On Saturday We conducted our regular cross border prisoner mother-in-law exchange.
Natasha's mom had come to stay with us for a bit and we had arranged with Natasha's sister to meet them in Port Huron both for lunch and to celebrate her sister's birthday.
On the way up, we passed by a fire in the median strip on the highway - hay on top of grass seed tends to burn very nicely in this dry weather. Most likely some idiot threw a cigarette butt their window onto the dry hay to kick it off. It was an interesting burn - perfectly rectangular and slowly following the line of the grass precisely in the median while firefighters worked to put it out.
We also passed by the Bramble as it sat at dock. Sadly we passed by pretty quickly and a fence was in the way so I couldn't snap a decent picture.
We decided on the Atrium for lunch and it was a most excellent choice.
The Atrium, a restaurant and ice cream parlor is located in a completely refurbished historic building.
The staff were very attentive, personable, and gracious even as elemental forces of chaos in the form of my sister-in-law et al descended upon them to dine.
We also met the owners and they're real nice people. The restaurant is full of antiques and beautiful recovered wood paneling and doors salvaged from historic homes and churches, and full of cool antique artifacts.
The food was really good, but best of all was the dessert:
The bumpy cake, a Michigan specialty, was fantastic, and their bumpy cake ice cream is, at the very least, to seriously maim for. Yum.
If you need to eat and near Port Huron, put The Atrium at the top of your list.
But what was this sign hanging outside the building?
The Fenians were Irishmen in the United States who in the period of 1866-1871 had a rather cunning plan: Invade British North America, take it over and then swap it for Ireland's Independence from Britain.
What could possibly go wrong?
In short, well, just about everything.
However, they've now decided on a historic rematch:
There's no record of any completed invasion from Port Huron to Sarnia by the Fenians or anyone else, and the original raid never got past the attempt stage as they got stopped cold before even trying to cross.
Today, the Blue Water Bridge should make for a bit more convenient invasion route. That Canada has finally allowed their Border services personnel to be armed and not have to rely on police for protection makes it somewhat less so.
In any case, it should be a fun event, especially as they'll be yelling "Aaron Go Bragh!" as they charge across, right?
