THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

We have been pretty busy this month

Have decided to go back through my folders

and pull out some photos from

THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

Labour Day weekend we had another storm

on the island

The ol' willow tree by the ferry shack

split in two

Just a little tidbit of information here.....

My sister-in-law Heather's Father

proposed to her Mother under this tree

Heather's Mother is now 94 years old

so

you know that was a number of years ago!!!!!

Our son Curtis was home on holiday for a few weeks

We went down to Chatham to have lunch with our niece Susan

at the William St. Cafe

Here is our old kitchen table that graced my parent's cottage

which we lovingly referred to as

THE SHACK

The table then graced our home for many years

before Joe cut it down and used it as a 'coffee' table

at our cottage

When we sold our home we had to make room for

College Street furniture

so

the table then found a new home

at

THE WILLIAM STREET CAFE

MANY A CONVERSATION HAS TAKEN PLACE AROUND THIS TABLE

MANY A FAMILY MEMBER AND FRIENDS

HAVE SAT AROUND THIS TABLE

IF TABLES COULD TALK!!!!!!!!

Cousins

Remember the story about Joe and cottage friends

trying to move the big log????

Well............

A local fellow was over on our side of the island repairing a breakwall

He tied his boat up to our dock while he and his 'men' worked on the barge

As a favour he moved the log down river

Hurrah...............

Now we don't have to worry about the ice moving the log

and having it hit our dock this winter

Now this is what you would call

one big yacht

I was  talking on the phone to my friend Jan

when I saw it going by

'Oh My Gosh'

I said

I have to go and get a picture

Call ya back!!!!!!

The name of the yacht is

Blue Moon

which is 198 feet long!

When Stephanie was young she had a best friend named Lisa

Lisa pracially lived at our cottage during the summer

Now

Lisa and her husband have a cottage on the island

Pretty neat I think

We had a couple of fishermen out front

Their line got caught on our lift

There's Joe to the rescue!!

The bench

Twice now this guy has come for an evening visit

After the fest yesterday we went for a drive 

We were down by the mouth of the Mystic River

along Long Island Sound

 Alice and David wanted to show us the Gingerbread house

which is in the town of Noank

Down the road I spotted these jeans hanging

out to dry

WE DIDN'T GET TO FOXWOOD TODAY TO SEE DI'S DRESSES

HOWEVER

WE'LL BE THERE TOMORROW WITH BELLS ON!!!

TAKING A SIDE TRIP BEFORE THE BIG ONE

WELL..........

We are at one of our favourite places

for a visit

Can you guess where that might be????

If you guessed

CONNECTICUT

You have won the prize!!!!!!!

A few days before our 'trip'

we started organizing things at the cottage

It was time to bring in the volleyball poles

It was time to empty the

window boxes and flower pots

It sure looks bare

As you can see by the breakwall

the water level is down

We were also back and forth to the storage unit

looking for things I had put in bins

These things are to be going west!!

Did a good job

however

I need to find one more bin!!!!

HA HA

While driving along on the QE

we stopped at our niece's home

for a 5 minute 'hello'

Joe also wanted to drive by the rose field

to show me the beautiful rose bushes

Man oh man

check out the water in the field

Even though the sunset was behind us

we had a glimpse of the beauty of it all

Sunday morning I was entertained by

CAT

He sure looks comfortable!!

Over the years we have spent many an hour

in this cozy, fuzzy room

Here we have a little bit of

their daughter Elizabeth's art work

Sunday afternoon we took in the

Wild Mushroom Fest

First of all we checked out the outdoor market

before crossing the street to the Fest

Many a mushroom we would soon see

There was a long table that displayed the mushrooms

David brought mushrooms from his lawn

to have them checked out

There were many 'booths' from the local restaurants from Mystic Seaport

All the food contained

MUSHROOMS

Believe it or Not

Mushroom Ice Cream

It actaully tasted like Maple Ice Cream

with 'flecks' of mushroom in it

One of the chefs even donned

Mushroom pants!

A GUIDED TOUR THROUGH

THE WOODS

We even encountered a frog!

A quick walk around the pond then

over to check out the owls

Breakfast Lunch or Dinner

On our way out we stopped by the butterfly

house but did not see one butterfly

It sure was an interesting afternoon

A good time was had by all

Tomorrow we are off to see

Princes Diana's wedding dress

and ball gowns

Do not know if I will be allowed to

take photographs of the dresses???

Sure hope so!!!!!!!!!!

GOING BACK TO 1985

For the love of the St. Clair River

This is the story of seven girl friends who decided they

would get together for a weekend at Stag Island

on the St. Clair River

at

MEYOONOOTIN

The cottage of the

O'Rourke family

since 1979

We decided to call it

BEST FRIENDS WEEKEND

It all started in

1985

Within the walls of the cottage

we have

laughed

cried

told secrets

expressed our hopes and dreams

we have

said how we loved our

husbands

our children

and

grandchildren

we have been

silly girls

serious girls

have even gone to the depth of our souls

have had

fashion shows

have had

our toes painted

our hair styled

and

HAVE LOVED ONE ANOTHER FOR

OVER FORTY YEARS

We have had 20 weddings

We have had 39 grandchildren

We have buried 2 children

We have buried 3 husbands

and

A wedding this summer

Everyone remembers Mugan and Casey

June 3, 2011

O HAPPY DAY

From left to right

Anita who we refer to as Mugan

Janette

Another Anita.....she and Anita

both married the Ouellette brothers

thus

Anita became Mugan

(her maiden name)

Sue

Georgette

and

me!

Donna Mae was not in the group photo

HERE SHE IS!!!!

You really had to be careful of the chair

It sure was tippy as you can see!

Back in those days we did not have

the shade of the maple trees

The island had a nickname

LUG ISLAND

What a job getting all the luggage and food from the mainland to the cottage and then back again........

I have to add....

the food did not go back!

Anita... Donna Mae... Sue

Georgette...Mugan...Janette

Another BFW

Waiting for the ferry

One of the loves of my life

Bear

He was the only 'male' allowed!!!!

Oh my gosh

Check out the pjs

Check out the socks

Hair colours are starting to change

Does that mean we are getting older????

Does that mean gray is creeping in?????

Janette was 'complaining' that she never sleeps anymore

Look at her

Every time we turned around

she was sleeping

What can I say about cottage life

and

river air

Is this anyway to wear an apron???

I thought an apron tied around the waist!!!

Kelly...... Donna Mae's daughter gave us

seven wine glasses

The kitchen has changed

We now have a bar area

It seats seven

The girls must be working on breakfast

with all of them in their housecoats

Janette was and is in charge of

THE BOOK

She has been writing in the book since the beginning

No one has seen what is in the book except for the girls

When the time comes...............

The first girl will take it to heaven with her

I can give you just a little 'peak'

All the children's wedding dates are in the book

along with the birth of each grandchild

but

I can't tell you anything else!!!!!!

At the end of each weekend Janette reads from the book

It's funny sometimes as none of us can remember

something that might have read

WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS OR THAT

WE LAUGH AND LAUGH AND LAUGH

Last year we did not have our weekend as Donna Mae's husband Mike was very ill

So...........

it has been two years since I hid the book

I went right to the hiding place

however

the book was not there

YIKES

HOLY COW

AM I IN TROUBLE

Well, I had to give Janette a new book

but the girls have my word

I will turn this cottage upside down

to find the hidden book!!!!!

We also have a new cart

What a wonderous invention

This was Joe's idea and we have Curtis

giving the girls a hand

The cart was a first on the island

Now there are many, many carts

OH OH OH

We had another male visitor

The boy and his Mom came for a visit

A nice surprise

You see

We did do girly things

Mugan is having a pedicure

Over the years the decor of the cottage has changed

In the background you can see posters on the wall

We have travelled many places

and it was always great to look at the posters

and remember the good times we had

Here we are all snuggled under an Afghan that my friend Mrs. David made for the cottage

I have skipped a lot of 'picture' years

Once the photo album was full

I must have stored the pictures

somewhere safe and sound

They are tucked away just like the book

Now we are into 2008

We have come leaps and bounds

The island now has a cart and wagon

Boy does it come in handy

Joe must have come back to the island to say goodbye to the girls

Here he is giving them a hand

Mugan is riding shotgun!

A peaceful picture of Georgette

We have another camera lady in the group!

The girls in 2009

Sue ... Mugan

Georgette...Janette...Donna Mae

Enjoying the afternoon

Recording in the book

Checking  out the photo album

Looks like they are having

a Bloody Mary drink!

The inside of the cottage has changed again

Joe has built bookshelves

At this point in time our home was up for sale

so we were decluttering and bringing as much as we could over to the cottage

Joe built a new kitchen table

2011

The cottage has changed once again

This is now our summer home

Here we are

All smiles

What can I say?

Johnny Cash ended one of his songs by saying

I HAD A BALL

We all had a ball!!!!!!!!!

and

We plan to keep on rolling!!!!!!!!!