My Friday afternoon began with a bit of canoeing in Ann Arbor on the Huron River with my Aunt B. We canoed from the canoe livery in town to just below the Barton Pond dam. They said it was two miles of river up to the dam, but it was really more like canoeing on a beautiful lake.
It’s been a fair number of years since I’ve been in a canoe for any length of time, and today my behind is letting me know that I sat for a good long time on a hard aluminum seat! I’m surprised my arms aren’t expressing their displeasure at the amount of work I forced out of them yesterday as well. Of course they may be waiting until I’m less suspecting. Like tomorrow.
The pond and river were wide and smooth most of our way up to the dam. On the way back a storm was coming in, the winds picked up and we had little white caps to maneuver. There was no stopping to rest aching arms, as the head wind would blow us further back up the river whenever we stopped paddling! It was a challenge that we won!
Later in the day we had a lovely picnic lunch at Nichols Arboretum in preparation for watching Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Nights Dreams” which is being done Thursdays through Sundays through the month of June. Here’s a link to the Ann Arbor Newspaper’s review which will also tell you a bit about how the play is done in this beautiful outdoor setting. For those of you in or near Ann Arbor, you really should go enjoy this event. It’s unique and wonderful and set in a place so beautiful you can hardly believe you’re lucky enough to be there.
We had a marvelous time. The play began in the peony garden, so I got to take more pictures of the beautiful flowers. They still look good, though some are not as beautiful as they were last weekend.
The audience gathered in chairs and on blankets along the hillside to watch the opening act; the setting the stage, as it were, of the love between Hermia and Lysander, and the arranged marriage Hermia’s father has made between her and Demetrius, and of Helena whose overwhelming love for Demetrius has been scorned.
After each scene the audience picks up and moves to a new “set” within the Arboretum. This makes the production fun, even for people who don’t love Shakespeare. Each setting seems perfect for the action that takes place there; the hapless couples become more and more confused wandering through the forest on that dream filled night.
The audience gets to see it up close and personal. The actors are so close that you can see facial expression, hear most of the words and watch the prat falls as they race up and down the hills of the Arb. 
We enjoyed the fairies dance among the trees in the woods, listened to the magical music played by nymphs on the hillside, and laughed at the antics of the band of Pucks causing trouble on this midsummer evening.
And then it began to rain.
During the last minutes of the play the thunder rolled and the skies opened up. Rain poured down in buckets, the production was called for rain and we all ran for our cars. I haven’t been out in rain like this since I was a little girl. We got soaked.
But we laughed all the way back to the car.
I’ve been staying with Aunt V these past few days. She’s not steady enough on her feet to be alone. But today I had jury duty, and had to be in “business attire” at the court by 8:30 in the morning. I didn’t think I could get ready at her apartment without disturbing her routine, so my husband stayed with her last night, and I got to hug Katie at home all night. I’m not sure Katie really appreciated that, but she will when she’s older!
I went for an inland walk today, away from the mesmerizing lake into the sunlit woods looking for a bit of stillness. And of course photo opportunities. There were signs of spring everywhere, even way up here. I was surprised to realize the pussy willows are blooming already. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze. It was good to be outside after the past couple of cold windy days.
So today I notice the robin eating last years wild grapes high in a tree, the way sun glints off of white birch, the fat chickadee swooping past.
There’s a mall nearby that is closing. All the interior stores have closed and only a couple of the big stores on the ends remain open. There has been talk for years about what could be done to make the property more viable but it’s always seemed inevitable to me that the mall would fail. Three or four years ago I did all my Christmas shopping there because it was never crowded. Not even just before the holiday.
But for me the saddest things were in the basement where they were selling fixtures; shelving, file cabinets, decorations, mirrors, tables and manikins. The naked manikins, standing in groups, lined up or hanging in rows were somehow disheartening. Like children not picked to play on a team in middle school gym class, they seem lonely. And a little bit embarrassed at being unclothed. Yet the symmetry of their body parts was intriguing as well. The way they were grouped together, either as members of a marching army, or guests at a cocktail party seemed to inspire a story. One without a happy ending.
The story is that my mom was very pregnant with my sister on dad’s birthday and she didn’t feel up to making a cake. So she made him meatloaf and “frosted” it with mashed potatoes. My sister was born the next day. I think my sister was actually Dad’s best birthday present ever. Even if she was one day late.
It was five years ago today that Dad was killed. It seems like yesterday, and a hundred forevers all at the same time. Much was lost and much has been learned. Where once I cried in mourning, now I cry angry tears, and I’m determined that we’ll win our fight for safety. That’s progress I suppose-from mourning to anger. Still, I wish I could have remained unwittingly ignorant.
Change Is Hard 
