To the Lighthouse

My 2nd favorite lake: Crystal Lake. We spent a pleasant hour picnicking on its shores before biking its southern shore

These people will actually get to the lighthouse. Steve wanted to go there back in April but it was blocked by snow

Just a sample of the pretties found in artsy stores all over the north. This one is in Sutton's Bay

Way back in senior year high school, I took some advanced English course that was way over my head. I had already taken Advanced Placement English back in 11th grade. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf was on on our reading list. To me it was a book about nothing. Various family members obsessing between themselves whether the weather would be good enough to make the trip to the lighthouse for 200 tedious pages. Ten years later they did but not after another 100 pages of going back and forth whether this would be possible or desirable and what did various family members think about it. And yet this is on those 100 top novel lists!

But we did make it to the Frankfort lighthouse this time unlike our trip in April where some of our destinations were blocked by snow.

I am back from my 275.5 mile journey. For the most part, it was fun though grueling, uncomfortable and humbling at times. Other times exhilarating. I will write more about it later. And of course I took lots of photos as it was very pretty.

We rescinded our contract for the Moose and Squirrel house late last Friday. It was an awful day full of stress. We got the official report late Friday afternoon that the septic field had failed and the house could not be sold as is. There are some questions, never answered, about the well. As we had to make a decision that day to remove our contingencies, we first said we would close on the house only if a huge list of things were fixed first and that a new septic field was put in (which the report said was necessary). The seller never responded to our demands, which I guess was a rejection but then we got to thinking that perhaps the septic field could never be fixed due to groundwater conditions, soil, etc and that they would just patch it up so it would appear to be good and then fail on us and we'd be stuck with an extremely expensive albatross. About ten at night Steve said he wanted to pull out. I agreed and we made the call to the realtor who was furious with us. During the next day, while I was trying to pack for the ride, I am fielding phone calls from both agents trying to change our minds. Even as I was driving up to the start of the ride, I was dealing with the aftermath. A big mess but we feel that their disclosure statements were full of lies and omissions.

So no new house for Sue. I am very sad about the whole thing. So many things were perfect. Of course a replacement house search has begun in my absence but I don't want to deal with that right now and we certainly weren't ready to move.

But on the ride, this house fiasco was set aside.