July, 2015

Michelle and Bob keeping an eye out for Indians while exploring the wild Canadian back country

One of the best things about spending the summer here is getting to share this magical place with others. Be it family or friends they all fall into one of two categories. The 'chosen' or those who just don't get it.

There is a saying in the islands that states: "The river chooses some", meaning that some people immediately dial into the island lifestyle and when gone, like us, suffer from Islomania (Google it). Others find the passage from the mainland to the islands tedious and unnecessary as they feel that life on the river is not that big a deal and besides, a shore property is much more convenient and practical.

This month's guests were our California friends Michelle and her guy Bob. This was Bob's first visit but Michelle came last year, returned home to California and immediately bought her return ticket for this summer. Hmmm....I wonder which category she belongs to...?

A few days ago we drove to Boston to meet them as Michelle's son was getting married. After the ceremony, they returned with us by driving through the Adirondack mountains of northern New York. Having been here for a few days, we have started making the rounds of the river sights, with much more to come in the days ahead.

Other than flying, there is nothing to do around here except eat, drink and be merry.

FYI

3 years ago we changed our email address to mjlhome@yahoo.com. It was the first time we changed our address since Al Gore invented the internet. Occasionally, we still get folks who try to email us at our old address which was starfireproductions@yahoo.com. We monitored our starfire address for about a year to remind folks of the change then Yahoo simply stopped forwarding the messages.

Here is the bottom line. If you write to us at the starfire address you will break our hearts as we will never hear from you again. Another way to make sure we never get your messages is to simply click on 'reply' when you get this little monthly newsletter. This is sent out from a Gmail account because Gmail allows us to send out our newsletter to several people simultaneously and Yahoo does not. We SEND our blog out on Gmail but we RECEIVE nothing.

OK, one more time from the top. To write to us, please only write to mjlhome@yahoo.com. Put off updating this information in your address book till later and you will forget... and we will be right back where we started.

 

The view from the cockpit

I am days away from getting my passenger rating check ride because my flight examiner is on holiday at the moment. No matter, I am flying further and more than ever, racking up hours as fast as I can. I might have to slow down some because if I keep this pace up, soon I will know everything... 

I don't know who my first passenger will be but for some poor soul it will be like being the first patient of a surgeon who just got out of med school. Fully qualified, but... would you sign up? I will have to resist the temptation to suddenly power down sometime during the flight, put the nose in a dive and shout "OH SH**!!" just to see what reaction I get out of him / her :)

I know that my prison humor is not always shared by others and besides, it's no time to be a smarty pants. Anyway, if all goes as planned, I will have long tall tales to tell next month.

One of my favorite airports to land at is the Iroquois airstrip. Part of the reason it is so much fun is because the paved runway is the width of a bike path or about a foot wider than my main landing gears. The grass on either side is much wider but the strip itself is like landing at a gnomes airstrip. The other reasons is because is it right next to the water and a golf course, and I come in on final just feet above the golfers heads. Regulars there are used to it and know not to 'drive' and strike a landing aircraft. 

Hey! Want to se a 5 second clip of our island from the air? Remember, it is only 5 seconds long....