College students are beginning to sift home for the summer, as well as residents who have been spending the winter in a warmer climate. Our granddaughter, Lauren Izzard, is among others home from the University of Michigan for the summer. During Lauren's first year at a big university, she leaned that studying is what it's all about and that it is serious business. I'm happy to say that she did very well and will return as a sophomore next fall. It won't be long until all of our college students will be out for the summer and it's always a surprise to see how they have "grown up" during their time away.

Our grandson, Josh Izzard, is being graduated from Ferris State U Saturday, May 5, and we're all going down for the graduation.

Among residents who have returned, it was nice to see Sue and Jim Cheever of Coryell Island stocking up on summer necessities. Sue and Jim spend their winters in Arizona.

We have been enjoying summer like weather for the past week and what a pleasure that is. Sitting on the deck, soaking up a little sunshine, and watching boats go by, were a part of my pastime during the past few days. There has been time for me to do that because there have been many patients at Mackinac Straits Long Term Care who have been sick with the flu, and hospital staff have asked visitors to stay away until everyone is well once again, so my usual trips to St. Ignace were curtailed.

Gerry Izzard won the $500 Lions Club lottery April 24.

Bruce Patrick has spent some time in the hospital and I'm happy to say that he is now home and gaining strength. Bruce's home has been a big part of his life and his story today is about that home:

"This is the story about Patrick's Landing. The house which we live in now was built by Ross Patrick in the year 1895. He also built two boathouses, one was the workshop, where he built dozens of rowboats. There was a great demand for rowing boats to fish or travel with, that rowed easily, for there were no outboard motors. The few inboard motors were very hard to run and keep running slowly enough to troll for pike and muskies.

"Ross's main boat house shop had a planing mill and a steam box to bend ribs and planking. He specialized in lap-strake planked row boats. Of course, he built inboard launches also.

"In 1923 he sold his, or this, house and boat houses to the Pastime Club of Pittsburgh and moved to Cedarville, where he bought the Cedarville Boat Works. There he carried on with boat building. He also started a huge car parking garage. The Cedar Inn Hotel on Front Street needed inside parking for cars. No one in those days wanted to park their autos out overnight. So this was a big business for Ross.

"My mother finally bought out Pastime Club. I, and my brother, sent her money from our soldiers' salary. She bought Pastime Club out. I bought my brother out, so when I got married to Elizabeth Miller, we had a house which I remodeled and added to.

"We put a garage on the back and made many changes to the main house, making three bedrooms upstairs. After a few years, I made a larger bedroom downstairs. I built a fireplace, enlarged the basement, and put in an oil-fired furnace. I also remodeled the kitchen. So today, we have a modern house.

"Grandpa Patrick had built a four bedroom house next door. When Grandpa died, his wife lived there for a few years. She walked to Cedarville every day, weather permitting. So my mother made a deal with her. My mother, Emma, bought a two bedroom house in Cedarville and traded it to Grandma (Mary) for the house next door to use. We rented this big house in summer to tourists. This was the start of Patrick's Landing Resort. After a few years, we built several cabins to rent to summer tourists, so we were among the first summer rental resorts.

"We then, after a few years, sold the big house to Henry Paquin. He tore it down and sold the lumber. I bought much of it to use in building our rental cabins. When William A. Patrick built this house, he studded inside walls and outside walls and poured mill sawdust in the walls for insulation. It really worked and made the house easy to heat.

"We never built any houses on the spot where William A. Patrick's house stood. William, or "Bill," as he was called, built the Muskalunge Hotel after he lost his money on oil wells in Oklahoma. Joseph Fenlon financed him building the Muskalunge Hotel and he never was able to get the mortgage paid off to Joe Fenlon. The Muskalunge Hotel had 12 rooms and was a two story building. It was built on a point of land just west of his home here at Patrick's Landing. The Spring Lodge is there now.

"Charlie Collins bought this hotel from a Mrs. Medisker, who ran the hotel after Joe Fenlon took it over from Bill Patrick. She and her son, Clarence, ran the hotel for many years. When she died, her son did not want to run it, so it just sat for a few years. Charlie Collins finally bought it. He tore it down and used the lumber in building the present Spring Lodge and Cottages."

With the above story more history is revealed. Bruce, at 92 years of age, has a great memory. We're fortunate that he tells these stories, giving us a window into the past.