Amazon The Books of Philip Nork Category:  Relationships Publisher: Createspace ISBN-10:  1468043692 Pages: 282 Copyright: December 2011 ISBN-13: 9781468043693 Read about the special relationship between a child of divorce and his great-grandparents Grandparents and Great-grandparents are the foundation of a family. Come read about "Gramps and Nana", their famlly and a very special summer cottage tucked away in rural Wisconsin.

A Delight!
The best way to describe Legends of the Lake is Mayberry meets Forrest Gump and I mean that in the best way possible. What could be hokey is, instead, a delightful read. We meet the author's great-grandparents, Eddie and Connie, and follow their lives and the lives of the next four generations. Most of the story takes place in a community by the lake in a small town in Wisconsin where Eddie built a two bedroom cottage. I have my doubts about some of the tales (this is where the Forrest Gump reference comes in) but they are so well told that it doesn't matter whether they are true or not. I was completely entertained. I rarely give a five star review, but this is deserving. If you enjoy lazy afternoons with a glass of lemonade and a good book, put this on your to-read list. It will warm your heart.

Memories
Well, Philip sure has a way with words! His tale of family traditions brings back so many memories of times with my Grandparents! The tales they tell!

His description of the Lake getaway are so perfect you can almost feel like you are there! Fishing, growing roses, sleeping on the floor,,,wonderful.

His Grandparents gave him a lot of very sage advice that he seems to try to put to use in his life.

I love the idea that they knew Al Capone, influenced the making of bratwurst and hamburgers, helped create tupperware... Sounds like my Grandpa!

The lesson of loss to the children when grown ups let silly things cause rifts in the family was also plain to see.

I hope everyone reading this finds their happy place and remembers to make sure their children experience the love of all their family!

Family emotions
While driving you'd pass many cow pastures, large corn fields, and farms to the left and the right of you, as you drove slowly to avoid the most worn down areas of the road. The further you progress, the more trees and beautiful wild flowers take over the landscape... Looking left you see a sliver of the lake, a big blue lake. There are campgrounds and a small bait and tackle shop situated right next to it... Continue on your slow drive down the hill and through all the curves, you pass children of the generation walking on the side of the road... The young boys are shirtless and some are white as white can be, while others have what were called "farmer's tans." This is where their arms and faces are tanned, but their chests and backs aren't as they always wore t-shirts during the day... The aroma of fresh cut green grass and giant pine trees lingers in the background, while the special odor of the seaweed which gets pushed up on the shore makes me smile... This is when you see it off to the right... you can't miss the boulders which line the front of it which proudly proclaims to everyone that "The Krons" reside here.

Philip had the kind of grandparent/grandchild relationship that every kid would love to be able to brag about. Actually his Gramps and Nana (Kron) were his mother's grandparents making them his `great' grandparents. No matter, he love spending as much time as possible at their lake house in Wisconsin. Gramps bought the lake property before he and Nana had their first child. They envisioned it as a place to bring the family throughout the generations and that's exactly what they did. This two bedroom cottage housed parents, children and grand children for many years and the one thing it did, or should I say those in residence did, was create memories.
Over the years memories were passed on from one generation to another and by the time they reached Phil's young ears they may have grown and may not be quite true but who was to say they were or weren't. For instance, one of the cottage owners went by the initials of AC instead of his name. He was from Chicago and in the `produce' business. When probation came he was there to help out by opening what was known as a `speakeasy' with a bar and gambling in the back. It wasn't too long afterwards that AC disappeared back to Chicago, never to return. That was around the same time Al Capone was locked away. Was AC the famous Al Copone? If not, how did a `produce' man acquire alcohol, gambling equipment and some pretty mean looking guards for the `speakeasy?' Then there was the story about Nana needing some type of container to carry her food to and from the pier. One of the residences, a Mr. Tupper, came up with the perfect container including a fitting top. Or how about the time one of the kids was hit by a baseball, which hurt like heck. A man from a nearby cottage brought out a ball, threw it as hard as he could and hit the kid square in the chest. Billy, expecting it to hurt was shocked when it didn't. He picked it up and found it to be soft and light. When asked what it was called the man explained it didn't have a name just yet. Billy suggested the name `Non-Expanding Recreational Foam' ball or NERF for short.
Are these truths or fictions? Who cares. They are the stories that made a young boy's life better. These stories, along with those telling them, helped to shape not just Phil but all of the family into what they were and are today. Reading Legends of the Lake kept me in a frame of a `wishing world.' I wish I could have lived and experienced the history of some of these family members and also wish I could be one to help carry beautiful memories on into the next generation. I loved the feelings of love, peace, family, togetherness, and true life that Phil experienced while growing up. Don't get me wrong, there were bad times too but the teachings of Gramps and Nana made those times a lot easier to live through. You have to read this one or you're missing out on some wonderful emotional feelings.