July and its High Season

 

french lavender to dry

 I know its been awhile but this is the time of the summer that I tend to panic- Every. Year. Without. Fail. 

'Can I do this?' 

'I'm not making enough money to cover expenses' 

'Oh my god, its too busy but I'm making money but I don't know if I can keep up' 

Blah Blah Blah. 

You'd think I would be used to this but it seems I'm not.... 

  Starting July 4 the town goes from meandering along into warm weather with a few returning long time Resorters to BAM! Tens of thousands of extra folks show up, the bridge is up and down non-stop and its really and truly SUMMER. Again, I should know this but every year it takes me by surprise....

  We've had a couple of insanely busy days at the Michigan Beach location while the Ferry Beach concession has remained slow. Breakfasts at Michigan have been a bust and will more than likely be discontinued :-( but Thursday night dinners are showing a bit more interest and I will see how those go for a few more weeks. (* for those of you new to this blog I run and work two beach side concessions in the city of Charlevoix- the main one which is more of a full cafe is on Lake Michigan, the other is a smaller concession style on Lake Charlevoix at Ferry Beach). Part of me hates the idea of quitting the breakfast thing and thinks it deserves more time the other part of me reminds that part that in a 9 week season there is no time to recoup bad days- its go or go home. 

  Yesterday I took a couple of minutes and communed with my garden and cut the first of the French Lavender crop. Some will be added to soaps, some to bath teas and some shipped to a friend in New Orleans. I'm also working on finishing up a pretty little car-seat blanket because Jack and I are going to be grandparents in December (wow!!) 

  But really, there's very little down time currently; between the beaches, nola orders, dogs and a couple hours I seem to require to sleep that's about it...

 I keep reminding myself that there is more 'downtime' than one could possibly hope for in February .

    My summer must-do's however, will definitely occur- my beloved Mackinac Island, Canoeing on The Jordan and hopefully a quick trip to  Tahquamenon Falls...