the 100 years walk

On the 5th of July we arranged to walk from one Charlevoix house to another to celebrate the 100 years of cohabitation here. There are ten houses belonging to three family groups. The house above belongs to the Fowle family. Notice the people hidden in the grass which is allowed to grow tall.  The family cut paths through the grass down to the sand dunes and the lake.

Many years ago Tom and Frank Fowle were school friends and they stayed friends to adulthood. Tragically, Frank was randomly murdered by a drug addict who stabbed him to death in a car park outside his motel thirty years ago. The initials carved on this tree are D for Daddy and R for Rachel, Frank's baby daughter. Frank's wife Irene explained that her daughter Rachel always had a fondness for this hand carved valentine and was extremely touched when Rachel's fiance Jesse proposed to her in front of this tree three years ago. She is expecting their first child who would be Frank's first grand child in three week's time.

And then we went on with our walk stopping at houses and pausing to look out at the beautiful views along the way.

And some of us even stopped to play a bit. At each house we would salute the owners and their stories by shouting "one hundred years!" All the houses were different. Some big, some small, some old some new. One was a kit home, another a simple cabin perched on a cliff and other modern mansions with soaring ceilings.  They all had one thing in common, stunning views of Lake Charlevoix.

We had a little pitstop at the bubbling springs where Tom waxed eloquent and then on to our house.

Phil took the opportunity to make yet another speech and present us with two African sculptures that Tom had bought back from his Peace Corps days. And then it was on to the Main house for hot dogs and then on to Lucy's cabin for the after party.