9/7/12 (Friday):  Yes, it's been a VERY long time since I blogged!  I'm not even sure I have any regular readers any more.  But, we're up in Michigan visiting my son and his family and have had a few small adventures I wanted to share.  I really wanted to post a video of Wiley; unfortunately, the campground WiFi is too slow.  For the past year, Wiley has been having a lot of trouble with balance, walking and speech.  He's been using a walker all the time and sometimes needs to be in the wheelchair.  The neurologist here at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor decided to try a different approach from the neurologist in Orlando, and we're very pleased with the results.  Wiley is now walking more easily, sometimes even with just a cane.

Voageurs and Ottawa Indian with Canoe

 I also wanted to share some pictures from a Voyageur Encampment (a reenactment, of course) that we went to.  It was on Lake St. Claire, about an hour north of where we're camping.   The reenactors included soldiers, craftsmen and women and Ottawa Indians.

There were lots of canvas tents, huge voyageur canoes, demonstrations of muskets and cannons (Wiley's favorite), crafts and food. 

Pewter Spoons in Mold

 The reenactors were actually camped on the shores of the lake just as they would have 200 years ago.  Many were cooking meals over the campfire.

 We also made a visit to the peach festival in Romeo.  Romeo is famous for this festival, which has been held annually since the 1930's.  We sampled peach preserves, peach pie and peach salad dressing.  Romeo is a neat little town, full of Victorian houses, neat shops and restaurants and beautiful gardens everywhere.  It was once a hub for the timber industry, and many wealthy timber families resided there.  It has a cool, traditional downtown which has never seen a major fire. Because of this, there are stores and restaurants downtown that have original tin ceilings from as long ago as the Civil War.

 We're camped under some gorgeous tall old oak trees.  They're called burr oaks because the acorns have a row of fuzz on the cap.  The trees are so tall that one of the acorns came right through our plastic vent lid!  We have ordered a new one and it should get here shortly.

We're trying to do a bunch of free things and prepare most of our meals at home because this has been an expensive trip.  Gasoline is high, espeically when you're pulling a trailer, and campground fees on top of having just purchased a home and taken a trip to New Zealand have us stretched a bit.  But we couldn't resist a meal in one of our favorite restaurants up here, Boneheads.  The name is awful -- it's a tiny old inn that's been beautifully restored.  The food is American and quite good.

We've also been enjoying visiting Tom and his family.  My granddaughters are so grown up.  Anna just turned 10, Margo is 8 and Claire is 6 years old.  They started back to school this year.  I taught each of them to crochet when they turned 6.  This year was Claire's turn.  Like her sisters, she learned very quickly.  Anna wanted to learn to knit, so I taught her.  She's making me a dishcloth.  Here they are working on some cross stitch projects I brought them.


We have a second appointment with the neurologist on 9/11 and then will probably be home by 9/14.  It's been a very rewarding trip, despite being stuffed into a tiny 18' RV.  Wiley is doing so much better that we think it was worth it, though.  And, of course, visiting family is a great bonus.

Can't promise when (if) I'll be doing another blog.  I still post on Facebook regularly, though.  Leave me a comment and let me know I still have some readers, won't you?!