Create lasting Thanksgiving memories by topping your table with memories. All you need is a plain white tablecloth and some indelible fabric markers. Before your Thanksgiving meal begins, have everybody write down what they are most thankful for and then also have them write the date next to the message. Wash it and use it again next year. You will have a treasured keepsake that you can use over and over. One of the things to be thankful for is having begun the process of creating a cottage succession plan to keep your family cottage in your family for future generations so all can enjoy family holiday traditions.

Make sure you are camera-ready and the battery is charged. Snap photos of your guests throughout the day and then create an online photo album, and e-mail it to everyone after your Thanksgiving dinner feast!

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Spike continues to be a topic of interest around The Depot and from first time visitors.

One of the most popular questions and points of confusion is how a soft looking and fuzzy haired yellow cat acquired the name “Spike.” A consistent mindset is because of The Depot being connected to the railroad, and hence “Spike” because of railroad spikes.

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“Make one person happy each day, and in forty years you will have made 14,600 human beings happy for a little time, at least.” -Charley Willey

Who can you make smile right now? That is your challenge of the day. We all need laughter in our lives. Giving people a little humor and entertainment leaves them with a good feeling of upbeat enthusiasm. It can be great for businesses, families, and friends.

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With summer approaching to the end, so do the long lazy days at the family cottage. The walks on the beach, the summer sunsets, the icec ream trips into Suttons Bay, the fireflies, the hiking of Pyramid Point all seem like a summer wonderment.

Summer seems to go by so fast but remains a glorious memory. It seems like we just peeled off sweatshirts and jeans at the family cottage. There are no long homework assignments or projects to supervise. Adventures and swimming come to an end. Summer friends head away from the family cottage vastly going in another direction. The cottage dogs are lazily snoozing on the couch. The cooler mornings take over. Soon the school buses will start taking up their lane of traffic.

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Remember the phrase, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream?”

Ice cream and summer at the family cottage goes hand and hand. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting with a generous scoop of your favorite ice cream at the family cottage on the lake. There are many flavors of this delicious dessert. I believe House of Flavors known to many as Baskin & Robbins has 64 kinds of flavored ice cream.

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The family cottage sets in motion vacations to remember. At the family cottage you relax, unwind and nurture yourself. It is a wonderment and an oasis of peace on the water’s edge. It doesn’t matter how you spend your day off from work or household chores. Enjoy nature whether you bike, boat, hike, or simply take a swim. My teens and my husband Dan enjoy swinging a club or two at the golf course. Even if you enjoy watching the world go by, it is just fine.

The best memories at the family cottage are the incredible family stories, whether you believe them or not. We vacationed at the “big lake” as my kids used to call Lake Michigan. My husband and I had a wonderful bonfire with our boys and family friends who stayed with us at the cottage on Good Harbor Bay. We all went to bed after saying our goodnight’s, but Dan decided to stay at the water’s edge with our yellow labs Bailey and Callie.

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Our summertime friends helped us celebrate Casey.

Conor and The Rose Lizard Club sign

Casey named this club the “Rose Lizards.” We made special friends at the family cottage. These friends are people you don’t see on a daily basis and sometimes they may be just summertime friends. I love these friendships, because you pick up where you left off and never skip a beat in conversation or in sharing a story or two.

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The family cottage is a fabulous place for new beginnings and perfect endings. August is National Picnic Month. There is no better way than celebrating with family and friends – birthdays or holidays – at the family cottage, than with a picnic. So pull out your blue and white checkered table cloth (or red and white checkered) and a wicker picnic basket.

I grew up with Yogi Bear and he loved pic-a-nics. To Yogi every day ended in a fabulous picnic filled with jelly sandwiches. (My teens do not even know who Yogi Bear was.)

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Summer began as usual at the family cottage. The dogs, our chocolate labs Jake and Ginger, and our two cats Max and Joey and the three teen boys plus a friend were all settled in for a glorious summer at the cottage.

A few days later we discovered that our pets were not the only critters at the summer cottage. We had a family of skunks living under the shed in the back of the family cottage. There were 5 skunks to be exact. A mother skunk who was not happy we had invaded her space and her 4 babies. I did not want her spraying the dogs. We had that happen before to our very first dog Baily, a yellow lab. It was awful -the smell smarts your eyes. I believe we used tomato juice and hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the smell. I absolutely did not want her spraying the boys.

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A cottage in northern Michigan is a way of life. It is a place with a purpose. It awakens the heart. There is passion and dreams at a cottage. There are water bays, beaches, bonfires, friends, family, pets, and vineyards with great wineries. A cottage is a feeling of peace. This becomes a beautiful place to be, especially when you don’t want to be anywhere else.

Cottage-law stands for:

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