Tiki Night 2012

The photography failed me, but our Luck once more triumphed. This was the thirteenth repetition of Tiki Night at Wolverine Lake, MI. Last year I noted that we had never once been rained out. This morning we rose to the sounds of a thunderstorm. In fact I’d left a clipboard full of notes and my coffee cup out overnight, and my first act of the day was to fetch both under an umbrella, but the rain came so heavily, I got wet anyway. The notes were completely obliterated—the reward of my stubborn persistence to write on paper with an ink pen. The coffee cup, made of sterner stuff, survived. Sporadically storms overflew us and bombed us with rain or hail. In the afternoon, briefly, we saw a little weak sunshine, but the clouds moved massively in again.

Host and hostess, John and Monique, told us by phone that it looked iffy, but keep our fingers crossed. We set out for the trip late in the afternoon. Sure enough, half of that one-hour trip took place with the wipers set to maximum, and Brigitte quite rightly agitated: she had the wheel but the lanes had disappeared. But then came lighter skies, lots of spray, and even a glimpse of blue in the sky.

But, as I say, we were once more lucky. By the time the sun began to set, the sky was blue, the lake festively lit with tiki flames. All manner of decorated boats cruised slowly, displaying themselves. And the fireworks, by far the most spectacular yet, again left us entranced.

I suppose it was my day-long anxiety—or the happy memory of a festive meal eaten while the children played with sparklers in anticipation of the bursts of lights—in any case my photographic skills deserted me this night. The best I could salvage I am also showing. As always, a day to treasure and remember. Around this household the actual 4th is mostly a day of recovery. The date and time stamps of this post approximate when the event took place.