.... Or, A Sleuthing We Will Go
We had such a good time at BSL this year
and, as you can see,
I'm pushing my previously set, 5 week deadline
from my last blog entry
to the absolute limit.
Deja vu of every homework assignment and course paper I've ever written.
We had a gazillion people up at poor Billy's cottage,
so Arthur William, if you noticed your water bill
skyrocketing for the month of August,
please forward it to us.
Dave VH built another boat (I know! Just call him Noah)
and he took us on a tour of BSL that rivaled all the
pontooners we see putzing by everyday pointing and gawking at us.
We tried to do likewise, and commented extra loudly
because voices carry so well over water, don't you think?
We said things like: "Look at that monstrosity!
It's as big as a country-club.
How can these people live with themselves?
Children are starving and dying the world over.
Obviously they're not Christian Reformed
or they would've drowned in their Calvinist guilt."
Or "drownded" as my kids say.
Seriously, though,
it's kinda sad to see all the little log cabin
or clapboarded cottages pulled down
(sometimes 2 or 3 in a row) to make elbow room
for huge McMansions that aren't really "cottages" at all.
And no one ever seems to be staying in these things!
Such a mystery,
but READ ON mefrouws and mijneers,
for two more riveting mysteries.
Mystery #6: Oddfellow & Rebekah Camp
We motored by Oddfellow & Rebekah Camp.
Yes, you heard me right.
Odd ( as in weird) fellow (as in man)
and Rebekah (as in Jacob thanking God it wasn't Leah).
Now, wat is dat een naam!
Don't you just love it!
Here it is in days of yore.
(Kudos again to Don Hamilton of Flickr)
The mystery is ....
just what exactly goes on in there.
I realize Oddfellows (and I suppose Rebekahs, too)
belong to the Freemasons and in general are totally normal people that
simply have an unhealthy attachment to intricate rituals.
Just like you, I've read Fried Green Tomatoes
by Fannie Flagg, or maybe it was her other book Daisy Fay,
when Fannie and her friend Pickle
were thrown out of the Order of the Eastern Star
because they were simultaneously overcome with hilarity
during a Very Somber Pledge.
Well, when we've driven into the camp for the annual
BSL Ski Shows
(see below, courtesy of bigstarlake.org)
everything LOOKS pretty straightforward:
your basic semi-rundown summer camp,
little white cabins, check
a mess hall, ball diamonds, check check
a tether ball and swingsets and beach, check check check
sooooo .....
where are they hiding all the good stuff?
The swords, the coffins, the eastern star?
Where are the chanting Knights of Templar,
ala The DaVinci Code?
This particular Oddfellow sword was manufactured in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
It seems to say, in no uncertain terms,
"Yo! Don't be messin' with my oddfellows, y'all."
Sue VH drove over to the camp to visit her sister
who was there at the camp as a chaperone
with the Calvin Christian High School Football Team
who in turn were there
for their punt kicker training or male bonding or whatever.
Now how spooky is that? (rhetorical question, people.)
What a letdown.
They found no skeletons that we know of.
Or swords.
Or even a templar
which is kinda like a template or maybe a temple.
Hanyvey .... back to our excursion around the lake.
We did see a wedding in progress on the beach at Snug Harbor,
that was nice,
and several people fishing, ditto,
but otherwise it was All Quiet on The Big Star Lake Front.
As we rounded our bay and headed back home
we were struck with how "our" cottage seemed to pop out from the others
due to the inordinate amount of
rummeltje all over the beach and lawn.
In other words we were struck with what slobs we are.
I said, "Good grief, we're as bad as
The Beans of Egypt, Maine."
a book about a spectacularly trailer-trashy family
and Dave VH responded,
"or as bad as the Van't Hofs of Benjamin and Bemis."
(our ghetto home address).
Then, due to a little inclimate weather
we went on 2 other reconnaisance missions:
Yes, yes, Bumstead Ponderosa in all its dilapidated glory
was calling out to us, like the sirens in the Odyssey.
So we capitulated and prowled around
and stuck our camera lens inside,
periscope-style,
to take a look.
Knotty pine! A fireplace!
An aersol can of Lemon Fresh Pledge!
Bumstead needs a loving owner
before it totally disappears under the
Michigan version of kudzu vine.
But, tangent alert!, this really isn't my second mystery
(other than the fact that no one seems to want to buy this place).
No, the other mystery brings us to our second recon mission,
Mystery #7: Finding the Nook in the Woods
(Postcard contributed by Jack Laansma on bigstarlakehistory.org)
Long story short,
we didn't find it.
Now where could it have gone?
The collective VH memory remembers
turning left off of Big Star Lake road shortly after passing
The Blue Horizon if you were heading away from the Chapel.
In other words, it was on the same side of the road
as The Blue Horizon.
We remember the log cabiny look,
the wagon wheel,
the unpaved dirt or gravel road to get there,
and Dave snarkily calling it "Crook in the Woods".
We fondly remembered all the totally unnecessary
but tantalizing things bored people with money could buy:
miniature fake medicine bottles,
beaded leather belts that lost their beads as you walked out the door,
tiny mailboxes that really opened but alas! could never be used,
Gwen Frostic cards that confused us because they were
painted by a "blind" person.
So, if anyone can weigh in on this puzzling disappearance of
an otherwise fairly substantial building,
here's the place to do it.
Well, all of this detecting and sleuthing
and katootalie business made us
sort of hungry so we went to Dave & Ellen's
and feasted on this:
Pork to the left, venison to the right,
mushrooms and peaches in the middle.
Strange but strangely good.
I'm pushing my previously set, 5 week deadline
from my last blog entry
to the absolute limit.
Deja vu of every homework assignment and course paper I've ever written.
We had a gazillion people up at poor Billy's cottage,
so Arthur William, if you noticed your water bill
skyrocketing for the month of August,
please forward it to us.
Dave VH built another boat (I know! Just call him Noah)
and he took us on a tour of BSL that rivaled all the
pontooners we see putzing by everyday pointing and gawking at us.
We tried to do likewise, and commented extra loudly
because voices carry so well over water, don't you think?
We said things like: "Look at that monstrosity!
It's as big as a country-club.
How can these people live with themselves?
Children are starving and dying the world over.
Obviously they're not Christian Reformed
or they would've drowned in their Calvinist guilt."
Or "drownded" as my kids say.
Seriously, though,
it's kinda sad to see all the little log cabin
or clapboarded cottages pulled down
(sometimes 2 or 3 in a row) to make elbow room
for huge McMansions that aren't really "cottages" at all.
And no one ever seems to be staying in these things!
Such a mystery,
but READ ON mefrouws and mijneers,
for two more riveting mysteries.
Mystery #6: Oddfellow & Rebekah Camp
We motored by Oddfellow & Rebekah Camp.
Yes, you heard me right.
Odd ( as in weird) fellow (as in man)
and Rebekah (as in Jacob thanking God it wasn't Leah).
Now, wat is dat een naam!
Don't you just love it!
Here it is in days of yore.
(Kudos again to Don Hamilton of Flickr)The mystery is ....
just what exactly goes on in there.
I realize Oddfellows (and I suppose Rebekahs, too)
belong to the Freemasons and in general are totally normal people that
simply have an unhealthy attachment to intricate rituals.
Just like you, I've read Fried Green Tomatoes
by Fannie Flagg, or maybe it was her other book Daisy Fay,
when Fannie and her friend Pickle
were thrown out of the Order of the Eastern Star
because they were simultaneously overcome with hilarity
during a Very Somber Pledge.
Well, when we've driven into the camp for the annual
BSL Ski Shows
(see below, courtesy of bigstarlake.org)
everything LOOKS pretty straightforward:your basic semi-rundown summer camp,
little white cabins, check
a mess hall, ball diamonds, check check
a tether ball and swingsets and beach, check check check
sooooo .....
where are they hiding all the good stuff?
The swords, the coffins, the eastern star?
Where are the chanting Knights of Templar,
ala The DaVinci Code?
This particular Oddfellow sword was manufactured in Kalamazoo, Michigan.It seems to say, in no uncertain terms,
"Yo! Don't be messin' with my oddfellows, y'all."
Sue VH drove over to the camp to visit her sister
who was there at the camp as a chaperone
with the Calvin Christian High School Football Team
who in turn were there
for their punt kicker training or male bonding or whatever.
Now how spooky is that? (rhetorical question, people.)
What a letdown.
They found no skeletons that we know of.
Or swords.
Or even a templar
which is kinda like a template or maybe a temple.
Hanyvey .... back to our excursion around the lake.
We did see a wedding in progress on the beach at Snug Harbor,
that was nice,
and several people fishing, ditto,
but otherwise it was All Quiet on The Big Star Lake Front.
As we rounded our bay and headed back home
we were struck with how "our" cottage seemed to pop out from the others
due to the inordinate amount of
rummeltje all over the beach and lawn.
In other words we were struck with what slobs we are.
I said, "Good grief, we're as bad as
The Beans of Egypt, Maine."
a book about a spectacularly trailer-trashy family
and Dave VH responded,
"or as bad as the Van't Hofs of Benjamin and Bemis."
(our ghetto home address).
Then, due to a little inclimate weather
we went on 2 other reconnaisance missions:
Yes, yes, Bumstead Ponderosa in all its dilapidated glory
was calling out to us, like the sirens in the Odyssey.
So we capitulated and prowled around
and stuck our camera lens inside,
periscope-style,
to take a look.
Knotty pine! A fireplace!An aersol can of Lemon Fresh Pledge!
Bumstead needs a loving owner
before it totally disappears under the
Michigan version of kudzu vine.
But, tangent alert!, this really isn't my second mystery
(other than the fact that no one seems to want to buy this place).
No, the other mystery brings us to our second recon mission,
Mystery #7: Finding the Nook in the Woods
(Postcard contributed by Jack Laansma on bigstarlakehistory.org)Long story short,
we didn't find it.
Now where could it have gone?
The collective VH memory remembers
turning left off of Big Star Lake road shortly after passing
The Blue Horizon if you were heading away from the Chapel.
In other words, it was on the same side of the road
as The Blue Horizon.
We remember the log cabiny look,
the wagon wheel,
the unpaved dirt or gravel road to get there,
and Dave snarkily calling it "Crook in the Woods".
We fondly remembered all the totally unnecessary
but tantalizing things bored people with money could buy:
miniature fake medicine bottles,
beaded leather belts that lost their beads as you walked out the door,
tiny mailboxes that really opened but alas! could never be used,
Gwen Frostic cards that confused us because they were
painted by a "blind" person.
So, if anyone can weigh in on this puzzling disappearance ofan otherwise fairly substantial building,
here's the place to do it.
Well, all of this detecting and sleuthing
and katootalie business made us
sort of hungry so we went to Dave & Ellen's
and feasted on this:
Pork to the left, venison to the right,mushrooms and peaches in the middle.
Strange but strangely good.
