The ebb & flow of winter

Ready! We are ready for winter to strike us with her cold, bury us with her snows and peril us with her icy surfaces.... But no, she comes drops a few degrees and a couple of inches of white and then flits away leaving us wanting for more. Next week we are expecting spring like temperatures of 51 degrees on Monday. That after waking up in the teens these last handful of days. I suppose this just makes us better acclimated to handle the brutal blizzards likely to follow. Below are some photos I of Cedaroma Lodge from the lake on my first Ice Walk. Next week, I will share photos of the first blossoms (kidding!)

Where the footprints stop, I did NOT fall through the ice.
I turned on my turbo pack and flew back to shore so I could take this cool photo.

 

More this year winter UP NORTH photos sprinkled throughout the Cedaroma Lodge website.

Up North Everything is Different!

Life is different up north, Wisconsin. We get up when we wake up. We get to work after our third cup of coffee and we love pretty much everything we do. We are amazed daily at the wonders of nature. I feel we are truly living right in it. Very unlike Groveland where I lived in the Hotel Charlotte and more of my wonderment came from people and the amazing things they do rather than  nature's offerings of awe.

Today, oddly, after a warm, (40 something degree day) we woke to a smooth sheen of ice across the surface of the lake. Why mild last night and not the frigid one before? Nature simply wasn't ready. When I went out with my camera for my daily dose of morning photos, I turned back to the cabin and only to see little embers dancing across the ground. But no fires lit! How could this be?

But most of all, Victor and I are in near total sync on everything. We have become both partners and best friends. It's quite lovely. And Goose? His transformation from the fat, lazy barky, hotel-dog-mayor has been as entertaining to us as watching the elements of nature change.

The firee look of the ground is pineneedles backlit by the rising sun. Who knew?
(Click the picture to see the fire dancing pine needles in bigger version.)

Ice on the lake today. The lake and the sky are both brilliantly blue

There it is, Really Blue Sky!

One would never have called this dog frisky before!

 

Come see the up north difference for yourself! www.Cedaroma.com

Waiting for Winter

Everyone warned us about winters in Up North, Wisconsin and now we wait for it, thinking we are ready. We have had several teaser days with the weather down in the teens, but nothing sustained. The lake started freezing and then unfroze. We even had beautiful sunshine yesterday. And so we wait.

The first thing we did to prepare was check out all the thrift stores for winter wear. We each found jackets that both fit and we liked, priced right and that will seemingly keep the cold out. The first day it dropped below 40 degrees with a little wind, Victor wore his new used jacket out to the Casino. Guys at the bar laughed at him, "Little ealy for the big one isn't it?" He hasn't put is on since and asked me last night, with temps in the 20's if it was okay to wear his winter jacket. I giggled. Since when has Victor cared what folks thought of his dress?

But we are ready! Bring it on!




Winter at Cedaroma, Up North Wisconsin

Come wait with us at Cedaroma Lodge, St. Germain, WI

Home Schooling

I feel like I am in school again. I guess that is what happens when you want to do something and don't know how. You can either let it go undone, hire someone to do it for you or learn how to do it your self. My brain is on overload right now. Look what I learned to do today:


View Cedaroma Lodge Map & Local Icons in a larger map



You can see the map on our Cedaroma website with directions too.

Now Victor cooks just for me!

Dining up north, around Cedaroma? We have discovered some great places to eat near here and in another post, I will talk about my favorite spots. More often we enjoy our meals from Cottage #7, over looking  the lake.

What a treat these last weeks have been as we start to establish little regular things in our day-to-day life. Victor, as he is most qualified, does all the cooking. Lucky for me! I have been presented with the most amazing meals, though the portion sizes are still too big. (I think he misses the huge kitchen at the Hotel Charlotte, and all the staff to clean up after him.)

I mentioned on the Facebook post, Pizza is one of our favorites, homemade, thin crust but we have had some other fabulous dishes too. Let me show you a few:

Home made bead, this is just the rising dough

Ham & Beans

Chicken Florentine with Asparagus intead of Spinach

A Favorite of mine, meaty lasagna

Chops, asparagus & beans

Pizza, thin as can be!

I am pretty sure he is itching to cook again in a restaurant,
and perhaps some day we will travel that path again.
Mean while, I am enjoying all his great dishes.

 

Join us at Cedaroma Lodge, maybe I can get Victor to cook us up
something special one of your nights!

The Snow Falls Today---In California!

Here we are in Wisconsin and all the snow is falling on my friends in Groveland. I wish I could publish a sunny photo and laugh at everyone who questioned our snow-winter sanity, but I can't it is raining here. Stay Safe!

Have a nice snowy weekend friends!

A Day With Dad

The greatest thing about purchasing Cedaroma is the "play time" I have had with my parents, Marge & Jim. Yes, we saw them often and for long stretches while at the Charlotte. We did enjoy each others company; we casinoed, dined and enjoyed a glass of wine a the end of most evenings. But patterns were established and rarely did I venture far from the front desk in my day-to-day activies. Here there are no patterns.

One of my favorite days of our first month here was the time Jim and I took down the canoe and paddled the Southern shore of South Bay. We "discovered" Little St. Germain River, hardly more than a creek with a pond at the end where the dam is. This sojourn was on a beautiful sunny day, late afternoon in the height of prime Autum colors. Let me show you:

 

 

Here we have found the river mouth

It's very shallow, very reflective. The time of our trip was perfect for good photos

We moved from reds to gold and yellow with seemingly a single stroke

Call me silly, but I was sort of freaked by this. Like we could really go "over the dam." Hahahaha!

I loved the little pattern proclaming our intrusion, soon to disappear!

Some photos look as good upside down as right side up

Some time has passed, the sun has fallen in the sky and we are reaching the mouth of the river again

Back on Little St. Germain Lake.

 

 

Thanks trip Dad!

 www.cedaroma.comhttp://www.cedaroma.com

On the Job Photographer

First, the sun came out. It's been awhile, so I think you can imagine my joy. Second, the ice melted back off the lake. Now, I truly am ready for winter, but it will be fun to get out fishing one more time. We are planning to take out the pedal boat and Victor's three foot fishing pole (it's designed for ice fishing, but it's the only one we have.)

Back to my day... Today was the big cement pour for the cottage we are building a foundation for so we can have it warm enough to use for the winter season without freezing all our pipes. I got to be the photographer, yes, I am always the photographer, but today was especially exciting. I thought the Cement truck was going to topple a few times. Let me show you.

No problem, right, we are pouring from the side, all is well.

Ah, trying to get around to the front, ploughed right through the fire pit, into the "forest"
and put his  trough between three trees. It didn't work

Here my friend appears to be driving right over the beam that is holding the cottage up. This too did not really work

Here we made another approach from the back and smashed one of the sand piles, which is okay.
I was certain his truck we going to capsize! This worked a little bit.

Here we tried to get to it by heading almost to the beach. The problem is the cabin is so close to the beach there is no where for him to line up the hose to get the cement to the front of the building.



No, he was not pouring cement into the window. In the end, they had to shovel a whole lot of cement!
Jeff did not like this much





On the Job Photographer

First Snow "Up North" Wisconsin

Today I awoke to a soft, light, white ground cover. SNOW! I knew it was coming, eventually. But had hoped a few more weeks of clear weather for all the work we are doing around here on the grounds, cabins and such. Alas... Bring it on!

I wish I had started a blog when we first got here so folks not on Facebook could follow along with us. Perhaps, now that the snow has started, I will do a few highlight posts from our transition. Maybe just the funny ones!

Well, we are here and ready to go, bring on the snow and the winter visitors!


Our first snow. A tad dreary, I will get some pretty snow
pictures as soon as the sun comes out.



The next day, the ice is full of holes. I said crop circles, someone else corrected me to Crappie Circles