Maxinkuckee Years
Maxinkuckee Years – my memories
“Lake of sparkling waters, so the Indian said.Springs – cool and clear to refresh the weary head.
Sunrise and sunset dancing on the waves…
The gentle breeze speeds the sailboat along its merry way.
Fish jumping, minnows skipping, water lapping, are music to my ears.
As I remember happy days of Maxinkuckee Years
-Sherrill
I have been fortunate to spend my entire life at Lake Maxinkuckee. Being a year around resident is especially exciting. Each season the lake takes on an entirely different feel. In the autumn the air is so clear and crisp and has a wonderful refreshing smell. The trees reflect in the water and the colors seem even more vivid as the lake serves as a pristine mirror. As kids we would pile up the leaves and make leaf houses and jump in the big piles. We would stay out as late as possible playing hide and seek and kick the can.
Ahhh…then winter! Your nose would freeze in the dry air! The ice on the lake would boom and explode and shake the house! It was exciting! The first thing we would do when we got off the bus would be to hurry out to the lake to keep our skating spot shoveled off. We loved to play hockey on the lake and fox and geese. And if the ice froze all at once and was super clear, it would be fun to skate along and watch the fish swimming.
It seemed spring happened suddenly. All at once the ice would be gone and if we were lucky it did not end up in our front yard! The water was so sparkly clean…it looked good enough to drink! The smell of the fresh water was invigorating. The longer days made it fun to ride bikes and hike in the woods across from our home until almost bedtime.
Memorial Day weekend was always the big weekend to put in the pier and get the boats all set. Such anticipation and excitement! All of a sudden the lake was so busy with boats and people everywhere! It was like one continual holiday to me! From morning until evening I would go from one swimsuit to the next as I spent the entire day doing something on the lake. It was great to have more kids to play with and we were always dreaming up something to do. We would spend hours pretending old inner tubes were horses, jumping up and down on them and using them as diving boards. We made our own little sailboats from old plywood, went turtle hunting and had turtle races, sat on the bow of our little fishing boats as we raced up and down the lake shore with our 5 horse motors. It seemed summer should last forever, but Labor Day weekend seemed to end it all and then the cycle would start all over.
