one year ago, I posted a photo of the new expansion at Silver Beach Pizza in St. Joseph Michigan here on the blog .  They were said to be adding 70 new seats to this place that is ALWAYS packed. On our trip earlier this year in January up to Coloma, we - of course - made a trip to St. Joe's for a little Garlic Greek goodness. While there, I took some time to peek up at the new upstairs addition.  It is a 21-and-older area, which...I'll be honest...I'm not sure what it means. As I said, this place is always packed.  Tuesday afternoon.  There's a wait.  Saturday night.  There's a wait.  So, the new 70 seats will certainly help, but I'm uncertain of the impact on us.  And..since this is *my* blog, this post needs to be about me, right? Well, since it is a 21-and-older section, that means we're not going up there.  We're only ever at Silver Beach Pizza with our kids, so we're not allowed.  But, I'm hoping that the host...

 That's Santa sliding down what looks like a handle protruding from a chimney adorn'd with a wreath.  There's a lot going on there, eh?  I added this little Enesco pot to the collection and I'm thinking this was a florist piece back in the day where someone would send an arrangement in this pot with a handle.  For us?  It'll probably become a candy cane holder.  But, in order to see the light of day, we have to figure out housing situation out for 2016.  That's an emerging theme.  Can you tell?!?! BTW...this appears to be the final post about this vintage Christmas haul from 2015/2016's trip to Michigan.   Lucky you guys, right?

This Santa is both an ornament AND something that could be a tabletop decoration as someone has put a little base with green 'feet' on the bottom of his glass ball.  I really like this guy as he's kind of a mash-up of Santas with felt bodies + Santas with pipecleaner arms + a vintage glass ornament. He, too, was bought up in Michigan at the first of the year. He'll look great next to the rest of our Santas next year.

 Maybe my favorite item from this year's post-Christmas vintage haul is this guy here:  a pirate snowman.  I mean...guys....who doesn't adore a vintage pirate snowman.  Complete with eyepatch and gold ring in his year.  And that swasbucklin' belt?  Perfect. He's marked "Made in Japan" and will be a welcome addition to our tree next year right next to these two vintage beauties .

 Every year, we spend NYE up in Michigan and one of the things that we regularly do is to head to the Great Lakes Antique Market to gobble up some Christmas savings.  They normally have some of the booths marked down (sometimes 50% off) for Christmas stuff. We've picked up pots and planters and other stuff in years past.  If you look in January of 2015 or 2014 or 2013 , you'll always see a string of 'vintage Christmas' posts.  And this January will be no different. Consider this the first of a few 'haul' posts showing what we picked up this year.  Starting...with this - which is a first for us - a yo-yo.  He was just too cute to not buy for $0.50.  He's marked 'Kurt S. Adler INC, New York, NY Made in Hong Kong'. The yo-yo is kinda like the little Santa pin we bought last year .  Doesn't quite fit in with the normal collection, but irresistible (and priced right!) so we couldn't pass it up. How could he not come home with us, amiri...

Due to there being a general disdain for any kind of potato chip in our household, I wasn't able to add these Rebel potato chips to the list of Michigan products that I'm now willing to purchase on our trips up to Coloma.  That list includes some soap, ice cream, hot dogs and sugar.  But I did, give it quite a long thought and wondered if I could sneak it by the Warden. These are made in Wyoming, Michigan which is just outside of Grand Rapids.  Maybe next time?