Oh, what to do with that leftover grease from cooking?  Pour it down the drain?  Throw it in the trash?  How about instead to save it and make candles?  Now, that's recycling!  The photo above is a reshaped cotton ball (100% cotton) and some melted beef tallow!  Really!

These are three different ways to make a wick out of an extra large 100% cotton ball. The ROPE wick, the TOOTHPICK wick and the HERSHEY KISS wick!  

To make the ROPE wick, pull and gently lengthen the cotton ball to a long, skinny rectangle about 12 inches long.  Start by twisting in the middle until it curls on itself.  Pinch in place with thumb and index finger.  With other hand, continue to twist towards you and then overlap piece over to you, pinch down on this part and continue till you run out of material.  It should look like the object on the left! (Maybe even better than that!  HaHa!)

The TOOTHPICK wick requires a sturdy toothpick and make sure that the pointy end will be at the bottom.  Take the cottonball and gently pull and stretch till its in a flat square shape.  The shape should be longer than the toothpick as the extra length will be on the top.  Put the toothpick on the edge of the cottonball with excess on top and the pointed end of the toothpick showing.  Roll tightly like a sushi roll till you get to the other end.  Twist the top to make a pointed end and twist bottom to secure.

The HERSHEY KISS wick is the easiest to make as all you need to do is flatten the cottonball a little, then pull up the other side and twist.  Super simple!

Use any heat resistant container (use your imagination!) and some pliable wire for the rope wick and the toothpick wick.  For the rope wick, twist wire to hold the twisted end of the rope and coil the rest of the wire to hold the wick high in the container and to stabilize the wick.  

For the toothpick wick, coil the end of the toothpick with wire to stand vertical and coil the rest of the wire to stabilize the toothpick in the container.

The hershey kiss wick should be placed in a low container as the top of the wick needs to be free of the fat.  Just place the wick inside and you are ready for the fat!

The fats that you use can be beef tallow, bacon grease, butter, lamb fat or any fat that solidifies when cooled!  You're thinking that it must smell awful when burning!  Actually, I don't really smell anything until I blow it out!  That's when I cover it with a lid!  HaHa!

Fat solidifies in three sections.  The top contains impurities, and the bottom is sediments.  So, the middle area is what you want to use.  Scape into microwaveable container.  Microwave until the fat becomes liquid.  Pour melted fat over the wick in the container and fill, but don't cover the wick top.  Light with lighter.  I have learned that the pointier the wick, the easier it is to light.  

Enjoy what you have created with your own hands and feel proud that you have made use of materials usually thrown away!  Are you seeing the light?  HaHa!

 

The largest city in NW Michigan and also the largest producers of tart cherries in the United States is this hidden gem called, Traverse City!  The Montmorency cherry or "pie cherry,' is the largest variety here.  Other cherries also grown include the Ulster (sweet cherry) and the Balaton!

We just missed the "National Cherry Festival" which was held in the first week of July!  2014 was record breaking as 500,000 tourists and locals alike participated.  I would have enjoyed competing in the pie eating contest, not with the intention of winning, but, just to eat some cherry pie!  HaHa!

This is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest!  The sandy soil and sitting close to the 45th parallel (a latitude known for growing prestigious grapes) makes it perfect for viticulture.  Seven wineries on the Old Mission Peninsula and 21 wineries located on the Leelanau Peninsula gives you lots of choices of wine tasting to enjoy!  My favorite was a Chardonnay at Chateau Chantal Winery.

It makes a lot of sense to combine the two products and make some "Cherry Wine!"  This wine was made of the Balaton cherry which is a flavor between the Montmorency and the Ulster cherry.

 Interesting shops lined the many tiny towns along the Leelanau Peninsula which is between the east side of Lake Michigan and the west side of Traverse Bay.

At every tip of the peninsulas was a lighthouse.  Though not in use since technology now uses satellites and GPS, they have become museums with information of it's past.  Even my lamp at the hotel had a "lighthouse" lamp with the nightlight looking like a lit lighthouse!

The western edge of the Leelanau Peninsula contains the "Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore."  I want to show you a trail that takes you to the shores of Lake Michigan.  This video demonstrates that it is a L-O-N-G way down!  Not so bad going down, but expect at least two hours to get back up.  The sand is very loose and every step you'll sink to your knees.  We hope that the people trying to get back up made it before nightfall as the sun was about to set when we took this video!

The TART trail system runs through this part of Michigan and is conducive for road bicycling.  We biked about 18 miles along the Dunes and various towns in the Leelanau Peninsula.

Traverse city, voted one of the "10 best places to retire' in 2012, is also a "foodie" enthusiast capital.  Here we were enjoying a demonstration of  making "spanish coffee."  We were "lit up" in more ways then one!  Delighting our taste buds at the end of an exhausting touring day, was so rewarding.  At "Folgarelli's." I had the most delicious sandwich called, "The Godfather," and have decided that it is the best sandwich I have ever tasted in my WHOLE life!

 As the setting sun ends the day, we had to end our stay here to move on to new places.  Awash in wonderful memories and the hope that we might return sometime in the near future to the 45th parallel!  A Hui Hou! (Until we meet again!)