DON'T DREAM YOUR LIFE, LIVE YOUR DREAM

We have been out for a number of weeks now and Mike needed a haircut. I was so flattered that he trusted me enough to ask me to cut it. Believe it or not, I was very nervous; I was afraid of making him look like a fool. Then I said, "So what, a hair cut only lasts a couple of weeks, he'll be back to normal in no time at all." Besides, he's made me look like a fool once or twice. The set-up for the make-shift beauty parlor was half the fun. I started to shave the back, then the sides when I got to the top I realized I had to be very careful, there's not that much up there. All in all it came out fine and I got a nice tip. Do you remember the movie "The Long Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball? She started to collect rocks from every place they went on their honeymoon. Finally, Ricky couldn't get the trailer up a mountain because she had so may hidden rocks in it. Well, I have to be very careful because I keep finding driftwood that I would like to bring home. Some of it would look beautiful in the garden or in the corner of the livingroom. There's really no place for me to hide anything. I wonder if Mike could put an extension on the boat! Next stop...Kelleys Island, Ohio. I never imagined such a beautiful place in Ohio. It's very small with a laid-back atmosphere. You rent golf carts or bikes to get around. The first thing you do is go to the Village Pump and have a pitcher of Brandy Alexanders - like going to Block Island 's Oar House and having a Mudslide. You must take the bikes to the other side of the island and see the state park and its glacial grooves. It is the largest left in the world. You can't miss taking a ride to Kelleys Winery. A quick tour and then relaxing at picnic tables and playing horse shoes. They make the best pizza with wine and corn meal. We also took a dinghy ride around the island. We stopped and saw a flat-topped limestone boulder with pictures of men, birds and animals carved by the Erie Indians 300 or 400 years ago. Off to...Put-In-Bay, Key West of the North. The real name of this island is South Bass Island. When Commodore Perry 's fleet defeated the British Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie he was asked what to do with the fleet. He said, "Put them in the bay." Now that fleet is replaced by hundreds of boats like ours. This island is not at all laid-back; in fact it's a combination of Nashville and New Orleans, with beads and all. During the day it's a real family place, at night it goes a little wild. We were real tourists during the afternoon. We took a walk along the docks where they raft-up as much as 4 across. In town you have your boutiques of all description, a shoppers paradise. There's a 1917 hand-painted wooden merry-go-round. The pictures on it are all island scenes and animals. I could not count the number of bars; as long as they serve something, they're called restaurants. Of course there is a huge memorial to Commodore Perry, telling a lot of history; which Mike really enjoyed. It's the 4th of July. We spent the day in the dinghy, it was a little chilly for me to swim, my polar bear did go in for a while. That night we went to dinner at the Boardwalk Restaurant with Jack and Cathie Spayde. We left them; they had their whole family with them grandkids and all and went back to our marina. Turns out we had the best seat in the house. The fireworks display was on a barge in front of our marina, it was an array of colors and sprays of design that tickled everyones fancy. Around 11:00 we took a walk into town. We ended up at a place called Tippers. What a blast, they had a duo, Allie and Daryl. They had the whole place going; singing songs we all knew. They called up on stage 5 year old twins, a boy and a girl. They sang "Proud to be an American"; I had goosepumps. We're going back to Canada tomorrow. Last time we were in Canada for 2 weeks. With roaming charges, taxes and all, my Cingular bill was beyond crazy. We'll be in the Georgian Bay and North Channel. Think of us and keep us in your prayers.