Lakeside Life

Last day today and a difficult decision, where to go: somewhere new or somewhere we’ve been before. We decided, it was a nice day to go back to the lake and back to our favourite Michigan town Holland. It turned out to be a really good choice, if nothing else we got the chance to see the State Park Beach on a busy sunny day… and doesn’t it look lovely. A light breeze and the boats were out in force as were the sun seekers, it really was very lovely, and the ducks on the lake made for a slightly surreal “seascape”. Fishermen and women were pulling perch from the lake and moaning like those who fish do, interestingly their problem was foreigners. It seems the lake has been invaded by zebra mussels who are making the lake too clean for the fish! We heard a story on the television about them banning phosphates to prevent the lake being overrun with algae. They are working hard to keep it pristine and to our brief visit not doing to bad a job.
Before the beach we went into Holland itself and had an interesting conversation with one of the shop owners. She was really interested in what I was doing and as I explained she said a very interesting thing: “Around here pretty much everyone goes to church. If there is a problem then people do their best to fix it. They get in the truck, put on a trailer and collect the stuff that people need from their neighbours.”
Such a strong sense of community of which the church is a central part, such a strong sense of entrepreneurial get up and get it fixed, is central to how America works.
Oh and of course a general acceptance that government is pretty useless at this means that they have the confidence that they can do, what needs to be done.
I could live in Holland Michigan, small town rural America at its absolute best.