Out-on-the-Hook!

“Sometimes we are lucky enough to know our lives have been changed, to discard the old and embrace the new and run headlong down an immutable course. It happened to me . . . on that summer’s day when my eyes were opened to the sea.”  - Jacques Yves-Cousteau

Blue-green stretches of water, emerald islands scattered across this fluid canvas, and warm pine-laden breezes – when it comes to restoring body and soul, no place in the world can compete with Drummond Island. And few other places in the world can inspire one to explore, again and again, the tapestry that makes up a summer spent in the north; the rituals of family, the pleasures of friendship, and the immutable cycles of the natural world. There is a depth of feeling and wonder that lies at the very core of spending one’s summer Up North.

For me there is no sweeter pleasure than a summer day spent out-on-the-hook in Harbor’s big bay. I wake up early in the morning, squint up at the sky to see if the haze margin that promises a scorcher is smudging the horizon, pack a lunch, a hat, some sun block, snatch a bottle of water, and dash out the door. I inevitably run back for the book and bottle of wine I left on the table, then dive into the car and head down to Yacht Haven. My adrenaline is pumping in fierce anticipation, and finally – there it is: the jockeying for a parking space, the hunt for the cart to haul items down the dock and the first deep inhalation of diesel as the Up North’s engine turns over and comes to life. Bingo! All my senses are buzzing with the intoxicating elixir of the elements!

It’s WATER time!

Once anchored out in Harbor I take up residence on the deck – my head falls back unto a pillow. I angle my hat, adjust my sunglasses, open my book and settle into nirvana. Lord Bryon once wrote “There is society where none intrudes/By the deep Sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more.” I would have to agree with this great swimmer wholeheartedly.

Once significantly toasted top and bottom I predictably dive into the water. Half submerged, at one with the aqueous mystery below; I bob around the boat, exposed to the sun and air from the neck up. I am on sensory overload, and I haven’t even broken any laws! I am the most content woman in the world. I surrender to the rhythm of the water and my mind goes as blank as the sky. I might swim a few strokes and then turn on my back to float, letting the energy of the water pass around and through me.

After a while I come back to the present, climb up on to the boat, and flop on to a towel laid out on the deck in a coma of bliss. I slowly drift off to sleep – the smile on my face the same as it was when I was a child and my eyes were first opened to lazy summer days spent out-on-the-hook.

“Summer afternoon – Summer afternoon – the two most beautiful words in the English language.”  – Henry James

Song for the Island . . .

Out 'round the Island on warm afternoons

Old men go fishing with black line and spoons

And if they catch nothin' they never complain

I wish I were with them again.

As boys in their boats call to girls on the shore

Teasin' the ones that they dearly adore

And into the evening the courting begins

I wish I were with them again.

CHORUS:

Can you imagine a piece of the universe

More fit for queens or for kings?

I'll give you ten of your cities

For Drummond Island and the pleasure it brings.

Out on the Island on soft summer nights

Bonfires blaze to the children's delight

They dance round the flames singin' songs with their friends

I wish I were with them again - - -

And over the ashes the stories are told

Of witches and werewolves and old Island gold

Stars over Whitney Bay sparkle and spin

I wish I were with them again.

CHORUS

Out on the Island the people are kind

They treat you like fam'ly and help you unwind

And if you come broken they'll see that you mend

I wish I were with them again - - -

Now I'll conclude with a wish you go well

Sweet be your dreams and your happiness swell

I'll leave you here for my journey begins

I'm going to be with them again.

I'm going to be with them again,

.

Adapted by Candis Collick from "Song for the Mira," by Allister MacGillivray

Sweet Treats and More . . .

You scream, I scream,


We all scream for Tee Pee Ice Cream!



No ice cream flavor in a box or bucket can ever compare with the taste of a Tee Pee ice cream cone after a long, lazy summer day on Drummond Island!

The Tee Pee 29905 E Channel Rd  Drummond Island MI 49726

Phone: 906-493-5248

CLOSED for the SEASON :(

"Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone."

~Jim Fiebig