A Sunday afternoon walk around Clear Lake

It was a gorgeous, nearly summer-like autumn afternoon: temperatures in the low 70s with little humidity and the trees were already starting to turn their colors from green to yellow, red and orange. Naturally we had to spend at least an hour at Clear Lake.

After swinging by to check out one of the two grand prize winners of this years ArtPrize (more on that in my ArtPrize posting) just off of Franklin Street and US 131, we drove north up 131 to Rockford and Clear Lake. Just a 15-minute drive from our home and yet the Ten Have cottage is a world away from the city.

Uncle John was ambling around inside the cottage when we arrived and after chatting for a few minutes Susie and I  headed off on our jaunt around the lake. We stopped in  to check on Scott and the progress on the new house before heading back to the lake trail. Perhaps two more weeks or so and Uncle John and Aunt Marian, along with their daughter Jennifer, her husband Scott and granddaughter Claire will be settling in to a new home along the lake. Things are always changing.

It had probably been more than a quarter of a century since I had walked the circuit, probably the same for Susie.  It was a quiet stroll yet there was an eerie absence of any squirrel pine cone mounds. They were waiting for Uncle John. . .

It was good to be back.

view across the lake from the cottage deck. . . 

. . .  and back across to the cottage

yep, that's why it's called Clear Lake

the old road 'round the lake