BLUE LAKE TAVERN

Sometimes over the Fourth of July holiday, we travel to Evart, Michigan to help with a 5K race that is organized by Rhonda's brother Ken and sister-in-law Ann.  I previously wrote about Evart and the race here, here and here.  Each time we visit, we go out for a nice dinner after all of the work of the 5K is wrapped up, and this year we went to the Blue Lake Tavern in Mecosta.

  

Although it is not particularly special looking from the road, the indoors and patio feature wonderful views of the lake.  Not great resolution on the photo below, but it's the best I could find that was not on Facebook.  FB shuts you down if you copy images from their pages.

Even better than the environs was the food!  Good drinks with craft brews on tap, a wonderful appetizer and a prime rib on special.  Rhonda and Ken went for the prime rib, Ann had a shrimp pasta, and I could not pass up the half-pound of fresh perch!  Flavorful fresh veggies gently cooked and great potatoes - all in all, a wonderful place. 

Although this is the pan-fried walleye, it gives a good idea of the food.

TOONS

Each morning, I look forward to the cartoons in the Boulder Daily Camera - read most, but skip some that I find neither funny nor insightful.  However, the ones that I regularly read often make me laugh out loud.  This morning's Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman did exactly that, probably because I can hear our children saying this about us!

SWOON ART HOUSE

When driving along North Broadway in Boulder, we would often note this structure and wonder "What in the world is it?  A home, a museum, a business....."  So I finally got around to Google and see that it is an Art Home.  Link for Swoon Art House here.

 

Here is a piece of puff from the website - classic Planet Boulder:

An art house/studio for artist, Rebecca DiDomenico.

A transformative art space where expansive art pieces/installations are imagined and created.

A sustainable rammed earth building exclusively run with geothermal and solar energy designed by Rebecca DiDomenico collaborating with architect and builder Mike Moore from tres birds workshop (tresbirds.com).This building is intended to be an icon in a new generation of urban sustainable residences, using local materials with a focus on renewable resources. Ingredients include rammed earth, concrete, steel, glass and wood from recycled train car sides. The internal open architecture is in keeping with a design philosophy allowing space to encourage creative manifestations of living, such as needed for residence, studio and entertaining for the benefit of the arts and non-profit organizations.

Landscaping was designed in collaboration with Karla Dakin of K.Dakin Design and executed by Brian Carlson of Green Landscape Company (begreen.biz) . Fence and gate designed by Rebecca and fabricated by Mark Castator (metalboy.com) and Rob Hinde of Iron Artisan Ltd. Fountain feature by Brian Pulst of Spa Water Specialists Inc.

The residence is part of The Swoon/BMoCA International Artists Residency, a collaborative that provides international artists with the residence/studio space, resources, time, and freedom to realize expansive works of their imagination. The residency fosters the growth of emerging and established artists by encouraging them to take risks, experiment, and explore their creativity. Selection of artists by invitation only.

The new residence/studio will foster Rebecca’s vision of elevating the community’s cultural involvement, which have been a focus and passion for her personally and through her family’s foundation, the Compton Foundation. These areas include supporting non-profits committed to the environment, reproductive rights, peace and security, with an emphasis on the powerful way that the arts can further the mission and impact of these fields of interest.

Rebecca’s fervent wish is that the presence of Swoon in the North Boulder Art District (Nobo) will encourage other artists to create out-of-the-box ground breaking sustainable residence/studios, as a way to improve the cultural fabric of and thus create expansive experiences for our city.

VAN GOGH'S STARRY NIGHT ILLUSION

LOST MY HEAD WAITING FOR A TABLE

H/T DougX