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The New Yorker.

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I struggled to find a title for this entry, but I think I got it right. Brevity. Gravitas. Maybe a bit of mystery?? Whatever. We  recently came to a decision about our next stop as a family. We formed the search party on the heels of our realization that, in our current quarters, we have no first floor shower. Which, to both the young and to overly optimistic elders, seems like a mere inconvenience. Until some life event dramatically changes the calculus,  and one is forced to adopt a new lifespan trajectory. Turn the page, stare into the abyss, and accept the fact that age is actually more than just a number. So, yeah. The "home" search needed action.  We looked around at six different places.  And we're now committed. It was not easy to come to the decision, but we think this place will be nice to go to. It's a little more than half the size of our house (no basement though). It's part of a facility that starts with independent living, which is our entry point, ...
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Grill cab rehab

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My Big Green Egg rests in a cabinet built by Custom Built in probably 2010. A half-slab of granite cut into a semicircle, of course with a supporting structure, finished with stucco to survive the elements, and casters. Not that I can actually move it anymore... Side note, when I asked the granite supplier what was going to be done with the cutout for the grill, I got the shrug of "um, ????" So I asked for that piece to get the same edge treatment as the big piece.  You see, I knew the Egg was then-currently living in the nest, which would make a stout support for the granite, and an elements-worthy companion table for the grill. Thus, the table, created because hey, I paid for that part of the slab, right???   But ten years went by, and then five more, and suddenly in 2025 the ensemble needed a refresh. So I bought some stucco for the exterior, some GitRot for the interior, found a bit of lumber, and some paint, and used up a fair portion of late July, half of August, an...
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Missing Trish

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 So much energy, humanity, humility, and humor... Trish was the most reliable, genuine, and hard-working person I ever met, and she is deeply missed. People with cottages have the gift of having a home life, and an away life. The cottage often provides a getaway, an escape from... well, whatever. Often, owners of both leave "the city" and upon arriving "up north" (in Michigan, anyway), they cross the cottage threshold and emit sighs of relief, both literal and figurative.  They can relax. And so it was for Trish, I think. She worked hard at both abodes, for sure. But I believe the lake lifted her spirits, what with the sunsets, sunrises, boat rides, entertaining friends and family, communing with loons and swans and hummingbirds, pursuing fine dining (both home and "out"), and just generally enjoying the great outdoors and its all-embracing laid-back ambience. Thank you for that gift, Erwin "Erv" Bettinghuaus, Ph.D. , who we lost July 7, 2025. Tr...
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