On our way home from a week-long vacation up north in Michigan, my husband and I stopped by a familiar 'friend'...my childhood cottage at Houghton Lake. It has since been updated with new siding, windows, a new deck, but I recognized it just the same. It was where my family spent each summer before my parent's divorce. I loved those summers at the lake. As a young girl all I cared about was swimming for hours on end, fishing with my Dad, and walking up to the local party store with summertime friends. I felt such a mix of emotions as I looked around the cottage grounds, so much has changed, and it is so hard to believe it was some twenty years or so since I had been there. I looked at the grouping of three trees where I used to play kick-the-can, out at the lake where we used to have our favorite fishing spot, along the shoreline where there used to be a beautiful, sandy beach, now replaced with a concrete retaining wall...it all seemed so familiar and yet I was looking at these things not thru the eyes of young girl, but of a grown woman. I will admit, quite a few tears were shed that day. I loved our cottage at Houghton Lake, summers spent with family & friends, peace and serenity...what I'd give to get some of that time back.
As we prepared to leave I looked around one last time and realized that this place has indeed changed, it is no longer the 'friend' I once knew, it belongs to a new family...the place I remember is in my heart, and that is where it will always remain. And someday, if I am so blessed, I hope to have another cottage in which new memories can be made...laughter among friends, crackling bonfires, waves lapping against the shore...the simple beauty of life.

No paintings of my own today to share, but rather some work from two fellow artist friends, Debbie Rittenhouse and Nancy Poucher. I am blessed to actually own a few small pieces by each of these artists and can attest to the fact that both are incredibly talented ladies! Their work is just breathtaking in person...be sure to treat yourself this summer to some amazingly beautiful beach eye candy!