If you asked me why I choose to live "up north" my answer would be "Yesterday."
Yes, yesterday. Yesterday is exactly why I choose to live in Northern Michigan.

Our friends invited us out for a boat ride to the Charlevoix Venetian Festival. We were going to see the Guess Who, one of the free concerts this week at East Park in Downtown Charlevoix. It was a great day for boating, hot & muggy. Lake Charlevoix was as smooth as glass. Everyone was getting out to enjoy a beautiful day on the water including this mink and family of swan.

We cruised Lake Charlevoix from East Jordan through Ironton and into Round Lake in Charlevoix. We tied off in a row of boats lining the D-Dock. The marina was filled with boats ranging in size from tiny 2-person tinders to huge, multi-story yachts. East Park was crowded with concert-goers but we had plenty of room on the water and a great view of the stage!

As we sang & danced to our favorite oldies I thought back to the days when these songs were new. As a young kid I sang along to the AM radio in my mom's old Chevelle. When I was a teenager, I bought the Guess Who's Greatest Hits on cassette tape and played it until it disintegrated. Now, 40-some years later I was dancing on a boat to the Guess Who live with our friend's 6 year old daughter and she was digging them too!

After the concert we made our way home by the light of the silvery moon. It was beautiful. Warm breeze, calm waters, so peaceful. The perfect ending to a just another average day in Northern Michigan.

Is your landscaping overrun with water, weeds or critters? There's a landscaping app for that! Here's a look at two of our recently completed projects that addressed these very issues.

When it comes to garden pests - insect, birds, deer and raccoon usually come to mind. But occasionally you find an unexpected critter robbing your berry patch!

Our portion of the Eastport Market project includes: A new lawn hand-seeded. New landscape beds at each entrance, new landscape beds at signage areas and a new bed along the beer cave. The beds are designed to be low maintenance, drought tolerant and heat resistant. We chose perennials along the road and drive to provide continuous color throughout the spring, summer and fall. We also needed something that would die back in the winter to avoid damage by snowplows and road salt. Because this is an extremely high traffic area for our parts we included many deer resistant plants too.

This project was originally slated for a fall completion. When the owner inquired about possibly moving up the schedule we were happy to accommodate. Our goal was to finish the installation in time for the 4th of July holiday. The project wrapped July 2nd just in time for the holiday traffic roll in. Now we'll have the rest of the summer to watch it grow!