Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to every Monday. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, have a happy Monday.
Happy August! It’s the middle of summer, now, and it’s still considered The Dog Days of Summer, until the 11th. July was brutally hot and it’s not over yet. By the way, cooling and refreshing water-related activities are among the most popular summertime interests enjoyed by Michiganders, as well as those who come to visit our beautiful “destination state”.
These water-related activities include but are not limited to fishing, boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, water skiing, jet skiing, swimming, and more; as well as rock hunting, exploring lighthouses, and investigating shipwrecks that surround our state.
The Great Lakes, as well as Lake St. Clair (considered to be the 6th Great Lake), with the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, are all a large part of the St. Lawrence Seaway shipping system. We see shipping freighters pass by our small town of St. Clair all of the time. Incidentally, many ship captains come to our beautiful “Blue Water Area” when they retire.
Being a huge part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes have seen more than their fair share of ship wrecks due to the rocky shorelines at the lakes’ edges, which is why so many lighthouses were built around these lakes.
This Friday is, among other things, National Lighthouse Day; and, of all the states in the union, Michigan is home to the most lighthouses (at 129), by far. As I’ve boasted in other blog posts, Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline in the U.S., at 3,288 miles, and is bordered by four of the five Great Lakes.
Locally, Lake St. Clair – between Lakes Huron and Erie – is considered to be the 6th Great Lake. Regardless of water type, sea or fresh, the “Great Lakes State” (as Michigan is also known) is second only to Alaska in total length of coastline.
Regardless, Michigan has more than 10 times the number of lighthouses, than does Alaska, which has only 11. Surprisingly, New York comes in second, with 69, and Maine ranks third, with 65. Michigan, being the lighthouse capital of the United States, LOVES to celebrate its lighthouses, especially on this day.
Nearby me, in Port Huron, is the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. Built in 1829, it’s the oldest surviving lighthouse in Michigan, as well as the second oldest on all of the Great Lakes. Marblehead Lighthouse (Ohio), was built first, in 1821, on Lake Erie.
Many lighthouses are open seasonally for experiencing climbing to the tops of the towering structures to see the panoramic views of the Great Lakes. The tallest, Big Sable Point Lighthouse (located in Ludington State Park), is over 100 feet tall with 130 steps to climb. It’s on my bucket list.
Given their narrow and winding construction, there are warnings at the base of the lighthouse towers regarding health requirements to climb the stairs. It’s not easy and lighthouse keepers had to do it daily to keep their lights operating and functioning properly.
Some historic lighthouses offer overnight stays – like a bed and breakfast. Some lighthouses are haunted and offer touring opportunities for sight-seers to possibly have a paranormal experience. The Fort Gratiot Lighthouse is one such place.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 43)
HOW TO…
WHENEVER I AM ASKED by somebody wanting to launch a newsletter of their own, how to get started, I wish I could just send them a blueprint or a floor plan, like you would when you build a house or a garage.
With newsletter writing and marketing, it’s all based on individuality, and experience being the best teacher and then having a responsive audience. It all begins with the sale. You have to know to whom you will be directing your material and how you will be meeting their needs.
Nobody can tell you HOW to do that. You either know how or you don’t. If you don’t know how to talk to your reader, you’re like a lighthouse without a light! You have to let your light shine!
And part of the preparation for communicating with your reader is to know HOW to talk to them, what they need from your newsletters that will enrich them or make their lives better.
I have a map of all the lighthouses around Michigan’s “Mitt” and Upper Peninsula. It’s my goal to see them all – at least all the ones viewable from land (and maybe a couple of boat tours). My husband and I love to take road trips along Michigan’s coastline to try to see multiple lights in a single day – just as Mom and Dad used to do.
Our “Thumb Coast” area is home to the “Famous Five” lighthouse route along M-25. I know them all well, starting with the afore mentioned Fort Gratiot Lighthouse in Port Huron then going north to the Port Sanilac Lighthouse, built in 1886, which is privately owned, now, but still viewable from adjacent streets.
Farther north of there is the Harbor Beach Lighthouse, built in 1885, which offers Saturday tours by boat, seasonally, June through Labor Day, to see it up close. Farther north of there is the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse, which was first built in 1848 but destroyed by the “Great Storm” and then rebuilt in 1857. I’ve toured this 89-foot tower and climbed all 105 steps.
The fifth of the “Famous Five” is the Port Austin Reef Light, erected in 1878 to mark a rocky, shallow area in the shipping lane’s turning point, just off the tip of “The Thumb”. Boat tours are available here throughout the summer, too. There’s something about lighthouses that I find comforting. They’re beacons to home and safety, which soothes my soul.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, p. 178)
GETTING TO SLEEP, WITH A FEW PLEASANT MEMORIES
FOR A LONG TIME now, I’ve had trouble sleeping at night. For one thing, my love snores like a Yamaha, going uphill in second gear and coming down again. It’s not his fault, mind you, over which he has any personal control. He simply breathes loudly when he’s deep in sleep.
I could, I found, sleep through a thunderstorm and not hear a crack all night, providing I once slipped into a cozy, peaceful mind and then drift off dreamily into a lovely landscape of the lazy fifth dimension of rest that my memory can call upon, whenever I choose to summon the scenes I’ve once found serene. It was getting there that gave me all the trouble!
I refused to take pills. Alcohol was dangerous. So I succumbed to reading peacefully worded excerpts from various writings and put my thoughts securely to bed first before I attempted to put my body to sleep. I tried to rest on those thoughts and images that gave my mind tranquility.
I would recall all of the pleasant places I had ever visited, to which I wished again to return. I would find again in my memory chambers, every corner of my world that made me feel relaxed and then relish in revisiting these mentally.
I would walk the beaches around Saginaw Bay. It would be late August again on the movie screen of my mind. The lake was lapping at the beach where I walked through the soft, summer warm sand. In August, the lake never rushed in to meet the shore.
It would wash in, and just as easily slip back again like sheets of silk, blue and gray with sprays of white foam writing each tumbling wave.
There was an instrumental rhythm, like crushing pieces of tissue paper in the music of the water as it caressed the sand and returned to itself like all of slippery shining satin and bolts of silk, pulled smoothly over a pillowed featherbed, on which the wooded bluffs rested.
These were those pathways of peaceful places where I had been before and wish to return without having to pay rent or make improvements on property I couldn’t afford! I could see the beaches line with the birch trees and long needle pines. I listened and I heard in my memory’s echo chambers, the soothing swishing of the waves on the peaceful shoreline of the quiet Bay.
The water was winking impudently in the sunlight while the wind bulldozed the small dunes and, off in the distance, a lighthouse wore a halo of seagulls. I was there once again in my memory album of restful visits.
These days, most lighthouses run on automatic power and computers, instead of the “keepers” that once lived inside them and personally kept them operating. Besides representing Jesus (religiously) and hope, lighthouses also generally symbolize safety, strength and guidance (or leadership).
They’re used as metaphors “for finding direction through life” – as in being the light in uncertain and stormy times. They’re tall towers that are unmoving through the test of time, standing up against crashing waves and violent storms – their lights always cutting through fog and darkness.
AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
This is not a Cook Book! It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food for Thought (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Oct. 1986, p. 34)
WHEN YOU HEAL THE HURT
IT HAS BEEN SAID that “when God closes a door, He opens a window” – for those who have the wit to discover it. Among the ill, the handicapped, the disfigured… are an astonishing number of people who have found their “windows”.
In quiet resurrections, they have risen out of their pain and despair and shattered hopes to new ambitions, new satisfactions, new happiness. Though largely unsung, these men and women have in them the stuff of heroes!
Their battles of necessity are fought alone… in endless hours and days and months. But, in these battles, they somehow develop a special kind of courage and, sooner or later, the breakthrough comes. Then, in spite of all the odds against them, they dare to say: “I may not have much candle left but, with what I have, I’ll shed a light.”
So if you can’t be a lighthouse – [at least] be a candle! Let your light shine so that those on whom it may fall will be blessed and, like a springboard, bounce right back. [It will] make you feel good [too].
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective. I look forward to hearing from you!
IN CLOSING…
In honor of TODAY, being National Grab Some Nuts Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Peas And Peanuts Salad”, Like The Voyageur’s; as seen in her last cookbook… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 47). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
The month of August observes… National Dog Month, Family Fun Month, Get Ready For Kindergarten Month, Happiness Happens Month, International Peace Month, National Back to School Month, National Brownies at Brunch Month, National Catfish Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Golf Month, National Panini Month, National Sandwich Month, Romance Awareness Month, and more.
Today is also… National Georgia Day and National Watermelon Day.
Tomorrow is… National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. [NOTE: On this day, in 2008, my brother, Mike, launched TheRecipeDetective.com’s original website.]
Wednesday, August 5th, is… National Work Like A Dog Day and National Oyster Day.
August 6th is… National Root Beer Float Day. Plus, as the first Thursday in August (for 2026), it’s also… National IPA Day.
August 7th is… National Raspberries N’ Cream Day. Plus, as the first Friday in August (for 2026), it’s also… International Beer Day and National Water Balloon Day.
August 8th is… Global Sleep Under The Stars Night, National Happiness Happens Day, National Frozen Custard Day, and National Dollar Day. Plus, as the second Saturday in August (for 2026), it’s also… National Bowling Day and National Garage Sale Day. Additionally, as the start of the second weekend (Saturday & Sunday) in August (for 2026), it’s also the start of… National Kool-Aid Days.
August 9th is… National Rice Pudding Day and National Book Lovers Day. Plus, as the start of the second full week of August (for 2026), it’s also… National Bargain Hunting Week and National Resurrect Romance Week.
Have a great week!
…31 down and 21 to go.
