Merry Christmas

I heard a radio commercial this morning. “The Holidays are for making memories with friends and family”.  I believe the commercial was for AT&T, but I wasn’t really paying attention … Read more

Ski Towns

When you grow up in the Midwest, you are taught certain things. You are taught that the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings or the Detroit Lions … Read more

Winter Rules

It was fall on Saturday and winter on Sunday. It’s winter today, and it’ll be winter tomorrow. In fact, the odds are stacked heavily in favor of it being winter … Read more

Go Kart Track

You’ve likely already read the article. Lake Geneva Mansions Are Having A Year.  Crain’s likes to talk about Lake Geneva, but only sometimes. That’s because the Crain family is from … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

I’ve written it often. So often, in fact, that it probably doesn’t seem like I’ve written it at all. It’s about perspective, this life of ours. It’s about perspective gained … Read more

Small

When I first drove to the Driftless, I didn’t know what it was, or where it was, or anything else about it. I knew only what I had been told, … Read more

W

My older brother had, and likely has to this day, the largest Mark Grace baseball card collection ever assembled. I believed the Cubs when they said Jerome Walton was the … Read more

Gloom

Both of my grandmothers are now dead. They’ve both been dead for a while. My Grandma May didn’t complain about much, or if she did she didn’t see fit to … Read more

Habits

The magazines are stacked in my den, stacked in my living room, stacked in my office. Some, still, are pushed under the back seats of my cars, those magazines that … Read more

Temptation

As I understand it, Door County is a place where you go because you want to eat cherries while spending the better part of a full day searching for a … Read more

Steady

Anxiety is a common affliction in the real estate world. Those not living in this world cannot fathom what might be so difficult about making buckets full of money while … Read more

Car Shopping

I need a new car. My car is older now, though if you saw it just after a washing and you were standing some slight distance from it you’d be … Read more

October Drive

The Saab 900 was gunmetal gray. The roads were straight, the path clear. North. That’s all I needed to do, bearing East when possible, but mostly just North. The Saab … Read more

Normalcy

The vacation is over. It wasn’t all week, it was just two days. Maybe three, if you count the last day. There were fish caught and steaks eaten. Devoured, really. … Read more

To Vacation

I have now, rather unfortunately, decided that I don’t know what it would be like to take a vacation. I don’t understand the concept, not in the least. In the … Read more

Boat Lake Michigan?

I often wonder what the connection is between the Chicago Tribune and the state of Michigan. Is it simply that the Tribune is a newspaper in Chicago and Michigan is … Read more

Summer

I remember the days when I would travel to the country to our north and engage my distant relatives-in-law in debate. I argued once against their odd brand of socialism by using … Read more

Sunday Shoppers

The grocery store on a Friday night is busy. It’s always busy then. The parking lot filled to capacity, the shopping carts all in use. The carts with the wobbly … Read more

Wisconsin flowers

It’s Time

It’s a bit embarrassing for me to admit this. I didn’t do it on purpose, nor did I expect such an incredible, showy display. I didn’t mean for this to … Read more

Pursuits

I lived in Geneva National for a while. In a few different places, at a few different times, with a few different goals in mind. I lived in a house, … Read more

Pikewood

Freshly under contract, here’s a tour of this magnificent property on Geneva’s north shore.   https://youtu.be/BwTVZ6DiTBc

Swimming Pools

I’m old enough to remember when owning a swimming pool was a bad thing. It was a liability, that pool. If a seller had one, the Realtor would exclaim, what … Read more

Staycation Madness

In life, much of our time and energy is spent justifying our established positions. If I’m a Democrat, I spend some energy defending my positions, no matter whether or not … Read more

Bits and Pieces

I’ve decided to change the major theme of my magazine. Instead of Summer Homes For City People being a Lake Geneva lifestyle magazine that features writing from yours truly and … Read more

Boxed and Burlap

I was in Chicago Wednesday. It was a crisp spring day, the sky and water in a matching shade. The city, when viewed from the approaching interstate, no matter which … Read more

A Walk

I walk these woods. Those woods. New woods and old woods. Your woods and my woods.  I walk them all. I walk them in the rain. My mood on pause. … Read more

Instant Summer

As I understand it, when the temperature drops in Florida panic ensues. Someone rushes to the store to buy supplies. Another person hurries out to throw blankets on the orange … Read more

Ski Granite Peak Wausau

Ski

I’ve been sitting at this desk for 20 minutes and I can’t think about anything to write about. Not a single thing. Part of the problem is that I’m tired. … Read more

Harpoon Willies Williams Bay

Harpoon Willies

I can’t tell you that I’m a regular at Harpoon Willies. When I walk in, no one winks at me a knowing wink. No one gives me a head nod, … Read more

Collect Things

At this age, I have developed many bad habits.  I shamefully subscribe to the theory of food discovery that dictates I eat one piece of pizza to find out if … Read more

Ski Grand Geneva Resort Lake Geneva

Ski Lake Geneva

I bought a weight bench last month.  It’s a simple bench, the sort you’d find in a corner of almost every basement in America. It has some weights, a bench, some … Read more

Geneva Dreaming

I haven’t shared this yet, but I nearly won that large lottery back in January. The night before the drawing, my wife and I made no small plans. We would … Read more

Sounding Winter

I can see the cold of this winter through the window in my house. All of the windows face this cold, but one window in the living room is the … Read more

Happy New Year

Some day, I might stay up late enough to greet the new year in the company of family and friends. Some day, I might celebrate the year that just ended … Read more

Weekend Boredom

Sadly, I hear the same things over and over again. This is this life. Why can’t you sell my house, why can’t you find me a house, why can’t you … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

Even when it seems to me that there are lots of cars here, there aren’t really lots of cars. They meander past heading to one direction or from the other, … Read more

Remodeling Lake Geneva

I blame HGTV for most of the design abnormalities that I see on a day to day basis. On television, under the direction of some handsome psuedo-contractor, purple walls and … Read more

This Time

The flowers are blooming in that big patch of flowers that looks just like a garden of weeds. Most of the flowers are dead now, having long since given their … Read more

This October

How I love the summer. The distinct scenery that is uniquely this place, the bright blues and deep greens, the white topped waves falling into our white, wooden piers. The … Read more

October Boating

Yesterday while you were working, the lake did what it does in October. It went quiet. Sure, the lake goes quiet during the days that came from the last ice … Read more

Oh September

Without the weather, what would we talk about? When I meet someone new, what would I open the conversation with? If I couldn’t say, what a day! or, cold enough … Read more