Can it get any better than this?

The time always seems to stand still up in Door County . . . I remember having dinner at Fred & Fuzzy's, going to the American Folklore Theatre to see 'Cheeseheads the Musical', hitting a couple of bookstores and parks but the highlight of the weekend was the FOPPI Annual Meeting. I was unanimously elected to a three-year term on the Friends of Plum and Pilot Board of Directors!! My newsletter is beginning to get a following and will soon be plastered about DC as my friends Karen Tews and Cindy Schmidt begin marketing FOPPI to the masses.

After the annual meeting a group of us headed out to Plum Island to see if we could find the remains of the 1848 lighthouse. Dick Purinton (with me in the picture), the author of 'Words on Water', joined us and shared his love of history while we trudged through the rain-soaked wildflowers, weeds, and poison ivy. He brought his grandson, Atlas, along and he became my little buddy. He reminded me so much of Manny at that age; so curious and a collector of unique objects like clam shells, rocks, birch bark, a stag horn, old piece of fishing rope, etc. Being braver than the adults he wanted to climb the front range light but needed an adult to accompany him -- believe me, I wouldn't have gotten up there had he not needed a chaperone! But once I did the view was amazing. (If you look closely at the picture you can see the rear range light in the distance.)

Mine and Dick's main objective was to locate the remains of the 1848 lighthouse and we believe that we've found it; we'll need to do some more research before we place a commemorative plaque but I'm certain that's it.

I also found remains of an old shipwreck and am hoping my relative from Michigan, Dave Zarling, will come out this way and dive on the wrecks for a future FOPPI Forum article.

The team of folk that I'm working with on this project are simply amazing; they are all so dedicated and are willing to go the extra mile to see to it that the historic buildings on Plum and Pilot are preserved and restored for future generations. Someday my great grandchildren will set forth on the island with pride knowing that their Gee was instrumental in saving these historical monuments for those who ventured out in icy waters to rescue the crew from shipwrecks, trim the wicks, and sound the fog horns.