Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Author Archives: dawnkinster


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Can’t help but smile

Trent hosts a weekly post soliciting smiles. Since I believe we could all use a smile, I try to participate. This past week I’ve had lots and lots to smile about, much of which’ve blogged about and includes a cold Great Lake and snow and ice.

Can you see the birds hidden among all that fruit?

But this morning back at home the dog wanted to go out, a much less glamorous event than shooting a lighthouse glowing in the morning light. Plus it’s cold here, 10 F (-12.22 C) with a brisk wind. I wasn’t eager to traipse around in the yard.

I usually catch their yellow bellies, or the red tips to their wings…

After I bundled up we headed out to do her job. I was urging her to hurry, she was dawdling as usual. Then I heard it. The sound of a bunch of birds somewhere behind me.

I turned my head and saw a flash of yellow in our crab-apple tree. And a distinctive shape.

…but for me the defining bit of a cedar waxwing is the yellow strip along the tail. (Thank you Mr. Waxwing for showing us your colors!)

I grabbed the dog up in my arms and ran for the house and my camera. I had to change lenses. The dog was mystified. Racing back outside I told the dog to “STAY!” on the porch and I crept closer to the tree.

See the red tips at the end of the wings?

I was in such a hurry I didn’t consider my depth of field, and I have many blurry shots of nothing in particular. And even the ‘good’ images aren’t sharp, but the slightly blurry edges adds to the magic of the moment. Or so I’m telling myself.

Hungry in this cold weather, they stopped on their travels to visit my buffet.

Cedar waxwings fly through here as they migrate. I only see them once or twice a year, if at all, and those times it’s only a singular event. They don’t hang around. If the dog hadn’t decided she wanted to go out, if she had continued her nap, I never would have seen these.

So…that’s what made me smile today!

Hard to see even when I crop the image!


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Coasting down Michigan’s western shore

Last Sunday a friend and I drove north and west to see Point Betsie with it’s lighthouse in winter. We were hoping to see some waves and some ice, and we saw a bit of each.

Taken by my friend, look how she caught that wave action!

On Monday we meandered under a blue sky down the western coast of Michigan, enjoying the shore and beaches at several parks along the way.

Lake fog danced on the relatively warm water in the single digit air temperatures.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to show you some of the beautiful sights we saw. There are so many it’s hard to choose what to share.

The view was worth the climb!

We stopped across the river from Frankfort early in the day and admired their tugboats…

Tugboats waiting for spring.

…and the lighthouse against the dark sky.

The white buildings pop against the darkening sky.

Then we drove up to a bluff overlooking the harbor and the sun came out. I was a bit scared to drive up the steep, snow covered road, but the view was absolutely worth it.

From up on the bluff.

The early light made the lighthouse glow out there in the blue lake.

Further down the coast Ludington’s shoreline held lots of lovely sights. Even with all the wonderful white snow and blue water, this was one of my favorite shots:

Shadows mimic fence.

And this, the ice on the railing, deserves some attention too.

Ice interest.

So many pretty things to see, I put together a little slide show.

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Our last stop was Muskegon State Park where the views weren’t as stunning, but still very interesting.

A lonely tree on a lonely beach.

We had such a fun time wandering the coast of Michigan even though we didn’t get it all done. That just means we have something to anticipate some weekend when the sun shines and the lake glows.

Oh, and just for me, we stopped along the way for a photo of a barn.

Every road trip needs at least one barn.

I’m looking forward to our continued adventure. It’s nice when you can make something out of a cold winter weekend in the north.

Colors out of this world.


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Check it off the stupendous list

Visiting Point Betsie during the winter is on my list of stupendous things to do in 2019.

Tucked into the sand dunes along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Today I had the opportunity to do just that — and it was beautiful.

At home we had snow yesterday, the most we’ve had in one day so far this winter season, so a trip across the state was in question.

The path down to the beach shows the first glimpse of the turquoise lake.

But by this morning the falling snow had stopped and the sun made it glitter as a friend and I took the chance and drove across the state toward Lake Michigan and Point Betsie, a little over four hours away.

The wind was flinging waves over the breakers.

Though there was little new snow falling, the wind was brisk, and the temperatures were in the single digits. I don’t even want to think about about the wind chill.

The sun tried to break through but ultimately lost out to the clouds.

Trust me it was cold. I could barely get the car door open once we arrived at the lighthouse. We sprinted down to the shore – the lake was it’s typical turquoise.

The lighthouse was beautiful, but the ice coating the land around it prohibited us from exploring too close. That and the chilling wind howling off the lake.

The view looking south, away from the lighthouse, was stunning too.

To the south the light was diffused, the colors muted.

We stayed on the beach for only a few minutes before we ran back to the car, fingers frozen.

My friend heading back to the car, I was right behind her!

Was it worth it to drive over four hours to spend less than 10 minutes enjoying the view.

You bet it was!

Safe and sound at the hotel.


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An arty evening

Our instructor in the beautifully painted art room.

Last fall I was looking for a local acrylic painting class and I stumbled across something called art journaling. That particular month the description included instructions for people to bring their favorite pair of old shoes to class.

I, not knowing what art journaling was, found the request for shoes intriguing.

I emailed the instructor and asked if she planned on having the participants walking or jogging or perhaps doing calisthenics while doing some sort of art project? She replied with a lot of lols.

No, the participants would be drawing their shoes and embellishing them with bits of paper or scraps of poems, maybe photographs, to describe memories or events that made these their favorite shoes.

Arranging bits of my holiday.

They do this in a journal, and month after month they meet to create different projects, explore different memories, all the while making art.

Well that sounded fun.

So I went, way back in September to one session and had a good time, and then travel and other life events interfered and I missed the next meeting. And then the holidays hit and I accidentally fell asleep the evening of the November session.

A little bit of Christmas.

So here it is January, and we met again, this time having collected bits of paper that reflected our lives. During the class we tore that paper up, doodled on it and glued it all back together again.

Well hello Dolly!

These photos were taken in bad light with my phone, but you get the idea. The whole two page collage represents what I did during the holidays. I saw the musical Dolly, I volunteered with Little Brothers at Thanksgiving, I wrapped gifts for Christmas.

It’s not great art, but it’s fun art and very relaxing. Plus the other women there are all funny, smart, welcoming and happy.

The finished project.

Just the perfect way to spend a dark winter evening in the middle of January.

Detail of the art on the wall.


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Hope = smiles

This week I had plenty of reasons to smile. After all I’m retired; I don’t have to get up in the dark and drive on congested construction strewn roads to work and then do it all again the next day.

That in itself makes for automatic smiles.

Visiting Lansing, the Capitol of Michigan, on a cold Sunday afternoon.

But if I had to pick one thing that made me smile this week it would be Sunday afternoon when my husband and I attended the ceremonial swearing in of our new Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin.

I keep insisting that I’m not political, I don’t like politics, I don’t have the patience for all the talk and lack of action, for the arguing, for the lack of empathetic listening, the insensitivity. I hate that neither party even tries to hear an opinion outisde their own dogma.

But this year the candidate challenging my district’s incumbant Congressman caught my attention. She actually sat down with my husband and me and listened intently to our truck safety issues. So I became involved in her campaign, canvasing and talking politics to strangers, which was very scary for me. She won by 13,000 votes and attending her ceremonial swearing in made me smile.

Photo from Slotkin’s webpage. Senator Stabenow, Congresswoman Slotkin and her husband, retired Colonel David Moore.

Presiding over the ceremony was Michigan’s Senior Senator who has also been very open to our issues, which made me smile broader.

But the biggest smile during the event was reserved for the Sexton High School choir who sang for us. A group of young people, diverse in ethnicity and culture, sang of hope and change to a huge ballroom filled with mostly middle aged white people.

Lansing’s Sexton High School Choir rocked it!

They sang from their hearts and we listened with ours, knowing that we were on the cusp of change for our district, filled with hope for a more responsive government. And when they finished we rose in a standing ovation before their last note ended, which made them smile.

“If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”
(lyrics from Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror)

After the event, while we were all milling around talking I noticed one of the young singers standing behind me. I turned around and told him how beautiful the music had been. He nodded his head respectfully, then burst out into a wide grin and swallowed me up in a hug.

Seems smiles were the order of the day.

The gears of change grind slowly.

What’s made you smile? Tell us about it and link to Trent’s blog, he’ll recap for us next Monday!

Note: Follow the link above about Elissa to read a short article about the ceremony which contains a few quotes from her speech. I think they’ll give you hope too.

Something to smile about in Lansing last Sunday.


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Shedding light on Lightroom

Saturday I attended an all day class intended to up my skill level in the photo editing software Lightroom. The first half of the day was spent learning about cataloging your inventory of photos within Lightroom.

Mama! Don’t you see this stupid stick right next to me?

Much of that went right over my head. I have a system to keep track of my photos, and though it isn’t perfect and would probably make little sense to anyone but me, I am not sure I’m ready to change.

Well, if you don’t look too close, that’s a little better mama. And I like the light!

After all, change is hard.

Cheerful little guy.

The second half of the day was spent in the development module, and was the reason I was there. Though I tried very hard to focus and listen while at the same time playing along on my laptop, some of it still escaped me.

Sitting in a spot of make believe sunshine.

But I learned a lot of the basics, and as I practice I’m sure I’ll get better.

Sunset at the park.

The photos in this blog were taken in the past week with the new Nikon Z6 camera. I’m posting the original, out of the camera image and then the adjusted, messed around with image.

A bit over the top.

Sometimes the changes are subtle, sometimes I’ve over adjusted just to see how far I could take it.

This little guy wanted a treat.

I still have so much to learn…but at least I have hope that I can learn, little by little, photo by photo I’m going to figure it out.

Still hungry.

And maybe I’ll reorganize all those thousands of photos I already have in my catalog.

Just remember who’s most beautiful around here mama.


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Cee’s Black & White photo challenge: Music

A few years ago we had a mother/daughter duo playing clarinet in our community band. I took this image just before a concert, for another of Cee’s black and white challenges, that time for two of anthing.

I’ve always liked it, and so did they. I gave them a framed copy.

The daughter was in high school at the time, and now she’s graduated from college. Time flies, but connections made through music last forever.


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2019’s interesting, stupendous and fun stuff to do

I guess the time has come to stop thinking about what might be on this list and actually write some things down.

After all, 2019 will march along whether I get organized or not.

And without a list some of this stuff might not have a shot at happening. Not to say I’ll get to do it all, but certainly I’ll forget to even try if it’s not written down.

That’s what happens to me lately, I forget stuff not written down and I doubt that I am alone in that regard, especially among people my age.

So (drum roll please) here’s the list in no particular order:

2019 Interesting, Stupendous and Fun Things

*Visit the Point Betsie lighthouse in the winter to see the ice formations.

*Camping in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (not in winter).

*Try acrylic painting.

*Find someone willing to teach me what it’s like to make a sound on a cello.

*Gain confidence on the new Nikon camera, and figure out what the optimum lens is.

*Improve night photography skills.

*Spend a week in the Southwest.

*Visit husband’s family in Norway.

*Walk the CRIM 10 mile race in August.

*Spend a month or more in Alabama, invite friends to visit while I’m there.

*Look into the purchase of a 2nd kayak for the lake.

*Read 50 books, and try at least one from a genre I don’t usually read.

*Ride my bike on some of the rail-to-trails around here, maybe a one day bike trip complete with lunch along the way, maybe with a local bike group.

*Walk and photograph the Dequindre Cut here in Detroit.

*Meetup with sheltie mom(s) for adventure.

My plan is to check in on this list every month, and add items as they occur to me. No rule says January is the only month to dream, right?

What interesting, stupendous or fun things do you plan on doing in 2019?

Does any of this involve TREATS mama?