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I've left Paradise....
I am back from Paradise, and the heat and humidity reminds me of why I wish I could stay there all summer--although this year, the arthritis told me that with the LBb, I may have a different impression of the place as a longterm destination...
What does it look like? My section is a private beach on the shore of Lake Michigan, shared with a dozen or so other families. We're closer together than I'd care for, for a year-round house, but there are few windows on the sides of the house--everything is pointed toward lake breezes. And before the cottage, literally, is a sand dune with a few pines, hemlocks, cottonwoods and oaks, a bunch of dune grass--and then nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Fresh water--no salt smell--no jellyfish--no sharks!
Think I exaggerate? Check out the entry portal of http://www.ke-kimbriel.com. Paradise.
There was a lot of being lazy, a lot of trying to help out with things like sorting out the spice cabinet, and a few bookshelves--W did some powerwashing, as did my nephew and my youngest sister. We took a few field trips--I buy my jeans every year at River's End in Montague, they sell Canadian Ikedas, which fit my extremely short "rise". We also went to Doug Born's Smoke Housein Montague, MI. (231) 894-2753. All-natural smoked meats, great cheeses--and natural jerky! Beef from sirloin, turkey, pork, and buffalo, when we were there--we brought some back to thank our Pool Boy![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frankthurk and our Cat Herder MW, as well as some for ourselves. Serious Yum, highly recommended.
Then there were smoked ribs--yes, ribs, smoked with applewood--in Ludington, MI. Ronnie's Rib Rack had top 20 ribs, very tender, and my favorite sweet sauce, made with apple butter--not cloying, just lovely. I wish they bottled it--they will ship! Ludington is also the home of the only place other than Racine, WI that W has found real Kringles--at Anna Bach's bakery (that's http://www.annabachchocolates.com/). They call the super-authentic ones coffee cakes (pecans and cinnamon) and the fruit ones kringles, but they're all kringles, just woven in different ways. I didn't get to try these, of course--but word has it they are marvelous.
And then for beauty and sheer weirdness, there's the Shelby Gem Factory in Shelby, MI. They've been making simulated and synthetic precious gems for 34 years--and lovely ones, indeed. Their "Shelby diamonds" have no carbon, so there's nothing to create the burned spots that are called flaws by jewelers. So a one carat "SD" selling for about $150 is equivalent to a D color natural diamond ("flawless") which sells for $12,945 as of the last time they printed their brochure. Their "emeralds" look just like emeralds, but are a different mix (hence simulated) and are 1.4x harder than fragile, natural emeralds.
The rubies and sapphires are real--same chemical makeup, physically the same as a natural stone except they are nearly flawless--and natural stones have a lot of flaws (I was warned not to look under a microscope at my own natural ruby, a lovely color.) Gold fittings are only 14k solid white or yellow gold.
They also had a stone they accidentally created a few decades back, trying for sapphire--a lovely royal blue color. The owner set the crystals on a shelf for years, knowing no one would buy it. Then TITANIC came out...he saw The Star of the Sea (name?) and said "That's my stone!" And Oceanite was born. He had someone analyze his crystal, so he could duplicate it--and now it's very popular (and a lot costlier than their diamonds...)
You can go get a pale idea of the things--the photographs do not do them justice--at http://www.shelbygems.com. I will warn you--this web site is in the running for the ugliest web site around, it's just ghastly. But the owner did it himself, and if you could see the brochure, you'd know it is a mirror--same gaudy colors, etc. However, the stones and the jewelry are lovely--and a lot of actresses, etc. buy jewelry from shelby--all the gorgeous sparkle at a fraction of the price! You can design stuff, bring them settings for their stones, or buy their stones for other settings.
We didn't buy anything this time...but I might invest in a pair of Oceanite earrings, next time they get an Oceanite crystal. The was also a blue-green crystal close to an emerald that was stunning--I would have bought something in it that day, but they'd just sold the last for a while.
We also saw the world's largest wind vane in Whitehall, MI. And walked to the top of the Big Point Sable lighthouse! Oh, do your muscles ache on one side after doing that...it was open gridwork stairs, which I HATE--heights are okay when I'm there, but open gridwork or no railings, and that evolutionary voice* starts talking to me again...
(*The same voice that spoke to me when I learned to snorkel...it said "No! No! It's been 2 million years since we had gills!") It's a shame I have no children--good protective genetic material....
Good trip--except for the car rental places, the airlines (NEVER go on an Embraer jet for more than an hour--there is NO padding in the seats, thank Heavens for two pillows and a blanket a piece...) the taxis.... I hate travel. Once there, it's another story, but getting there....phui.
What does it look like? My section is a private beach on the shore of Lake Michigan, shared with a dozen or so other families. We're closer together than I'd care for, for a year-round house, but there are few windows on the sides of the house--everything is pointed toward lake breezes. And before the cottage, literally, is a sand dune with a few pines, hemlocks, cottonwoods and oaks, a bunch of dune grass--and then nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Fresh water--no salt smell--no jellyfish--no sharks!
Think I exaggerate? Check out the entry portal of http://www.ke-kimbriel.com. Paradise.
There was a lot of being lazy, a lot of trying to help out with things like sorting out the spice cabinet, and a few bookshelves--W did some powerwashing, as did my nephew and my youngest sister. We took a few field trips--I buy my jeans every year at River's End in Montague, they sell Canadian Ikedas, which fit my extremely short "rise". We also went to Doug Born's Smoke Housein Montague, MI. (231) 894-2753. All-natural smoked meats, great cheeses--and natural jerky! Beef from sirloin, turkey, pork, and buffalo, when we were there--we brought some back to thank our Pool Boy
frankthurk and our Cat Herder MW, as well as some for ourselves. Serious Yum, highly recommended.Then there were smoked ribs--yes, ribs, smoked with applewood--in Ludington, MI. Ronnie's Rib Rack had top 20 ribs, very tender, and my favorite sweet sauce, made with apple butter--not cloying, just lovely. I wish they bottled it--they will ship! Ludington is also the home of the only place other than Racine, WI that W has found real Kringles--at Anna Bach's bakery (that's http://www.annabachchocolates.com/). They call the super-authentic ones coffee cakes (pecans and cinnamon) and the fruit ones kringles, but they're all kringles, just woven in different ways. I didn't get to try these, of course--but word has it they are marvelous.
And then for beauty and sheer weirdness, there's the Shelby Gem Factory in Shelby, MI. They've been making simulated and synthetic precious gems for 34 years--and lovely ones, indeed. Their "Shelby diamonds" have no carbon, so there's nothing to create the burned spots that are called flaws by jewelers. So a one carat "SD" selling for about $150 is equivalent to a D color natural diamond ("flawless") which sells for $12,945 as of the last time they printed their brochure. Their "emeralds" look just like emeralds, but are a different mix (hence simulated) and are 1.4x harder than fragile, natural emeralds.
The rubies and sapphires are real--same chemical makeup, physically the same as a natural stone except they are nearly flawless--and natural stones have a lot of flaws (I was warned not to look under a microscope at my own natural ruby, a lovely color.) Gold fittings are only 14k solid white or yellow gold.
They also had a stone they accidentally created a few decades back, trying for sapphire--a lovely royal blue color. The owner set the crystals on a shelf for years, knowing no one would buy it. Then TITANIC came out...he saw The Star of the Sea (name?) and said "That's my stone!" And Oceanite was born. He had someone analyze his crystal, so he could duplicate it--and now it's very popular (and a lot costlier than their diamonds...)
You can go get a pale idea of the things--the photographs do not do them justice--at http://www.shelbygems.com. I will warn you--this web site is in the running for the ugliest web site around, it's just ghastly. But the owner did it himself, and if you could see the brochure, you'd know it is a mirror--same gaudy colors, etc. However, the stones and the jewelry are lovely--and a lot of actresses, etc. buy jewelry from shelby--all the gorgeous sparkle at a fraction of the price! You can design stuff, bring them settings for their stones, or buy their stones for other settings.
We didn't buy anything this time...but I might invest in a pair of Oceanite earrings, next time they get an Oceanite crystal. The was also a blue-green crystal close to an emerald that was stunning--I would have bought something in it that day, but they'd just sold the last for a while.
We also saw the world's largest wind vane in Whitehall, MI. And walked to the top of the Big Point Sable lighthouse! Oh, do your muscles ache on one side after doing that...it was open gridwork stairs, which I HATE--heights are okay when I'm there, but open gridwork or no railings, and that evolutionary voice* starts talking to me again...
(*The same voice that spoke to me when I learned to snorkel...it said "No! No! It's been 2 million years since we had gills!") It's a shame I have no children--good protective genetic material....
Good trip--except for the car rental places, the airlines (NEVER go on an Embraer jet for more than an hour--there is NO padding in the seats, thank Heavens for two pillows and a blanket a piece...) the taxis.... I hate travel. Once there, it's another story, but getting there....phui.
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I would like to know how much a 1-2 carat Shelby ruby would cost. It's my birthstone, and it's well nigh impossible to find larger stones that don't cost the Earth. Just showers of little pink chips, which I don't like.
I don't much like to travel either. There's a line in a Talking Heads song..."I'm tired of traveling, I want to be somewhere".
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The pamphlet says the Shelby Man-Made Rubies and Sapphires are $165 a carat, plus gold and styling. I don't know if they have a catalog that shows ring or drop styles--perhaps you and I need to find a convention within comfortable driving distance of the place during decent weather, and have a field trip sometime in the next year....
The true simulated and synthetics were the best cost ratio (like the diamonds and rubies) and the ones they have trademarked (or get rarely, like that deep aqua stone--it shows up maybe every 5 years, I'm not holding my breath) are higher per carat. But they do get variety in color--they may aim for pigeon's blood rubies, but sometimes they are darker/bluish or a tad more yellow--you can ask for them to select, say, a bluer emerald, as opposed to a yellower one, or a brilliant ruby--I checked on that. They have a 15 day no questions asked guarantee. You don't like what you ordered, you return it undamaged and you get a full refund.
The brochure shows a 1.57 carat ruby set in white gold in a swirling, almost leaf pattern ring for $410. I can't tell from the photo if it has a couple of tiny diamonds as well, or if it's just reflection. A diamond solitaire starts at $150, so they definitely have some affordable "rocks".... %^)
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There's a touch of that feel, but the Cat Who books don't reflect the fact that we are always the "summer people", even though my family is burying my mother's generation in the local cemetery.
I'm LP--I picture her stories taking place in the UP! ;)