Why I love Northern Michigan

I had the most beautiful drive this morning up to our log home. As soon as I reached Northern Michigan, the trees showing off their beautiful colors (Gaylord is at 80% peak), I saw 2 baby deer off in the field and I watched a hawk fly over the interstate. I had escaped the suburbs! But that's not the only reason why I love Northern Michigan.....this view off my deck says it all.

Fall cooking at the cabin!

Can you feel it? The air is cool, the leaves are showing their reds and golds, and it's time for fuzzy fleece blankets and wool socks. And then the food.......apple pie with a flaky crust, homemade soup and chili.....gets you in the mood to do some fall cooking!

I'm ready to whip my log home kitchen into a cooking frenzy this weekend! And some of my favorite blogs I like to read have some delicious ideas.....

1. Penny at Lavender Hill shares her secret ingredient for apple pie....
2. How about some Spiced Lentil & Barley soup from Catherine at Catherine Holman Folk Art?
3. Bobbi at Rightmeyer Recipes is making tomatoe pie!
4. Mom2 has a couple yummy things to choose from....Quick & Easy Minestrone Soup or Popeye Meatloaf.
5. Cooking with Val is sharing a recipe for Maranda's Squash Casserole.

What are some of your favorite things to cook in the fall?

I love my switch plates!

For some odd reason, I just love decorative switch plates for the log home. I'll spend a good hour in a rustic store just looking at all the different log home decor switch plates. Since our log home is called 'The Loon's Nest' I had thought about doing all Loon theme switch plates. But I got a little off track.....



This is in my Loon bathroom.

But then I had to have a Moose theme.

But then I thought these pine switch plates would look good in the hallway....

Yep! I'm hooked on switch plates!

Final Thoughts - Log & Timber Frame Expo / Chicago

Alright kids, last post on the Log & Timber Frame Expo that I exhibited at recently! It was a great show since it provided me with a venue to speak obsessively about log homes with other people!

Some trends I noticed from the show:

• A good majority were looking to have their log home as their retirement or permanent home.
• The older crowd were more interested in single story plans or having their master bedroom on the first floor. This makes sense - as we get older and not knowing what potential health problems we might face- do we really want to be climbing stairs in our golden years?
• Full log homes seemed to be the preference of this particular crowd. Only 25% of the visitors to my booth expressed an interest in half log homes.
• I would say 90% of the visitors to my booth were nature / great outdoor lovers! (This is me and Greg!)
• Roughly 40% already owned the land they planned to build their log home on.
• Quite a few expressed their desire to have that open floor plan - with the kitchen, dining room and living room all blending together. This is the favorite part of my log home too - it encourages togetherness and communication with family and friends.

All this talk about log homes makes me want to watch my Dick Proenekke video - "Alone in the Wilderness" again for the 20th time. If you haven't caught it on PBS, I highly recommend purchasing this video - an amazing story of a self sufficient man who in 1967 built his log cabin by hand in Alaska.

Log & Timber Frame Expo

Saturday was a great day at the expo with more people traffic! It was interesting to hear all the different places people wanted to build their log homes - Arkansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin (Door Country was very popular), Montana, Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina (the overwhelmingly favorite) and northern Michigan (my personal favorite!) One interesting couple my husband met have a 500 acre nature preserve that has been in the family for a long time and they are going to replace the existing cabin on the property. Listening to everyone's plans takes me back to the days when Greg and I were planning our log home dream. It's like planning your wedding - sometimes you want to relive those days! Looking forward to a great Sunday!

Log & Timber Frame Expo

The first day of the Log & Timber Expo is behind us! It was a light crowd but not surprising since it started on a Friday afternoon and most people are working at that time. I'm convinced that people who have an interest in log homes always turn out to be some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. About 30% of the people we met today already own land and are now looking for the right log home. Tomorrow should be the busiest day of the expo and we are looking forward to it. I'm looking at some of these rustic furniture dealers and want to buy almost everything I see. Well my feet are killing me and I'm headed to sleep - here are some photos I took this morning before the expo opened up to the public.

Preview - Log & Timber Frame Expo

Greg and I are in Chicago (Schaumburg Convention Center) and looking forward to the Log Home Show beginning tomorrow. People are setting up their booths and already I see some I would like to personally visit - especially the Lonesome Cottage Furniture Company. Here is a little preview taken with my phone.


Here is Hiawatha's booth! (I should note that I did not set this up - Bob at Hiawatha arrived early and did it all himself. I am going to owe him big time!)

I think this copper tub is a dream come true!