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So, I’ve been listening to a lot of hymns lately. They are truly great. Check out some good ones:

Well, I can say with certainty that Summer in the Copper Country is over. Pretty much at the stroke of Labor Day, cool weather moved into the area and we haven’t seen any beach weather since. Don’t get me wrong, I do love the season of Autumn but at the same time many things on my summer to-do list remain unchecked. I am in currently in the process of checking off the most important ones (like performing much needed work on the suspension of my car) while preparing for the coming cold weather. I am secretly hoping for another spout of warm weather before the snow hits. I guess we’ll see what happens.

As of the middle of the last summer, I am no longer a proud resident of the city of Hancock. When our lease was up at the old place, my housemates graduated so I had to find another place to live. I am now living just up the hill from Michigan Tech. I do miss some things about our old place. I used to live within 2 blocks of the hardware store, post office and an auto parts store. Jim’s Pizza (one of my favorite pizza shops around) was also nearby. Living on main street over there was nice.

Now I live in the campus house for His House Christian Fellowship. It is super nice to be so close to campus! Unfortunately I am not as close to other businesses, but such is life I guess. Living with the His House guys (7 of us in the house right now) is also good. It reminds me a bit of being back in the dorms, wandering around the house visiting different rooms and chatting with people. Even better though – it’s great to be surrounded by other Christian young men here at the house.

Ah, well this past weekend welcomed Bridgefest to the Copper Country. Now bridgefest, for those not in the know, is the local celebration in Houghton and Hancock, MI dedicated to the liftbridge that unites the two towns over the Portage Canal. It is supposedly the heaviest double-decker liftbridge in the world, and with that title the title of heaviest bridge per foot of span. But I digress.

Bridgefest is a top-notch small town celebration. There’s a huge parade Friday evening, live music (and some tasty brews) all Friday evening and carrying on through Saturday. It’s held in conjunction with the Houghton Rotary’s Seafoodfest, bringing some great tastes into the mix. Mostly I hang around for the live music. A lot of local and smaller groups, but a lot of talented performers nonetheless.

One such talented performer is Hannah Bethel, a local girl from Chassell, MI who is currently trying to make it big down in Nashville. She has been playing at Bridgefest for as long as I can remember and is very talented. One cover she played yesterday was of an Emmylou Harris song called Red Dirt Girl. Normally I’m not one for too much country music, but the lyrics struck me quite a bit. Lyrics from my favorite verse:

She loved her brother I remember back when
He was fixin up a ’49 Indian
He told her “Little sister, gonna ride the wind
Up around the moon and back again”
He never got farther than Vietnam,
I was standin there with her when the telegram come
For Lillian.
Now he’s lyin somewhere about a million miles from Meridian.

It’s a sad song. I’d encourage you to check it out.