I’ve been eying Burger Night at the VFW for quite some time. I tried it out with my mom and brother-in-law. We had a really good time. The burgers were good and the atmosphere outstanding. If you’re looking for a place to go on Friday night I highly recommend it.

We had Memorial Day last weekend and it took on a different spin for me this year. Normally on Memorial Day I look at it as a long weekend to go and do something. This year all of my kids and my sister’s family came up to visit Mom on Lake Vermilion. Taku also flew in from Japan. For those of you who remember, Taku was a foreign exchange student who lived with my parents for a year. Taku came through the door and said, “I’m home.” We spent some time remembering my father. My sister worked with Ryan’s Rustic Railings in Orr and they made a swing which we placed on a bank overlooking Lake Vermilion by our house. She had one of my dad’s sayings put on it:“Everything is going to be OK in the end.”

We had a small ceremony after we put it in place. I was surprised to listen to Taku who stated that his time with my parents and at Cook changed his life. He now has a 13-year-old daughter and is considering sending her over here as an exchange student. I thought about all of the lives my father and mother have impacted over the years and realize when he says he had a “good life” he absolutely did. Often we think of measuring people in terms of what they have accumulated in material things not what they have accumulated in good deeds. My parents accumulated a lot of the latter.

If you are on Lake Vermilion headed towards Spring Bay, you can see the swing up on the bank in a beautiful spot to overlook the lake.

This was my first opportunity to go to Ryan’s Rustic Railings. His furniture is amazing. All of it was beautiful, sturdy and solidly made. I believe all handcrafted and it looks like it will last a lifetime.

I hope everyone had an amazing Memorial Day and remembered those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation of ours.