Adventures with Rob the Firefighter and the Lady Alicia

I can spend an entire morning watching the trees grow, but Rob the Firefighter and the Lady Alicia are made of sterner stuff. They are people who like to be up and doing. Here is part of what we got up and did on Saturday:

• Dog-walking through the woods, where we discovered what was most likely the site of a violent death in the bird kingdom. I would very much like to know what kind of bird met its end. I don’t recall ever seeing this particular combination of feathers on a single bird, but it definitely appeared to be from a single incident.

• Lunch in Petoskey with Big Tony at the FOE Hall on Little Traverse Bay, where we observed that the Summer People are indeed returning. These particular Summer People retained a helicopter to ferry them to Beaver Island for their lunch.  We were suitably impressed.

I would be tempted to conclude that Summer People are Different, but Babs sent me an email about some other Summer People headed to Blue Heaven in May. They will be arriving after a six-week bicycle tour that begins in Georgia and traverses sections of the Underground Railroad. You will definitely be hearing more about that.  OK, it’s different, too, but in a different way.

• A stop at Friske’s where the Lady Alicia purchased excellent treats, and we all took a stroll through the cherry orchard.  (OK, I purchased a single slice of an excellent treat myself, and we all had a taste.  I predict that Bill Warner’s cherry cream pie will become a sensation among Summer People and Locals alike.  No photo.  All gone.  Enjoy the orchard.)

• Quantities of dog training. Baxter the Benevolent, my new grand-dog, is a lovable oaf and needs considerable guidance, which Miss Sadie has been at pains to provide. (Miss Sadie is generally speaking a rather submissive terrier, but she brooks no interference with the Cowboy.)  I would show you pictures, but they would all be out of focus and feature tangles of leashes and tails.
• Dinner at Regalo in Elk Rapids. We arrived latish. The Indian food was all gone, except for a plate of three exquisite samosas sitting on Ron and Irene’s table. It turns out that Ron and Irene are the owners of Regalo, and they were in an excellent mood. They made us a gift of the samosas while our dinners were in preparation. No photos of the samosas. I was busy eating. But here are the dinners.

Ron laughed when I whipped out the camera and asked, “You aren’t from one of those food shows, are you?”   Who, me?  Make fun of food? No indeed. I make hips of food. Unless I don’t like it, in which case I go all quiet and morose. I left Regalo in a lovely mood, humming gently to myself and planning my next visit. 

And here it is today, and there are only a few hours before the company leaves and I go to the day job.  I’m pretty sure it’s time to go for another walk.