7th Annual Hoosier Lighthousing Club Grillin

What: 7th Annual HLC Grillin..
When: Sunday July 10th 2010
Where: The Cole Homestead
Time: 6:00PM Central Daylight Saving Time
Theme: Hawaiian Luau

Our annual Grillin Gathering is a little different this year, it will be in the evening and it will have a Hawaiian Theme..

Looking forward to another grillin' at the Cole's Cove!!

Photo's Paul Love seeing them

Paul and Sue didn't make it, my lovely wife came down with a sinus infection and bronchitis and is still fighting both..

One of the others will need to post pics..

A fine goup of folks gathered at Doyne & Cindy's beautiful lakeside home Saturday evening. Unfortunately, Paul & Sue weren't able to attend. I think it is fair to say that a fine time was had by all.

We had the usual great fellowship, a fine meal prepared by Cyndi & Doyne, we even had a birthday party for Edith. The evening ended with a very pleasant cruise around the lake on a couple of pontoons (uneventful other than Kat thinking a fish was coming after her . . .)

Below is a group photo. Cindy wanted to have a theme this year, The Great Hawaiian Grillin’. I'll try to get a few more pics up sometime soon.

This is what I've missed most for the last two years. We laughed and laughed. Everyone had a great time.

Frank, Dave & Dave catch up and give their okay to the punch.


Who's arriving now?



Doyne poses with our special guest.

Dave and Susan Hannum having a bit of fun.

Rex making the acquaintance of our newest member?


Heather shows Rex why he's standing in line.


Frank, Dani and Edith enjoy the lovely evening.

Roy, Dani and Dave.



Versions of early lighthouse designs.



Edith blows out her birthday candle while Cindy looks on.

Caroline watches as Larry and Jeff consult with Roy about the stars overhead.


Arriving back at Cole's Cove after a relaxing pontoon ride with fireworks in the distance.


Another great Grillin' at Cole's Cove.

Thanks a whole bunch for sharing, Judy!! It looks like it was a blast!!

Love the pictures, Judy & Dave...lots of happy faces! Thanks for posting them.

Great pictures Judy. Had a good laugh of the "early lighthouse versions" shot

By the way for those who don't know our matriarch of our club Dani, she just celebrated her 80th birthday.. Her son had a birthday party for her here in Indy two weeks ago and several club members joined the celebration..

Thanks for sharing the pictures Dave and Sunshine! Love those Hoosier outings!

Since this year’s Grillin’ gathering was going to be on a Saturday evening instead of Sunday afternoon, Cyndi had sent out some suggestions as to things to do in the area. We headed north on Saturday morning and met Judy, Carolyn & Roy in Merrillville at the Greek Fest. Have to say they had a pretty impressive (and reasonably priced) dessert bar:







While the St. Louis contingent ate lunch, Heather and I went shopping for a sample of the goodies that we could all try out; Here is what we ended up with:


Using a plastic knife, Heather tried to cut the various items into 6 equal pieces so we could all try a little of each:


It would not have been difficult to just pull a chair up to the tables of desserts. It think it is fair to say that we could have easily gotten into big trouble without trying too hard! The apple turnover was baked in rolls that were almost as wide as the commercial sized baking pans (and at $10 for the whole roll were a really good deal if you lived local!)


We did take 3 of these little beauties back to our hotel room for Sunday breakfast (really appreciate rooms with refrigerators!) At a buck apiece they were a great deal.


Wow, I forgot - after leaving the Greek Fest we went to the candy factory on the other side of town. Every other time we were in the area the factory was closed, and Judy & Carolyn had seen something about it and wanted to stop. Anyways, here is about the first thing you see when you go into the factory:



Yes, that is a steady stream of chocolate. Wonder what they would have done if we got a really long skewer and stuck some treats on the end of it to coat in liquid chocolate?

Judy has posted several similar images already, but I am posting my version also as they were worked into my storyline. Been a busy week and haven’t had time to work on these. (Took the laptop to work Friday to try and finish up . . .)
For the past 5 years or so, Doyne & Cyndi have hosted the club each summer for a wonderful Grillin’ at their lakeside home. It is very nautical in décor. You know you are at the right place when you see this sign:


The welcoming station, everyone was to be lei’d . . . .


Kat had to try out the photo backdrop. Not sure if Larry is looking at something on the ground or hanging his head in disbelief.


Frank and Edith (the birthday girl) try out the photo spot.


Doyne hard at work grilling chicken. What a beautiful place to set up the grill, overlooking the lake.


As they were heading up to load up their dinner plates, Jeff couldn’t resist the bad example set by Rex, and had to see what she was wearing under the leis. Poor Dani just looks on in disbelief.


Cyndi spent a lot of time working on decorations for the evening, including these great “working” table decorations on the buffet table.


Kate, Dave, Carolyn, Roy and Dani working on loading up their plates. Lots of good eats!

Doyne, Cyndi, Mary, Jeff and the Cole’s lake friends enjoying dinner. (Sorry, their names escape me – do believe he is the ‘mayor’ of the community and they came over on their pontoon boat to help provide a pleasant lake cruise for everyone.)


Our table seemed to be a little noisy and was attracting attention, especially from the mayor and his wife who were trying to figure out how much Judy & others had been into the sauce (and they weren’t!) On their trip up, Judy made some statements that didn’t quite come out right, but rather came out reflecting a rather off-beat way of doing things, to say the very least. It was one of those situations where one of them only had to repeat a snippet of the event and they all got to laughing pretty hard, with poor Judy going thru a variety of shades of red. Against my better judgment, I won’t post any of those pictures or a link to the short videos I took. It was certainly entertaining!
One of the evening’s ‘games’ (warped people that Carolyn & Judy are), was the old “let’s decorate some poor person as a lighthouse” event. There were 4 volunteers.
Here is Rex being transformed:


Frank’s group took a little different approach to forming the body of the light:


I think Mary was working overtime to make sure Jeff had a unique appearance, especially the lantern room. Not sure what style that might be:


Scary as it seems, Roy was the brightest of the group in that he convinced his group to go very informal:


Dewey, Louie, Screwey and Chiquita:

The club gave Doyne & Cyndi small thank you gifts for their wonderful hospitality. Here Cyndi models her new lighthouse apron sporting their home’s name & club name:


Just enjoying the evening fellowship:


Gee, Jeff, let me show you all the things my new toy can do:


Cole’s Cove LSS on our return from the boat ride around the lake:


The end of another wonderful Hoosier Lighthouse Club gathering. I strongly believe that one of the reasons we have done so well over our 9 year existence is that we have had considerable social interactions to go along with all of our hard work at the Old Michigan City Light as well as other times during the year. I think it says a lot about the fellowship of our group when people will travel 5-6 or more hours to enjoy our summer Grillin’ event. Thanks to all who attended and made it a wonderful evening, and a special thanks to Doyne and Cyndi who once again were magnificent hosts.

Thanks for sharing, Dave, what a Great group!!

Thanks for more pictures Dave. Really enjoyed the additional shots and understanding how the early lighthouse versions were built.

Which team won for the creating the best light?

I would vote for Roy...for the statue of liberty!

I just wanted to say a big thank you there to Shelli and Kat for decorating help on the tables. Also Shellie for the lanterns and all the dishes that added to our Hawaian atmosphere! Shellie totally brought the last of it together when I was getting weary. Also big thanks for Carolyn for doing the games so I was free to keep everything rolling and enjoy. And Judy for help with the punch.
So glad you could all come. And is was wonderful to have Dave and Kate and Judy back with us. We have an amazing club. And we second all of Dave's comments!
Cindy & Doyne