Washington Island Weekend

This weekend was just wonderful. The girls and I went with my mother and my sister Betsy to stay with my Aunt Susie (my mother's younger sister) at Washington Island.

The Sisterhood retreat From the left going clockwise: Fiona, Aunt Susie, Betsy, Mom and Delia.

My mother's family has owned property on Washington Island for over a hundred years. Mom's family grew up spending their Julys on the Island. In fact, her father had also spent his summers there as a boy. I believe the first in the family to buy property was my great grandfather. Besides the cottage called "the Big House," the property also included a small boathouse, which was eventually turned into a little artist retreat by my great aunt Katherine Evans. My grandfather's family (the Floyds) and my great aunt's family (the Evans) split their time at the Big House, with the Floyds visiting in July and the Evans in August. My mom and her four siblings all had shares in the cottage, with their cousins, but the Floyd shares eventually were sold to two of the five siblings, my two uncles, and they passed them down to their children. The Evans, too, eventually concentrated their shares in just some of the descendents' hands, and the shareholders (now the fourth and fifth generation) have formed a LLC which manages the Big House property. At one point during the weekend, we went over and visited the Big House, where Mom's cousin Kate Evans showed us around. That was great fun. The bathroom is papered with newspaper advertisements from the early 1900s that they discovered when they removed the old cedar shake siding. The boathouse was particularly special: Kate's mother Aunt Katherine was a children's book author, and her delicate, whimsical art work was featured throughout the lovely little artist retreat cottage.

My aunt Susie, however, bought her own house on the island, where she has spent some of her summer months, and that's where we stayed this weekend. Betsy has come up every summer to spend a long weekend with Aunt Susie for the past twenty years, and two years ago she invited the girls along. This year, I was invited too, and I was just ecstatic to be included.

Every year, Betsy said, her visits with Aunt Susie has had a theme, and this year, the theme was sisterhood. We had three generations of sisters: ( my mom and Aunt Susie )

( my sister Betsy and me )

and ( Fiona and Delia )

On Washington Island, time slows down. There is no internet, and we don't watch TV. (a sign at the Albatross, the local burger joint, explains the idea well: ( here, you are 'north of the tension zone.' )

So we just relaxed and talked over cups of coffee, on Susie's deck overlooking Lake Michigan. ( Fiona did puzzles )

( Delia doted on Susie's dogs )

and started a weaving project. There's a wonderful store/school for a huge variety of fabric arts that takes place on the island, and ( Delia got a book on card weaving and had a lot of fun with it )

( I did soul collage and made three cards )

We visited the Red Cup coffee shop, a variety of the little shops (Delia was delighted with the consignment artwork at the little shop called "What Do We Do During the Winter") and ( stopped at the Albatross (a necessary pilgrimage) )

( We also stopped to see the beautiful Stavkirk Church, a replica of a church built in Norway in 1150 A.D. )

It was just a perfect weekend. Mom and Susie told family stories, and it felt so right to be in this place that has meant so much to our family.

Mom's been coming to the Island for over eighty years. This weekend, as the ferry slipped away from the dock, I totally understood why.