This will be another post with more questions than anything else. This is an aerial photograph of the Big Bass Lake softball complex. I would gather this is a league for men but how many teams are comprised in this league? Do the women of that area also have teams and what about kids?

Does the field have bleachers and a concession stand? And what is that facility just north of the diamond? Well, it happens to be a new church in the area that may call for the “In the big inning“. The field is located just east of where the Big Bass Lake store used to be. Also does this field have lights for evening games? How long is the season where the field is used?

I have a strong hunch that the Na-Tah-Ka Restaurant and Bar gets a good measure of business after the games.

If you have the answers to these questions, please leave a comment and let us know.

For the longest time I thought that our boys club outings at night on the Bloody Antler Trail were heading due north to the tree farm but now I find out it was due west. I looked at an aerial map only just recently to the north and could just not find that tree farm.

I remember that it was near to a dirt road so as I scanned that aerial map I found it due west and I have it here by way of an aerial photo. The red line in one picture shows you the line our boys club outings took. Where we parked our car on those trips was just off the Bloody Antler Trail on a grassy path.

For a time on each side of the road there was a swamp. After a time the trail literally emptied into an open tree farm. I hope these pictures helps clarify where our journies took us.

These trips always started out at 10pm just as darkness was settling down in mid summer.

This island on Big Bass Lake is the only one with direct access to it by way of a bridge. It is not an enormous bridge as in fact, as I recall, it is a one lane bridge about twenty feet long. Kids and adults alike like to stand on it watching boats drift underneath it. Only one boat can go through at a time as that is all that can fit through that opening.

This island also has many people living on it largley due to the bridge. All other islands can only be reached by boat. As you can tell by the overhead view, there are many houses on this island. It is also the largest island of the five on Big Bass Lake with Haunted Island being the second largest just to its west. The smallest is just to its east being Grandma’s Hat.

The other two islands are on the north side of the lake those being Turtle Island and Four Winds Island. To my knowledge Haunted Island has one cottage now on it while Four Winds Island has several old cottages from the Camp Martin Johnson era.

The bridge road leads out to Big Bass Lake Road just west of the old Big Bass Lake Store.

My grandmother, Barbara Noreika, used to make carrot juice for me when I was a teenager. That juice was so tasty and good that I emptied my glass fast. However, once done I had the strangest reaction as the roof of my mouth seemed to itch? Still, it was worth it anyway so here is my grandmother’s recipe for carrot juice and then another recipe I found on the Internet.

INITIAL PREPARATION
1. Wash carrots using water and a stiff vegetable brush to remove any dirt.
2. Remove the green tops and slice the carrots to fit your juicer.

Ingredients
4 large carrots
1 inch cube of ginger
½ lemon

SECOND PHASE OF PREPARATION
1. Peel the ginger, and slice to fit your juicer.
2. Chop the skin off the lemon.
3. Juice and enjoy.

Here now is another recipe I found on the “Net”.

First of all, I like to make V8 Juice with carrot juice as the base, rather than the traditional tomato juice.
Ingredients
3 large carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 small beetroot
½ cucumber
4 stems of parsley
2 leaves of lettuce
4 stems of watercress
10 baby spinach leaves

PREPARATION
1. Wash and prepare the vegetables and slice to fit your juicer.
2. Juice and serve.

Some juicers handle greens better that others. My Juicer chews through them with ease. To help prevent centrifugal juicers from jamming up alternate juicing leafy greens with firmer vegetables like carrots and celery.

Then drink this healthy mixture down with joy!

I have an enduring love of the real evergreen as a Christmas tree. This is probably born of my days in the woods, of my love of the smell of pine and the happy memories it brings me, and of course from childhood memories. We never had a foil tree as a child. Dad always bought us a lovely pine and would flock it with his Sears Roebuck shop vac. When I was a pre-teen we switched to artificial….a plastic fake tree that never stirred my soul as a real tree did.

Today we have a 13 foot pre lit artificial tree. It sits in the garage, unused as I buy smaller real evergreens, cut in Michigan. I can’t help but compare these sad examples however to the trees I love so well. These trees are sprayed with a fire retardant coating that is dyed green- and this colors the tree. Inside my tree this year it is sad and brown. The coating didn’t cover as much as one would expect.

If I still had access to Brookwood I might want to travel there to choose a tree from Grandfather’s forest…..a baby of one he planted perhaps.l would know I was getting a lovely, fresh example, and a piece of “home” at the same time. Of course, I would not be able to bring my husband along, for although he loves “live” trees he won’t “kill” it himself….he will just be an end user and pruchase it!

I would love to see our woods at Christmas. I imagine the sparkling snow, the crusty surface that would pop as my feet fell through to the softer blanket below; the shining ice that would drip from trees causing icicles to bounce in the breeze; the crisp, clean smell and the welcoming wafting scents of a fireplace keeping us warm inside the cabin. And the Christmas trees decorated with snowy drifts on their branches, ice gleaming in the winter light and pine cones accenting the overall effect.

Merry Christmas to all! Peace.

I was in the junior high when this photograph was taken and it came in front of our Christmas tree in our living room. Our tree was always placed in front of our huge picture window facing Wabash Street. Our living room was rather large with two sliding doors on either side of the room. One faced the stairway and the front door while the other led into the dining room. A fireplace was on that side of the living room. There was also a patio door to our porch which swung around the entire living room.

My two companions are Sam, the Beagle, and Buff, the all American mix who I found on my paper route. He followed me home and became probably the best dog the Norris family ever had. The other two notable dogs were Waggles in Forest Park and Wilson who replaced Sam after he died in Wabash.

At the back of our property were gigantic hills for sledding and there were three varities of hills in all. It was a great place to test out that Christmas sled or sauncer. Many times sledding lasted well into the night.

Merry Christmas from Big Bass Lake and Beyond, from all of us to all of you!

Well, there might not be any actual Christmas lights on at this house on Big Bass Lake but it sure is lit up rather nicely on Christmas Eve. Can you imagine walking home as you listen to each foot crunch through the snow? Awaiting you there is a mug of your favorite hot chocolate and as you settle down in your easy chair before the lighted Christmas tree and before a roaring fire in your fireplace your mind eases down allowing you to relax and take it all in.

After a few moments you stroll to your picture window overlooking Big Bass Lake and watch as gentle snowflakes swirl through the air. Though frigid outside you are warm and comforted inside. Now that you’re fully relaxed you have that major task of assembling all your kids toys before Christmas morning. Ah, but was it ever nice for that brief moment.

During the Christmas season at the Hoffman Estates Boys Club, our library was transported into a holiday mesh of Christmas trees and lights plus decorations galore. I set up three Christmas trees each year. Aside from our traditional party, those trees stayed up and lighted through the months of January and February.

The reason why was that there always seemed to be a let down in those two cold winter months that follows Christmas. The decorations came down around New Years Day but the trees remained. The kids seemed to appreciate that as whatever activity that took place in the library, be they quiz bowls or arts and crafts, were brought forth with even more gusto and enthusiasm.

In the evening the Christmas tree lights were turned on and the library overhead lights were turned off and some kids just went into the library to sit there refreshed. It seemed to have a real atmosphere of calmness for the kids. It became a fortress of solitude so to speak.

I think the kids enjoyed those extra two months of holiday cheer as they faced the grim nature of winter outside.

Well, the weather outside is frightful but downtown Ludington is ever so delightful. It was a few nights before Christmas and all through downtown Ludington, not a creature was stirring as will be closing up early. Sometimes downtown Ludington seems like a ghost town at night but maybe that’s the way it ought to be. I did my Christmas shopping already in Ludington as Scottville just doesn’t seem to have everything I need to get.

In a few days, my wife and I will enjoy Christmas together and tell each other stories tonight around our fireplace. It is a Reynolds family tradition to do so. I’ll build a nice toasty fire and then we’ll sip hot cocoa and munch on some graham crackers as we share our holiday stories to one another. Merry Christmas from the Reynolds family.

If you look closely you can now see that the grassy field of the Joplin Boys Club has been enclosed by a very high fence. That fence was not in existence in the days I was their Executive Director but over the course of time that field has been used by undesirables to the point where a fence was needed to be installed.

I suppose that is a sign of the times. At least now the kids can use the field and feel safe doing so. The club no longer has a soccer program that once was afflicated with GOSA (Greater Ozark Soccer Association) and I applaud that decision. All too often I thought that the once a week kids got preference over the daily children.

Now that field can be developed for other purposes now that soccer is no longer a part of the club. They have a goodly amount of grounds and now also have a full playground area installed. The changes are for the better.