5 Questions About Me

I'm 'playing along' with a blogger 5 Question get-to-know you. I have no problem writing anything and everything about Conneaut Lake, but writing about myself is a little more difficult. Here it goes...

1. What makes you happy?

Being in Conneaut Lake with my family (of course)!

2. Which talent would you most like to have? 

Singing and dancing. I have zero talent in either.

3. Which words or phrases do you overuse most?

'Let it go'. Said to my husband or kids when they fret over something not worth fretting about.

4. What is your favorite movie, book or both?

I love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (the book). The story is so timeless.

5. If you could go anywhere in the world for a creative retreat where might it be? 

Hum, I have to say, life's pretty good here at the lake.  But, if I had to choose, I'd like to go to the Adirondacks or the Catskills. I've never been to either, but both sound wonderful The Catskills make me think of Dirty Dancing, which has to be one of my favorite movies.

And now, a rare picture of me! I'm usually the one behind the camera. Thanks for reading!

The 50/50 Raffle and Conneaut Lake

I went over half my life without ever knowing of the 50/50 Raffle. And then, I started visiting Western Pennsylvania. It's some sort of requirement for organized events. The hosting group or organization sells raffle tickets, which guests buy in order to enter the raffle. If $100 is collected, the organizer gets $50 and the winner gets $50. If $200 is collect, the organization gets $100 and the winner gets $100. You get the idea.

Tickets are never much, and we always enter. The Midway Civic Club hosted their annual dinner on the beach last weekend. There was, of course, a 50/50 raffle. Guess who won? My aunt! You can see the excitement on her face.

As if that weren't enough, they had a little bonus drawing and I won a bottle of wine. That's my husband holding the wine. I'd like to think my hands aren't quite so masculine.

Old Picture of Cottage

I love old pictures. Our cottage is on the right. It looks almost the same today, but the trees and hedges are much larger.

10 Things I Love about Summers in Conneaut Lake

I adore summers in Conneaut Lake. In no particular order, here my ten favorite things.

1) Midway Beach - Accessibly only to cottage owners and renters in the Midway Beach area, this small beach is reminiscent of the 1950's. We've spent many hours here over the years. Little has changed from the postcard in my blog header.
2) Family - It's all about family here. In the picture below my son is teaching his little cousin to blow up water balloons. I love this daily interaction between cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

3) My Cottage
4) Tradition - So much of our time at the lake is built on tradition. Traditions that we've started as well as traditions that have continued for years and generations.
5) Warm Nights, Fireflies, and Thunderstorms
6) Sunsets - Each one is more spectacular than the next

7) The Spillway at Pymatuning - You really have to see it to believe it.
8) Hanks - The best Frozen Custard ever!
9) Antiquing - I've found the best treasures around here.
10) Amish - I love seeing them shopping in the grocery store, selling baked goods in roadside stands and hanging their clothes out to dry.


If you also spend summers in Conneaut Lake, what do you love most about the lake? If you spend summers elsewhere, where do you go, and what do you love about your special summer spot?

The Simple Things

Oh, the simple things in life. The other morning the Midway Civic Club handed out donuts and coffee on the beach. For free. You'd think they were passing tickets to Disneyland the way my family was acting. 

Even the early hour didn't deter my kids. They were up and ready to go ahead of the 8:00 time. All for  a donut. I have to admit, it was worth it.  I'd never known about Golden Dawn (a small local grocery store) donuts before. They're made fresh daily...and they are delicious! 

Where is Conneaut Lake?

Where in the world is this unknown lake anyway? Conneaut (pronounced Connie-ought) Lake is in Northwest Pennsylvania, or 500 Miles to Chicago and 500 Miles to New York as the sign on a local building points out.

If you're more of a map person, you might like this from an old Midway Hotel brochure. 

Blue Streak Sand Sculpture on Midway Beach

When Will insisted that I go to Midway Beach a few nights ago to "see something amazing", I wasn't sure what I'd find. This could mean many things to a 10 year old. What I found was a truly amazing, built to scale, sand sculpture of Conneaut Lake Park's historic Blue Streak roller coaster. 

Below is a picture of the actual roller coaster from a few years ago. The 1937 wooden coaster was designed by Ed Vettel, a big name in the roller coaster world.

A family (a large, extended family) makes a sand sculpture on Midway Beach each summer. The design is top secret until plans are revealed to the family. Each child has a job to do. It took two days of hard work to create this giant sculpture.

To give you an idea of the size, Kate is kneeling in one corner of the sculpture.

I love the detail of the wooden trusses.

Then, as if seeing this wasn't enough, we witnessed something equally as entertaining the following morning. We happened to be on Midway Beach at 8:00 a.m., only because of free donuts that morning - not much else will get my kids up that early. It also happened to be the planned destruction time of the sand roller coaster. Below, the creators lined up and enacted a ride on the famed Blue Streak, complete with up hill, down hill, and hand motions.

After the dry run of the ride next to the sand sculpture, they all boarded the roller coaster, buckled in, and proceeded to ride' the entire coaster, destroying it as they went.