The_Ides of June |
On this day last year, after more than a year of difficulties, LBLR Chronicles succumbed to a fatal case of writers block, drew its last breath, and then passed into oblivion. Now a year later the Chronicles, like the Phoenix, has risen from its own ashes to live again. According to the ancient Greeks, the newly risen Phoenix lives for a 1000 years before it dies and the cycle begins anew.......but we'll see how it goes with the newly risen Chronicles. Here's hoping for the best!
To see the previous entry (from this time last year), click HERE. PS: Geez, that was a short year. |
June 14th | The "Charles City Invasion" is in full swing.......but for two weeks this year instead of their customary one week. They have all six cabins, the weather has been good, the fishing has been acceptable, and they seem to be enjoying it. Pictures will be forthcoming. |
June 15th |
A few days ago my Dear Granddaughter Molly broke a bone in her foot. I hope it's getting better Mol. To see a picture that her sister Em took, click HERE.
Here is a picture of a Northern that Jeff caught in LBL a few weeks ago. It weighed in at 19 pounds (surpassing the previous LBL record by 14 ounces) and he put it back in the lake, so it's still out there swimming around to be caught again. Click HERE. |
June 16th |
This quote is at the recommendation of my Dear Granddaughter Nattie. She's referring to the fretting I was doing concerning the re-creation of the Chronicles.
"I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set and the moon was just rising from the sea. I had not sufficient light for my employment, and I remained idle, in a pause of consideration of whether I should leave my labour for the night, or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting attention to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred to me, which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing." Does anyone know what book that's from or what the character is contemplating? Even if you don't know, send me a guess. |
June 17th |
What used to be the "game room" several years ago and a storage area more recently, has been somewhat refurbished and is now the "TV room" (although my grandkids prefer to call it "the Common Room" or the "Commons"). It has sofas, chairs, tables, books, games, puzzles, wireless internet, and above all, Cable TV along with a VCR and DVD player. It was used a lot these past two weeks for late night movies.
No guesses about the source of yesterday's quotation? |
June 18th |
Oddity number 1: All LBLR cabins were occupied for the past two weeks. For early June, that's rare. But it will be the case again next year because the Charles City Invasion have signed up again. Click HERE to see a picture of some of the group from 2008, and HERE to see a picture from 2007. Not much has changed, right?
Oddity number 2: LBLR will be virtually empty most of this coming week. In most of the past years, this week was the start of the hardcore tourist seasn at LBLR, and next year it will be full because it will be the time and place of a Kielpinski reunion. |
June 19th |
Two things.......and neither are related to LBLR:
Firstly: The traveling soccer team of my Dear Granddaughter, Em, won a tournament in Apple Valley this week. Congrats Em!!!!! Click HERE Secondly: Not many people I know have actually read the book from which the quote on June 16th (above) was taken, but everyone knows the story. Here are the next few lines; maybe that will help. It's the beginning of Chapter 20. Anyone? "Three years before this, I was engaged in the same manner, and had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart, and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse. I was now about to form another being, of whose disposition I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness." |
June 20th |
Ron and Bev arrived yesterday, a week earlier than last year. AND this year they may stay for a tad MORE than a week.
Okay. Okay. Nat's quote (on the 16th and the 19th, above) is from Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Everybody knew that, right? But here's something that maybe not everyone knows. Mary was the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of my favorite poets. Thanks Nat!!!! |
The Summer Solstice | At sixteen minutes past noon today (CDT), the sun, the Glorious Lamp of Heaven (as Robert Herrick called it in "To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time" way back in 1625) appeared to be directly over the Tropic of Cancer and hence, Summer began. The length of our day is at its peak; it's all downhill from here. |
June 22nd |
To the members of the Charles City Invasion:
The weather before you got here was mostly terrible and the weather since you left has been mostly terrible. Geez, you guys were lucky for the two weeks that you were here. |
June 23rd | Yet another cold, windy, dark, and rainy day. How long can this go on, I'm wondering. Just look at this; it has been like this for the last several days. (Click HERE .) It's a good thing that the resort is virtually empty or I would have had a lot of antsy guests on my hands. |
June 24th |
Finally.......the sun came out!
Hey Laurie in North Carolina, are you there??????? |
June 25th |
Would you believe it? Yesterday the dock at Cabin # 3 finally went in the water. That's the latest ever for a dock going in the water. Last year all of the docks were in the water on April 11th (the earliest ever), which was about ten weeks ago. Of course last year the ice went out three weeks earlier than it did this year, but obviously that wasn't the reason for the lateness this year.
Welcome back to three cabins worth of Remarkes! I don't how many years in a row it has been now, but quite a few. It's good to see you guys again. |
June 26th |
To see Brian and Ann's monument at their place on Moonshine Lake, click HERE. Good one Sarge!!!!
PS: You've heard this before, but Moonshine Lake is actually just a few hundred feet to south of Little Bass Lake, which is where Sarge and his wife, Ann (and their dog Trooper), built a house last summer. They are a welcome addition to the LBL Neighborhood (which you've also heard before). |
June 27th | Wow! Look at this. What a Walleye! And it was put back in the lake so it's waiting to be caught again. Click HERE. |
June 28th |
Due to less family showing up than planned, there will be at least one, maybe two, empty cabins durning the week of July 4th, which is next week. Sigh..... Anyone interested in renting one of them? If so, you have your choice of cabins; whichever one you want is fine.
15-0? Those poor Twins fans. Is summer finally here, or what??? Click HERE. |
June 29th | Back on May 14, 2008 (over 3 years ago) the lake level reached 1283.06 feet above sea level and that was the highest it has been since I started measuring it in the Spring of 2006. Until today, that is. As we speak, the lake level is 1283.23 feet above sea level, which is a tad more than two inches higher. Of course, it has been higher than this before, but those occasions were very rare and before I started taking accurate measurements. There was at least one time back in the early 90s that it was much, much, higher than it is today. |
June 30th |
Two years ago last month 4th Street Station (in Grand Rapids) ceased to be a sports bar and became Darlin' Clementine's, a steakhouse with an 1800s theme. Next week Darlin' Clementine's will become a sports bar again (but with breakfast, as well as lunch and dinner this time). It's name will be Toivo's. Good luck Nikki........I think you'll do well.
The building on Lake Pokegama which was The Harbor restaurant for many years and then became Savoy Pizza about two years ago, is now a sports bar and is known as The Harbor Grand. The old "Rendezvous II", yet another bar but with a young clientele, which closed a year or two ago, will be re-opening soon with different name. I have no other information about that one. It's not that I only pay attention to drinking establishments, you understand.......it's just that I can think of no other businesses in the area that have changed in the last year. |