If this blog was about my neighbors, and I was tasked with telling you when their firework celebrations were to occur, I would fail miserabl…
Ban
I think everyone knows how I feel about pontoon boats. In case you don’t know, I hate them. That’s not to say that I don’t…
Pier 290
I’m grateful for the dull things in life. For the way I feel when I go to the hardware store and buy two furnace filters and a small …
Gratitude
I’m not one of those people who have trouble saying thank you. I say it all of the time. I say it when someone refills my water at a r…
Summer Homes For City People
It really shouldn’t be as hard as it is. It’s just a magazine, after all. A bunch of words and some pictures and the magic of a …
Finally
I feel better now. I was on the verge of breaking, but in true Midwest fashion I powered through the difficult days knowing that there were…
Lake Geneva’s Winterfest
During the winters of the 1980s there wasn’t a whole lot of activity at the end of Upper Loch Vista Drive. My childhood came and went…
Low Grade
What if some houses are actually terrible? What if certain houses were built by people who shouldn’t have been allowed to pick any til…
Lake Geneva Airports
It has never been a particular goal of mine to fly in a private airplane. That’s really good news for me, because it’s generally…
Merry Christmas
It’s strikingly obvious to me that without my clients and friends, my family would not be so uniquely blessed. For that, I am exceedin…
Happy Thanksgiving
My wife and her family are Canadians. It’s not their fault, really, they just are, and they do the best that they can with this condit…
The Romantic
Growing old is fascinating. There are things that matter and things that don’t, and when I was younger I assumed that when I was older…
California Dreaming
I rather like the classic song California Dreaming, written and recorded by the Mama’s And The Papa’s, or maybe it was just by t…
Lake Geneva Architecture
Several years ago, a good client and friend of mine built a new home in Highland Park. He desired a specific style of home, so he hired an …
Calm
There’s something wrong with the way a summer day makes me feel. I’ve heard stories that some people tell, stories about lazy ha…
October
I’m starting to dislike September. It’s a fine month, as far as months go, but what exactly is September? Is it summer? Yes. Is …
Fall At The Lake
Well, that’s that. Summer is dead and gone. My dreams of enjoying it are left mostly unfulfilled, and I know it’s my own fault. …
The Same
I spent a few days this week in Beaver Creek. I enjoy Beaver Creek, largely because of its relatively unique mix of synthetic cleanliness s…
Freedom?
If I were afflicted with both blindness and a rare condition that rendered my ability to sense temperature utterly and tragically useless, I…
Lake Geneva Rental Market
The season is upon us. What season, you ask? The season where folks start thinking about summer. Winter is terrific, I think we can all may…
Expensive
Nice things are problematic for me. If I have one nice thing, say, a really nice drill, then I should be pretty content. After all, I have a…
Regrets
Some people say you should live your life with no regrets. Some of those people tattoo the phrase on their bodies, to serve as a reminder to…
Improvement City
I wrote an article earlier this year about my vision for the City of Lake Geneva. It was a pretty simple vision, really, one where the city…
Lake Geneva Fall Colors
They’re here. It’s now. They snuck up on me, even though I knew they were imminent. I told you a few weeks ago that they’…
Mountain Towns
I spent the weekend in Bachelor Gulch, that little enclave in the narrow draw just to the west of Beaver Creek. The Aspens were at their col…
Lake Geneva Fall Colors
Yesterday, it was August. Earlier today, it was Labor Day. Tonight, it’ll be October, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Sure I…
Yerkes Observatory Development?
I write that title with a question mark because it deserves one. The community, it seems, would have preferred I place a period there. As in…
Independence Day Weekend
I’d like to take a moment to give June the credit that June deserves. Typically, June deserves very little credit. Take last year, f…
Force
Years ago, I wrote often about the need to carve out time and dedicate that time to the enjoyment of this place. It was the time of our live…
May
Corona is everywhere and no one should leave their homes. If you do, you might get it, which is to say we’re all going to get it, beca…
Close the Lake Geneva Boat Launch
I don’t write often about local politics. If I did, I would have something new to write about weekly, as the local governments churn a…
Vacation Home Markets
During periods of growth and expansion it’s easy to superficially judge the health and supposed underlying strength of a particular va…
Wednesday
I took a walk yesterday. The last time I took a walk in the middle of the day was so long ago that I cannot remember it. Of course there hav…
Monday
Why do we even bother giving the days names? I read this in a tweet over the weekend and I thought it was funny. But then I also thought abou…
Reminisce
What an odd time to be alive. I’m glad to be alive during it, because the alternative seems worse. I think all of this social distanc…
Lake Geneva Quarantine
I’ve been contemplating what, if anything, to write about the current state of things. Things, as a point of fact, are bad. Individual…
Lake Geneva Farms
My wife and children were to be out of town for a few days, and my job was simple. In the morning, let the chickens out and be sure they had…
Lake Geneva Videos
It’s gray again. The snow has melted, so we have that going for us, but the white has been replaced with the grays and browns of Novem…
High End
What is it that makes a house appear high end? Is it the color palette? If we gray out a house in the most modern style, will that make it h…
Lake Geneva Water
I see the world in black and white. I see it in wrong and right. I see the people who dwell in the gray and I wonder why. Packers fans see B…
November
If I were the sort of person who was forced to spend sixth months in a more tax advantageous state, it would be a struggle for me. In order …
Elevated
I spent last week in the south of France. It was a nice week, although it could be successfully argued that sitting at this desk watching th…
Cancel The Boat Parade
There are things here that we do exceptionally well. Things we do better than anyone, at any place, during any point in history. An evening …
The Test
It is true that not everyone is cut out for this thing. As a point of fact, this is the case for nearly every thing. For instance, I am not…
This Day
This day is too nice to type at this computer. I sat down to type, and I wondered what I was thinking. Who could type on a day like this? I …
Lake Geneva Fireworks 2019
During this time of considerable political tumult, there is just one thing that binds Americans together. Liberals and conservatives disag…
Lake Houses
Certain phrases elicit certain reactions. For instance. If I tell my wife to “calm down”. The reaction is something I can predic…
Lake Geneva Winter
This is the time of year when social media feeds are filled to the brim with mockery. Mockery of our place, of this place, of the cold. The …
New Construction Lake Geneva
We know the trend. It’s not just here, but it sure is pronounced here. It’s not just a trend on Geneva, it’s a trend on o…
Lake Geneva Boat Slip
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when the piers are unceremoniously disassembled and stacked along our shorelines. That …