Currie Lake WI -- Again September 19, 2000
Last
year's week-long visit to Currie Lake was SO relaxing we plan to stay a
month this year. The "Lidtke Resort" is fully occupied all summer long with
family and friends, but after Labor Day things get real quiet. So
we're hanging loose and enjoying the lovely cabin and lake, with week-end visits
from our grad school roommates, Judy and Margie.
Currie Lake is in northern Wisconsin between Tomahawk and Minocqua. Tomahawk is home to a Harley Davidson factory. It's also the location of a September Colorama week-end, which drew 25,000 motorcyclist this year. (The weather in recent years has warmed so that leaf colors in mid-September are still mostly green; today the thermometer was in the eighties! It will cool soon with high's of 50's later in the week.) The bikers are somehow raising money for Muscular Dystrophy and, of course, tooling around the countryside, usually in groups of about a dozen that are fun to checkout. There is no helmet law in Wisconsin, so bikers REALLY enjoy riding around here and they're all spiffed up in biker gear: mostly black leather and denim.
We've
experienced some exciting thunderstorms these past 2 weeks. They light up the
pitch black night sky and make a helluva noise, especially when compared to the
normal quiet. A lightning bolt zapped the cabin's electricity
one evening. Well, I'd sure forgotten how much we rely on electricity
nowadays. No lights, and forget the candles -- you cannot read by them and sit comfortably. No radio, no TV. And
eventually no water (the well water is pumped) and no heat (the gas heater uses
a fan to push out hot air). Nothing to do but play on our laptops --
thank goodness they were fully charged (and yes, we now have his and her
computers to keep us entertained.)
Nothing seems to have changed at the
cabin. (See last year's
travelogue.) We're keeping busy, hiking, picking blackberries at
my secret blackberry patch, looking out the
picture windows onto the lake, paddling in the paddle boat, playing Upwards
or Royalty (word games that I only occasionally win), and listening to
the radio and to Harry Potter on tape. This week Dick's come down with a REALLY stiff neck; he's taking muscle relaxants and
not really doing much of anything. I'm cooking, cleaning, driving 15 miles into town to
shop and do laundry, and playing golf at the local course 3 miles away. Rather the happy
housewife, except that Dick's not mobile.
We're also reading. Curry Lake is a great place to catch up on things, especially good books. I've finally posted book ratings on some of the books I've read this past year, should you be looking for something to read or something to avoid. Feel free to send along a short review with rating of a favorite book of yours and I'll post it (with credits) on the Book Review page.
Right now life is a lake: Curry Lake.