The time to raise the midsummer pole is fast approaching. Sunday, June 18 is the date to remember. Leaf tying will begin at 3 p.m. The Marquette Folk dancers will perform beginning at 4 p.m. and we will eat at 5 p.m. As always, bring your favorite dish and table service. Pega is already at work on Swedish meatballs while the rest of us are thinking of Midsummer at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brevort.

Sally Conklin will be at her condominium for some time. Sally is from Shelby Township and has been a condo owner for many years.

This is the time of year I see those blips of dark flying around in our house. We have learned to anticipate the action of our visitors, the bats. Turn all the lights on except the room that has access to the outdoors. Open the door, and your visitor will vacate the premises.

Dave, David Jr., and I viewed the disc with Betty and Giordani's Alaska pictures. Gio and Betty took a pickup truck towing a sailboat to Homer, Alaska, where Bob Flora's son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Judy Flora, live. It was a good trip with little or no big problems. They arrived safely and with all equipment intact. They saw lots of wildlife on their way, moose, bear, mountain goats, otter, and other animals of the region. Glad to have you back home, Gio and Betty.

Kristi and Morgan Gustafson are playing on the Thunder ball team in St. Ignace this summer. The girls play on Tuesday and Thursday.

We met a nice young man at Jeannie's Reach last week. Thought he was from Maine, but he only has a plate on the front of his vehicle that says "Maine." Don Reece is from Lapeer, works at the state park in St. Ignace, and goes to North Central Michigan College (NCMC) in Petoskey in the fall. He is a friend of Beth Merry, the waitress at Jeannie's Reach. Beth goes to NCMC, majoring in early elementary education. Beth lives on Worth Road in Brevort.

Sailing was the order of the day for Mike and Melaine Jorgensen and their family, Mark, Matthew and Melissa, and Les Jorgensen, all of downstate Michigan, along with Barb's brother and sister-in-law, Larry and Gayle Money of Port Clinton, Ohio.

Cassie Becker from New York City was here for a week at the home of her parents, Pega and John Kennedy. This weekend Peg, John, and Cassie traveled to Johannesburg for a graduation party of a nephew and then on to Cheboygan for another party of a young friend Pega cared for when she had her child care business in Cheboygan many years ago.

Ted and Pat Lubutzki attended the wedding of their granddaughter in Midland last week.

It was a busy weekend for the businesses in the village. Lots of old cars were heading for a car show downstate.

Sue Arsenault and friends of Sault Ste. Marie were Sunday guests of Lee Quigley.

Thora and Jack Shepard spent the weekend at their cottage at Trout Lake. Thora reports that Libby, the family cat, is much improved. She hadn't been well and made a trip to the vet last week.

I was talking to Linda Grogan, our rural mail carrier, and she said it would be beneficial to start using the four digit number following the zip code on each address.

Sharon and Joe Chalmers and neighbors Randy and Helen Haas drove across the Mighty Mac Sunday, the gals to check out flowers to plant and the fellows to do some golfing.

This is about the extent of the news. My pole beans are coming up; the asparagus is just about done. I let the remainder of the spears grow up into the fern-like branches, as that makes nutrients for next year's asparagus. We still have hopes for the blueberries, although I think it may be a bit dicey because of the frost we had earlier.

Congratulations to David May, a Gros Cap kid, on his new venture featuring car care. Mr. May's business is located on U.S. 2 west of St. Ignace.

Happy anniversary of Sharron and Larry Lasley on Tuesday, June 13, and happy birthday to Sharron Lasley Sunday, June 18.

Eric Barthelemy was showing me the roses in the family's front yard. It will be fun it see how they turn out this summer, as he cut two bushes back last fall and left the other two intact. The bushes he cut back have one or two large buds on them, whereas the long leggy ones have many, many smaller buds covering the entire bush. It will be interesting.