Hi everyone! Here is an update on the Galena Gang - we have been having many adventures as usual. Malia and Wendy recently visited Blue Lake for Malia's fifth year of violin music camp. This picture shows the lake at the camp.
We were so excited to be joined by five other students and four parents from the Dubuque Fiddlers. Every year more of our friends have come with us to experience the incredible beauty and peacefulness of the Michigan woods surrounded by lilting melodies from pianos, trumpets, cellos, violins and more.
Here is Malia's repertoire group playing outside in the bandshell, as many of the classes do.
Malia especially enjoyed playing quartets for the first time at Blue Lake. All eleven of us shared one big happy cabin in the woods filled with
bunks of sleeping bags, fiddle fests around the campfire, instrument trading (thanks to Sam for allowing everyone, even Wendy, to try out his cello), and of course s'mores.
After the camp was over Malia and Wendy took off for a
few days of camping in the north woods of Michigan. Wendy had a hunch that really payed off about how beautiful it might be up there. We stayed for three nights at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where we were able to climb around on huge sand dunes, view endangered Piping Plover nesting areas with exclosures to keep out seagulls and raccoons, swim in
pristine rivers, take a boat to a remote island in Lake Superior and hike 3 miles out to the oldest stand of white cedars (some are 500 plus years old) in the United States. We survived a few challenges: a couple of hailstorms, moving our tent across the campground without taking it down (helped by our camping neighbors who took pity on us) and a huge giggle fest after 12 hours of driving back to Galena when we were just 15 minutes from home but could barely keep our eyes open.
Other highlights included the Kirtland's warblers that we were able to see despite the fact that we slept through our alarm so that we were about 1/2 hour late - then driving halfway across the state of Michigan to arrive just as the other birders were getting into their cars to go to the jack pine spot. We definitely felt very lucky at that point! We also tried out an indoor climbing wall at a gym in Grand Rapids - this definitely rates as my most fun ever way to stay in shape, and my arms were sore for two days afterwards.
Jack and Dan had fun while we were gone too - mainly reffing soccer games, watching soccer games on TV "at every meal," and probably talking about soccer too. Jack helped Dan with banding some more grasshopper sparrows at Lost Mound. Here is Jack reading in front of the open door of the house so he could "hear the rain."
Now that Wendy's back she's been making up for her break from the kitchen by baking up boeuf bourginonne, and pot stickers - I like to cook when I actually have the time to make yummy stuff! Dan celebrated his 4o-somethingth birthday last week with a carrot cake and a huge crossword puzzle. That's his usual NYTimes one in the picture - he's almost keeping up!
I hope this finds all of you well and enjoying life's challenges. We hope to visit with some or all of you soon this summer.
