When you get up close you can see all the detail.
Tag Archives: fun stuff
Healing woods
The park overlooks Davis Lake, only a couple miles from my house!
Katie here. I noticed mama was sort of sad lately so I thought I should take things into my own paws. This morning, on this last day of the calendar summer, I told her not to turn on that stupid TV and instead I suggested we take a walk in the woods.
I bundled her into my chariot, and I let her drive, because you know my mama loves to drive, and we went over to a park not too far away. It’s a new park to me, but I’ve been reading mama’s blog when she’s sleeping, and I see that she’s been there a couple of times without me!
Let’s get going mama!
Well! I don’t know what she was thinking, but I guess I’ll forgive her now that she’s taken me to explore it myself.
I knew that once I got her into the woods she’d feel better, and she says it worked. She got all artsy, taking pictures of the wildflowers that are blooming, and the morning light shining through the trees.
Morning sun.
Mama says you can’t help but feel better when you’re out in nature. I let her take as long as she wanted, and we walked really slow up and down hills. She stopped a lot and that was fine with me, it let me get extra sniffing time. Win/win!
I had to wait for her a lot. That was OK with me.
The only thing I have to say is that when mama’s focused on her camera you should stay away from her feet because she actually stepped on me! I told her off and then I made sure to pay better attention to where she was.
The colors were beautiful!
Mostly we were in the shade, but we did explore down near the wetlands. The flowers were so pretty, all tangled up together. And see down in the lower right, that monarch butterfly? Mama was happy that she got him in the picture too.
So pretty!
Mostly she took pictures of stuff that is not me. I was OK with that this time. I figured she should do what she needed to do to put a smile on her face. I didn’t even argue much when she said we should turn around and head back to the car. The sun was higher and it was getting hot anyway.
Mama liked the shapes of the tree trunks too.
And now that I know about this park I’ll get her to take me again soon. Maybe after it gets a little cooler with a bit of a breeze to make my fur blow. I think that’s my best look.
I can look beautiful in any circumstance.
Oh…and remember that I’m supposed to tell you about our trip back from up north last week? Well, next time mama isn’t paying attention I’ll do that.
A girl has to be strategic, you know.
Such a pretty place.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Delicate
While Katie and I were up north we happened across a wildflower garden that had attracted a lot of monarch butterflies.
You may or may not know that the monarchs are endangered and oh so delicate. It was good to see many of them enjoying the garden on the shores of Lake Michigan.
I felt privileged to have been there while they were lunching.
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Sculpture
Yesterday, during our last day of adventuring, Katie and I stopped for a few minutes in Mackinaw City, located at the northern tip of the lower peninsula of Michigan. There’s a 5 mile bridge between the lower and upper peninsula of our state, built in the 50s, and in the park at the base of the bridge is a sculpture dedicated to the iron workers that worked on the bridge as it was being built.
The sculpture of the iron worker showcases many of the tools needed to do the work, the details making it particularly interesting. When we saw it we just knew it would be perfect for Cee’s challenge this week!
How to smash a whole lot of stuff into one weekend.
I’m retired, so one day is pretty much like another. Weekends have no real significance, and Monday is now my favorite day of the week because most of you go back to work and I don’t have to.
Welcome to the 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise!
I know. That’s just cruel.
But then again sometimes weekends are filled with so many fun things that I actually am sorry to see them end. Like this past one.
It started out with me volunteering on a campaign for a woman who is running for Congress in my district. Our district has been represented in Congress by one party for as far back as I can remember. This year there’s a serious contender, a woman with military experience, who has worked for the Pentagon and was willing to sit with my husband and I for over an hour discussing truck safety issues.
It’s unique.
She’s got my vote.
So, though I am not political and have never worked on a campaign before, Saturday morning found me sitting in a small stuffy room with several other people my age, all of us peering through our bifocals at our laptops as a young campaign worker explained the data entry project we volunteered to help with.
Good to have a matching umbrella to ward off the sun.
She was so patient with us as we fumbled through connecting to their WiFi, stumbled over the password, then tried to understand the data entry program. Never once did she roll her eyes, though I have to admit I did at least once.
Lots of color and detail.
Turns out she had just graduated from high school, and was taking a gap year before she went to college just to work on this campaign. Amazing. She was nineteen and had the ability to make us not feel stupid when we asked questions as we worked through the huge pile of reports filed with information from volunteers out canvasing neighborhoods.
It wasn’t restricted to just cars.
Her enthusiasm was contagious and we willingly worked past the time we originally committed to get the job done.
And to reward myself for sitting in that small room straining my eyes for hours I took myself to the Woodward Dream Cruise that was happening in a town not so far away.
There was plenty for sale if you caught the car bug.
If you’re asking what that is, well, you’re not from around here.
In the old days, on Friday and Saturday nights the locals would drive their muscle cars up and down Woodward Avenue, through and between several towns. These days, for one weekend every August, people come from all over the country, some bringing their antique muscle cars, to do the same.
Muscle from the old days.
The streets are lined with people who enjoy watching the beautiful cars go by. Parking lots are filled with more of the vehicles.
Lots of money in this lot next door to the Porsche dealership.
They’re everywhere.
Back in the neighborhood a few blocks away from the main drag.
I fell in love with this pair of vehicles.
There’s a sort of elegance that most cars today lack. I guess we’re more functional and less stylish these days.
I enjoyed wandering around, though I walked less than one mile down Woodward Avenue, and spent maybe an hour there. I loved taking pictures of old cars, the lines so beautiful, the colors so vibrant.
Hard to miss this one!
Anyway. That was Saturday. Sunday a college friend and I went kayaking at my favorite park.
Spending Sunday morning on a lake. Perfect.
We rented kayaks there, for only $8 an hour. We told the (very) young lady there we’d be out for an hour at most, after all we were old. She smiled politely.
Pretty.
We were out for 2 hours and I’m not even sore this morning. Pretty good for a couple of old broads!
Two hours later the skies began to cloud.
And I slept out in the backyard in the tent all weekend too, getting geared up to take at least one camping trip this summer…before summer slides away!
Katie says she hasn’t gone on one camping trip all summer. She says that’s unacceptable. I have to agree.
Stay tuned.
These looked fun too, maybe next time!
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Mirror images or reflections
Many years ago I was visiting a friend up in Northport, Michigan. We were out taking pictures, mostly in the woods and along the lake shore. But we also stopped in town where I noticed this interesting shop window and grabbed a shot without even leaving the car.
Can you find the reflection?
The farm connection
The perfect campsite; shade but no mud!
Saturday, August 11 was supposed to be a perfect night to view the annual Perseid meteor shower. I debated where to go to watch the sky light up, while also being close enough to Ann Arbor, a city about an hour south of me, to attend a production of West Side Story with my aunt and out-of-town cousins.
But what was the perfect location?
Why, the farm where my mom grew up; the place I, as a kid, hung out in barns playing with the farm cats, or pretended to drive a tractor down the lane, while sitting on my uncle’s lap.
The backs of some of the barns, across a soybean field.
I have so many special memories of the farm and my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my cousins.
Morning sun makes the barns glow.
So I was grateful to get permission to camp Saturday and Sunday nights near the back of the farm, in what used to be the orchard. Today it’s a beautiful mowed area with a mulberry tree, beautiful oak trees and a couple of very old pear trees, heavy with fruit. The whole area is surrounded by soybean fields, giving me long vistas to watch the sky.
Morning light on a misty soybean field.
If only the sky would cooperate. I had high hopes as I watched the sun set behind a neighboring barn.
Sunset on the first evening.
Saturday night I saw one meteor, just as I stuck my head out of the tent about 11:00 p.m. I set up the camera and messed with the settings for a bit.
There were more planes than meteors . There are two planes in this shot.
Behind me I could hear thunder. Above me the sky was rapidly becoming cloud covered, the weather front directly overhead.
Clouds begin to encroach on my night.
I ducked back into the tent moments before the first rain hit, and then listened as the storm wound up to pouring rain and gusty winds. At one point I considered running for the car, but figured I’d get soaked just getting out of the tent.
The storm pushed away around 1:30 in the morning and I settled in to sleep. No more sky watching for the rest of that night.
Sunday morning was damp with fog. Everything was dripping but the sunrise was pretty.
Sunrise, spectacular in a quiet sort of way.
I spent the day with visiting cousins, catching up, enjoying meals, and the production of West Side Story.
A pretty nice set for the story of the Jets and the Sharks.
By early evening I was heading back to my camp hoping for a re-do of the night before. It turns out they had rain while I was gone, and steam was rising up from the ground while water dripped from the trees. A little after 9 p.m. I could see ground fog coming my way across the soybean fields. Soon my entire campsite was surrounded in white mist.
Still, the sky seemed clear.
I tried again, but the fog and lights from the city made most of the stars disappear. Mostly what was visible was a planet to the south. So I worked with that for a little bit and then tucked myself into my tent and slept the rest of the night listening to the night noises.
See that planet up there above the tent? There’s a star or two too.
Monday morning arrived dripping wet. I wandered down the lane toward the barns I remember so well. It was early and I didn’t want to disturb the tenants living in the old farmhouse.
Lots of roof lines.
I quietly walked through the wet grass remembering playing in the corn crib, remembering the pigs streaming out of the barn doors, remembering where there once was a watering trough, a fence. A gate.
Ingenuity.
So many memories.
No I didn’t see a lot of meteors shooting across the sky, just three total over the two nights. But that’s alright. As I packed up the soggy tent and headed home, I was grateful for the connection to my mom on her birthday, and grateful for two nights on the farm.
A good couple of nights on the farm.
A big thanks to my cousin for graciously allowing me to camp in the old orchard of the farm he now owns. Thanks to him, too, for keeping the farm in the family and preserving so many memories for all of us.
The whole experience was priceless.
An original fence post.
A photo a week challenge: Attitude
Angry bird
Nancy Merrill Photography is sending out challenges now, and when I saw this week’s I knew I had one particular image that showed a certain amount of attitude.
On the way there and back
On my way up to the Pigeon River State Forest, three hours away from home, I drove through some of my favorite farm country. Both on the drive up and the drive home four days later I was lucky enough to witness clouds building above beautiful farm country.
I knew you’d want to see (who doesn’t want to look at barns, right?) so I put together a little slide show.
And even though I know these pink flowers are not native, and are in fact, invasive I couldn’t help but stop and grab a few photos because they’re just so darn pretty.
Pretty but invasive.
How can this be invasive?
Change Is Hard 