Change Is Hard

June 2, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

WordPress photo challenge: Split-second story

We were on Belle Isle, in the Detroit River, enjoying the day and standing out on a fishing pier. I was talking about the years I used to live on the Houghton Canal way up in the Upper Peninsula where I could watch freighters pass from my apartment window.

We turned to go back to the car and there it was, almost silently gliding through the cool blue waters.

Magical.

Check out these split-second day photos here, here, here, and here. Or go to this link and browse among the 300+ photos for yourself. Don’t miss this one!

May 31, 2014
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

Spring cleaning

December memories

Ha! I bet you thought I was going to entertain you with stories from the backs of closets or under beds. And how would that relate to the frigid photo above? Are you confused?

Well so is our yard this spring. Confused. After the brutal winter we are managing to get through a sad and wet spring. We didn’t get any forsythia blooms, no redbud blossoms, the Japanese maple is dead, many of our birch were irretrievably bent during December’s ice storm.

So this spring instead of planting beautiful young flowers, patting soil gently around their tender roots, our tools look like this:

Cleanup tools

And the results are just as harsh.

Makes me cry

It’s a sad spring, but some things are blooming, and Katie of course tries to brighten our day. So I guess we will accept what is and move forward with what’s left of our landscape. Let’s hope next winter isn’t as harsh. I don’t think the plants that survived this last one could make it through a second.

Hey Mama! This one made it!

I don’t think I could either.

brrrrrrrrr

May 28, 2014
by dawnkinster 8 Comments

Photo challenge: Twist

Who remembers this game? Turns out it’s an oldie but a goodie. Especially if you’re of a certain age. Those of us more mature have a harder time with it, but we can cheer younger participants on.

I had many ideas for this week’s challenge, including a trip to our favorite frozen custard place. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of frozen custard? At night? A warm night? When you’re really looking forward to that first delicious creamy bite of the season?

It’s very hard to mess around with a camera in one hand when the other hand is holding something this yummy.

But I digress.

You can find other wonderful twists here, here, here, and here. Or go to the link up at the top and see all 400+ interpretations!

I liked this one a lot too.

Meanwhile, my custard is melting.

May 26, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Weeding? Really Mama?

Katie here. Did you know my mama had 3 days off work? I expected a GRAND ADVENTURE because of course it’s all about me. I am entirely disappointed.

Friday night mama put up the tent and said we were going camping. I love camping, but it was darn cold out. A princess does not like to be cold, so after we got all settled in the tent I told mama I wasn’t staying out there and I barked and barked and finally she got smart and we went inside to sleep. Mama should pay better attention to the weather. I ask you; does a Princess wear plaid? I think not!

A little chilly

And do you know what she and dad did on Saturday? They weeded! I don’t know what that was all about. They just pulled up some green plants, but they left other green plants. If they wanted them gone, why didn’t they get rid of all of them? I think they are fickle. I tried to supervise them but it got to be so boring that I went inside and took a nap.

I figured I’d need to catch up on my sleep cause that darn tent was still up and I knew my mama would want to camp again. But you know what happened? She went to work after dark! With a pillow and a blanket! I’ve never seen anything like it, but she said ‘bye bye baby’ just like she does every day when she goes to work and she went out the front door. Huh. I waited by the door a long time but I finally just went to sleep with my dad. Mama didn’t come back from work till the morning, and she came home through the back door. She said she slept great, but I don’t know how she did that at work. I’m smelling a scam. Yes I am.

Well I figured we’d do something exciting Sunday. But no way! They were still pulling green stuff up. I was disgusted and spent most of the day inside napping. And it was definitely not fair when they went out that evening and got ice cream and left me behind.

Much better. No plaid.

But I did get to camp with my mama Sunday night. It was a lot warmer and I did pretty good, I only barked a little bit. And I got my mama up at 5:00 a.m. so she could fully enjoy her Monday off from work.

Monday mama said she was too sore to weed anymore and we spent some quality time out on the deck. Plus I helped her put away the camping stuff. Well mostly I just watched, but I’m sure she couldn’t have put it all away so fast without me.

And then this evening mama took me to my park!!! That was the best part of the entire weekend!

My field of yellow flowers..ummm…

So all in all I guess I got to do some fun stuff. But my folks need to focus on me more don’t you think? Three whole days and all I got was one and a half nights of camping and a walk through fluff?

I think you will all agree that I deserve more.

Pay attention mama!

May 24, 2014
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

Forget me not

Forget Me Not

I spent some of this first day of the 3 day holiday weekend weeding. It’s the same old thing, by the time I get around to weeding the perennial garden it’s overrun with grass. I don’t even need to take a before picture – it looks the same as it did last year at this time. Think of a long green rectangle filled to overflowing with grass waving knee high. You would be accurate.

So what does a person think about when she’s pulling grass mindlessly for an hour or so? Well if you’re me, you think about your Dad. He’d have been 85 last February. I’d have liked to see him achieve that age, see what he was interested in, what he’d think about world events. I imagine him talking to the DOT about truck issues, can hear his impatience with the slowness that is Washington. I hear his encouragement to keep up the good fight.

I think about Mom too, of course. She loved her flowers and her birds. Though she didn’t die at the same time or in the same way as Dad, it sometimes feels like one event, their deaths happened so close together. I think about her when the oriole couple visit, or when I hear the cranes in the swamp up the road. And I think about her when I’m weeding.

This week while work was especially difficult I’d get up from my desk to stretch and glance out the window. Thursday and Friday almost every time I did a robin flew around the corner of the building and landed at the tip top of a tall spruce tree, about level with my window. It swayed in the breeze and chattered as I stood and watched and smiled. Eventually I’d get back to work and when I’d glance out in a bit the bird was gone. But it was back three or four times when I’d stand up to stretch, and the last time it stared in my direction while it chattered. I know the windows are glazed and the bird can’t really see me. And the bird couldn’t know that I needed that little bit of entertainment during a very bad day. But each time that robin turned up I’d said “hi” to Mom, and before I sat down again I’d say a silent “bye, see you next time.”

So I’ve been thinking about the two of them a lot these past few days. That’s not a bad thing, I’ve sort of enjoyed it. Especially during these beautiful spring days when I’m pulling weeds in my garden and they’re both just a memory away.

Broken hearts

May 22, 2014
by dawnkinster 15 Comments

Unrelated musings

Do you see the mama?

It’s been a long and stressful week. I think, of my regular readers, only Carol will truly understand. She has successfully retired from my industry and people outside it don’t grasp the level of stress during our busy season. Especially the busy season in conjunction with the end of a month.

This is a really really big nursery.

I’m behind on things I wanted to show you from my visit to my favorite park almost two weeks ago. So how about I just intersperse park photos among the random musings that have been rolling around in my head trying to avoid the stress headache lurking there. Click on any photo to make it bigger and see more details.

Waiting for the shot.

“Reaching out.” I suppose this blog is my way of reaching out to you. But I’d like to think it’s not because I really detest that saying. I don’t know when people started using it, but it’s everywhere now. Do people use it because it’s more hip than saying calling…or emailing? “I’m reaching out to you in the hopes that you will…” When I read that in an email, or hear it on the phone I immediately put my defenses up. Because no one ever reaches out to me unless they want something. Can’t they just say what they’re really doing…they’re emailing me. They’re calling me. They want something. It doesn’t sound any more friendly or less threatening because they were reaching out. Makes. Me. Nuts.

He was curious about me.

And while we’re on the topic of phrases what’s with “drilling down?” What exactly does that mean? That we’re going to get more detailed, maybe explore something further. I think. Why can’t we just say that? It doesn’t make me as nuts as “reaching out” but still who is fooling who? Does anyone really know what we’re “drilling down’ to? And how will we know when we get there? Exactly.

Does anyone know what this bird is?

A running friend, a year younger then me, is retiring in two weeks. She’s doing it for all the right reasons, her job is stressful, too much travel, and her parents who live near are getting older and need more assistance. I’m happy for her. She says she might have to reenter the work force sometime in the future but I sincerely hope she doesn’t have to do that, I hope she gets to enjoy a long happy time with her folks and that they thrive under her attention.

Hungry!

Katie and I are going camping at a real campground far to the north of us in a couple of weeks. It’s been cold here…really cold for this time of year. I’m starting to worry about sleeping in a tent for two nights further north. How many blankets can I pack, how many layers of clothes can I sleep in. And last time I tried to camp when it was this cold Katie wouldn’t settle down. I’ve seen doggie sleeping bags but I’m pretty sure she’s not going to sleep in one. I think I need a backup plan. I should have booked a weekend in August!

Mr. Rose Breasted.

So that has pretty much emptied my mind. I hope you could follow. Or not. Totally up to you. Me? I’m going to try to get through another day in the business at the end of the month.

Taking a walk.

The weekend can’t come soon enough.

See you later!

May 19, 2014
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: Work of Art

In Detroit, a work of art for the WordPress photo challenge:

May 17, 2014
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

WordPress photo challenge: Work of Art

This week’s challenge is Work of Art. The post says art can be anything, from the painting you love to the sculpture your five year old made in kindergarten.

I’ve been thinking about this and wonder if it can’t involve more. Dance is art isn’t it?

So when I saw a poster for the Bow Wow Motor City Freestyle Dog show happening this weekend only a few miles from me I thought…..Huh! Dance+Dogs = Art! Right?

I got to the event early this morning and spent a fun hour watching people and their dogs run through their routines in front of judges.

The people seemed nervous. The dogs? Not so much.

There was much applause and smiles.

The venue wasn’t exactly photogenic, and of course the dancers were preforming for the judges more than for me. Still, I think in the end you have to agree that dogs, people, music and dance is one fun way to express a form of art.

See a couple of my favorites from other photographers looking for art here, here, and especially here. Me? I’m still looking for the perfect photo to express art…stay tuned.

May 15, 2014
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

The also rans for photo challenge: On the move photos

Moving on out.

This week’s photo challenge was ‘on the move’ and you all saw my pick from my weekend mini adventure to one of my favorite parks. I like that photo from a composition and color standpoint, but there was a lot of other ‘moving’ going on that Mother’s Day morning at the park. So I’ll show you a few of the photos that didn’t make the cut. Just for fun. Click on any of the photos to see them larger and with more detail.

It’s not that I don’t like these. Some of them make me smile, and some seem sort of artistic. And it’s not that these disappointed me or weren’t what I was looking for. In fact most of them are exactly what I was looking for when I headed out to the park that morning. It’s just that when I saw the one I used I just had that gut ‘this is the one’ feeling. Though these make me smile they weren’t the one. You know?

You never really know when you head out to find a photograph how things will turn out. Sometimes when you have something specific in mind you discover a surprise that works even better. And sometimes you have no idea until you come home and look at everything just exactly what you found. That’s what makes it all so fun…the adventure, the chase for the perfect image, the surprise when something unexpected jumps out at you, and the satisfaction when you capture more than you hoped you’d find.

But I’m rambling.

When I went to the park I expected to see a lot of runners, and walkers and people on bikes and maybe even skates. And I was not disappointed.

Daughter daddy day.

There was all of that and more. Individuals working out, focused on their heart rates and stride lengths, foot turns.

It was a really big hill.

And friends talking nonstop as they walked or ran together.

Catching up on events

People like me meandering around with cameras.

Really big camera.

Or just meandering.

It’s a wonderful park full of people finding their space, breathing deeply, living fully.

Riding together.

It’s one of my most favorite places in the world. Soon I’ll show you some of the nature I found there. But for now, enjoy one more shot of someone on the move.

Because I liked the bottom of her shoes.