Last week we were running through the park in shorts.
But this is Michigan, so this week is different. Can you guess what my state of mind was when I snapped this?
The weather outside is frightful.
You would be correct.
For other interpretations of ‘state of mind’ check the link. Or visit a few of my favorites (so far) here, here and here.
Seems obvious to me that the ground hog lied back at the beginning of this month.
Pretty though
There’s magic behind these curtains.
Forty-four years ago I played in the pit orchestra for our high school spring musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. I was sixteen. I remember long rehearsals and the weekend performances like they happened yesterday and coincidentally yesterday was opening night at my local high school’s production of the same piece. I couldn’t resist going, especially since a number of the kids that play with our community band were playing in the pit for this production.
It was magic.
The musicians were stupendous, the acting was great, the voices strong and sure. I remembered it all, the lines, the songs, the jokes, even obscure bits of music blending into the background. I remembered Billy Bigelow the out of work carousel barker, and Julie Jordan the mill worker who fell in love but who were too scared to admit it. I remember Carrie and her beau Enoch Snow the uptight fisherman. I remembered the bad choices that were made and how even in the worst of times people pulled together and eventually did the right thing.
I was transported.
Such talent we have among us! And they loved what they were doing so much that their enthusiasm spread through the auditorium. I kept seeing my own classmates in their faces, yet they interpreted the piece as their own. They earned the standing ovation at the conclusion and you could see the glee on their faces as they accepted our applause.
School musicals, band and orchestra concerts, debate team competitions, robotics challenges, sports events, art showings, these all showcase the best of what these young adults have to offer. They deserve to be supported. The auditorium should have been sold out last night. I hope it is tonight and Saturday and Sunday too.
Even if you don’t have kids in your local school district check out what’s going on there. I bet every high school in the country is putting on a spring musical right about now.
Take a chance.
Disrupt your usual evening of watching television, arguing politics, doing laundry or reading a book and head out to see what the kids are putting together. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Those of you that live locally, there’s still five more performances here. It’s stopped snowing, there’s no excuse not to go. Let’s sell out that auditorium.
Attend a high school musical and prepare to be transported.
Good job!
Katie here.
As you might know I’m a sheltie princess, and we shelties love snow. We come from a land far away that is very cold and whenever we get a chance to play in the snow we’re very very happy.
At least that’s the official story.
Maybe I’m just getting older but I have to tell you this storm we’re getting right now hasn’t been that much fun for me! It’s been snowing for over 24 hours and there’s a lot of snow on the ground. My dad went out three times yesterday to clear the driveway. I don’t know why they don’t just wait till April when it would all melt by itself. Humans don’t always have common sense, you know?
Remind me why we’re out here mama?
Anyway, this morning my mama and I went out back to fill the bird feeders. I like to help her with that, mostly because I like to sniff all around under the feeders. There’s lots of good sniffing under there, I can tell you.
This morning mama had to shovel a path across the deck just to get to the feeders. I barked and barked at the shovel cause I don’t like it. Not one bit. But after she got to the steps she just went down them and over to the seed bin. Well! I had to go too, so I raced down the steps ….and got stuck at the bottom!
Uh oh!
The snow was deeper than I am tall! I couldn’t touch the ground and I couldn’t go anywhere and mama was laughing at me. I gave her the stink eye and she came over and picked me up and set me back on my feet and I scrambled back up the steps to the deck where I waited patiently for her to finish filling the feeders.
I’ll just stay up here mama.
When we got back inside mama went out the front door to clear up the driveway. I wanted to go with her. I go everywhere with my mama! But she said ‘no baby, you won’t like the snowblower. You don’t like the vacuum and this is just like that only it throws snowballs far away!”
Well!
I told her off! I love to run after snowballs! What was she thinking! But she still said no so I stayed inside and picked the snowballs off of my legs and left them all over the house to melt so that she could be pleasantly surprised when she stepped in ice cold water puddles later.
This is a fine mess I’m in.
She was outside a long time. And when she came back in she was covered in snow! She asked me if I wanted to see what the snowblower looked like, and maybe check out my poop room that she shoveled as well. So we wouldn’t have to go back out just as soon as she took her coat off she said. (I don’t know what she’s talking about. I always pick opportune moments to ask to go out.)
Doesn’t look like a vacuum mama!
Mama was right. I didn’t really like the snowblower thing. It was big and weird looking. But I sat next to it cause she asked me to. I am nothing if not an obedient dog. You believe that right? Of course you do. A princess does not lie.
Not often anyway.
She made me sit behind daddy’s truck too. I don’t get it. She’s always telling me to stay away from cars and trucks and then she wants me to pose next to one. I guess it was pretty obvious this one wasn’t going anywhere soon.
Are we going to go on an adventure mama?
Here it’s not even noon yet and I’m already just exhausted by all this snow. I think I’ll just take a little nap now. Mama says it’s snowing harder and she or daddy will have to go back out and clean up that driveway again. I don’t know why. I think they should follow my lead and take a nap.
zzzzzzzzzz
I hope you all get your naps in too, and be very careful if you’re driving. Cause I, the princess, want you all to be safe!
It’s a winter wonderland!
Here in lower Michigan we’ve been confused by the seasons. It’s supposed to be cold and snowy in February. In fact this time last year we had wind, drifts of snow, and frigid below zero temperatures.
So you can imagine our joy at the temperatures this February. And the lack of snow. Sure there are piles of it in the shadowy woods or where city trucks dump their street slush. But mostly, around here, it feels as though we dodged the winter bullet.
Temperatures in the 40’s F (4.44 C) had people running around town like it was the middle of summer. Out at the park I actually stalked a runner for this photo challenge.
I had just finished my own 3.5 mile walk/run, and was climbing into my car for the ride home when I spotted him starting out. I loved that he was wearing shorts in February and that his shirt was bright green. So I shoved the car into gear and raced to a parking lot one mile down the road, where I leaped out and trotted a ways up the path, positioning myself on a curve, pretending to take pictures of the dried up winter lake, when in fact what I wanted was him running in shorts in February in Michigan.
Warm run in February.
To show you that ‘seasons’ can’t always be predicted, and staying flexible is always important.
You can see other interpretations of this challenge at the original post. Or visit a few of my favorites here, here and here.
What season is it at your house? Please share with us, especially if it’s tropical. Because here in Michigan we know for sure that this little respite will be brief and winter will be back with a vengeance soon. So we’ll live vicariously through your photos until June or so when we can enjoy our own summer sun.
Just ignore that pile of snow.
Fun stuff.
Almost two weeks ago I showed you all the things people were doing in the middle of a Michigan winter out at my favorite park. And I mentioned that there were also a number of artists painting there that day, so many that I figured they deserved their own post.
And now two weeks have passed in a flash.
So before more time slips through my fingers, let me show some very talented people at work capturing their vision of my favorite park. They were spread out near the nature center, some along the bike/running path…
Painters and runners share space.
…some tucked further into the woods.
Painting in the woods.
Most were focused on parts of the lake, fringed with cattails and surrounded by bare trees against the brilliant blue sky.
There’s beauty everywhere.
It was cold that day, and they were painting while dressed in heavy coats or hunting gear, scarfs, gloves, hats.
Staying warm with art.
But the cold certainly didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. Their work was beautiful. I wanted to stop and talk to each of them about what they were doing, but they seemed very intense. So I admired from afar.
Something else I admired from afar was this guy. Or girl.
Our national bird.
This photo is cropped 3 times, the bald eagle was sitting in the top of a heron rookery far out in the middle of a lake. I’ve never seen one this far south, and I wouldn’t have seen this one if he or she hadn’t flown in with a huge stick while I was across the street watching artists. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. There was a fringe of trees between us, and I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. So I ran back to the nature boardwalk and looked through my long lens.
I still couldn’t believe it.
I stayed a long time watching the eagle watch all of us. And if it weren’t for the cold I might be there still. I felt privileged to have witnessed the low flight of this bird, and its sweep up to the top of that tree. Eagles are very special in our family and I’m so glad to have seen this one. Another photographer said a pair of them was around that lake all last summer, though I never saw or heard anything about eagles being there. I’ll keep a sharper eye out this summer and keep you posted.
An incredible day captured.
Meanwhile…the artists were packing up and headed home to warm up and reminisce about their lovely day at the park. I decided I would too.
Maybe someday I’ll try oil painting. I think it would be fun, but probably frustrating, to capture my version of things I see. If I give it a shot you guys will be the first to know. And I hope I see the artists and my bald eagle out at the park again this spring and summer. I’ll let you know about that too.
Waiting and watching.
It’s a long time till summer picnics.
The weather lately has been vacillating between cold snow and warm rain. Sometimes it all collides and we get this.
Katie here. Mama says I can say Happy Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my friends, which includes every one of you! Here in the United States February 14 is a day that people give each other cards and chocolates and flowers and other mushy stuff to show their love. I don’t know if those of you outside the United States have a similar holiday, but if you do I’d like to read about it!
My calendar girl look.
In fact, I’d like to know what each of you do for Valentine’s Day no matter where you live because here at my house no one is getting me anything! I think that’s unjust, especially since I’m a princess. What’s the point of being a princess anyway if gifts are not regularly bestowed on me? Maybe in comments you can give mama some good ideas about how she should be celebrating me on this special day.
Meanwhile I am sending my love to my boyfriend Reilly the Cowspot Dog. I wanted to send him something special but I couldn’t figure out anything special enough for my best boy. I hope he’s OK with just having my undying love. I think we’re star crossed doggies, Mr. Reilly and I, as we’ve never met but we will someday!
So everybody, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I know I will have a great day even if I don’t get any presents, because I’ll spend it with my mama and daddy.
Don’t tell them I said so, but I don’t really need anything else but them.
Mama makes me look silly!
Several years ago a friend and I were visiting an art gallery.
Times two.
I snapped this picture of her, never noticing until I saw the shot later that she was standing in a similar pose to the piece of art hanging behind her.
Sometimes life imitates art unconsciously.
Here, here and here are a few of my favorites, so far, from this week’s challenge.
Sunday afternoon at the heron rookery.
Well, yes it does get cold here, and it snows too. Sometimes a lot. But seriously, we don’t sit in our homes and mope — we get out into the fresh air and enjoy it. It’s the only way to get through the winter, to not let it get us down. Because yes it does get old.
But not this year, at least not here. Not yet.
I was out at my favorite park on Sunday and was amazed at all the activity. though I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was chilly and clouds were chasing the sun, but it was a beautiful day. So I thought I’d show you what people in Michigan do on a winter weekend. There was hardly any snow on the ground, and people didn’t want to waste a chance to enjoy some time outside.
Nice day for a long run.
This particular park is centered on a very large lake. There’s an eight mile (12.8k) bike/walk/run paved path around the lake, and many other miles of paths through the hills and fields including nature paths through the woods.
It’s incredibly beautiful no matter the season.
People were out doing everything you could imagine. Aside from the expected walking and running, it’s a perfect place for well socialized dogs to take their humans for an afternoon walk.
Let’s get going!
And the fishing is great too, no matter the season. Lots and lots of fisher people stand on the banks of the lake and catch their supper, as evidenced by the lures tangled in the high branches of a tree above the bike path.
Remnants from last summer.
But this time of year it’s all about ice fishing. I can’t say I understand that sport, but I fully support a person’s right to sit out on the cold lake staring at a hole in the ice waiting for a fish to strike. It’s gotta be fun for some people. Just not me.
It’s a chilly sport.
On this Sunday the weather was so warm that people were out riding their bikes…
Out for a spin.
…and even inline skating.
Faster than running, more exercise than biking.
It felt like spring, and I’m sure we all wish that winter was over. Of course we know it’s not — snow and cold is forecast for later this week. If the snow arrives you might not want to be out on skates or your bike, but you can still wander the nature trails and feed the birds.
Feeding the birds.
Yes there are signs out not to feed the wildlife, but enough people hold sunflower seeds out for the little birds that they now follow nature walkers around asking for a handout. It’s a special feeling to have a wild bird flit to your finger for an instant. Especially for young kids, and those of us still young at heart.
He weighs nothing at all.
Sunday there was also a large group of artists at the park, each painting their vision of the paradise that is this park. That was so special it’s going to have to go into it’s own blog. Stay tuned.
So that’s what people will do on a nice winter day at a beautiful public park way up here in Michigan. The next semi-sunny day you have during the rest of this winter head out to a park near you. I guarantee you’ll see something interesting and fun and maybe even beautiful.
Regardless of whether or not it’s cold or there is snow on the ground.
Running in shorts. In February in Michigan.
Spring fashion.
And then there are the advertisements.
Advertisers are paying $5 million for a 30 second ad to run during the game. Superbowl ads have gotten more and more creative over the years until now they are as much a draw to watch as the game itself. This year they’re already showing us bits and pieces of some of them, though many people want to wait until game day to see them for the first time. Sort of like the groom waiting until the wedding day to see the bride in her dress.
Brighten up any kitchen.
But even before the Superbowl I’ve begun to notice I don’t understand today’s television ads. For example, right now there’s some guy with a drum and cymbals strapped on his back, playing them with a line attached to his stomping foot while he’s also playing an accordion and singing (I guess it’s singing) something about how he loves to eat ‘pepperona.’ I had to see it several times to figure out he is advertising pepperoni that goes on pizza.
It’s obnoxious.
And there’s the two guys at the gym, each doing bicep curls, wearing tight shorts. As they banter the guy on the left gets more and more buff, curling more and more weight. I have no idea what they are selling.
It’s gross.
Equally annoying is an ad with a macho guy with some sort of wolf dog on the left v.s. a girly guy in golden light on the right. They are hawking cough drops.
I don’t know why.
Summer sport.
I hope with $5 million spent on each 30 second Superbowl advertisement that they make more sense, are less awkward, and certainly less obnoxious. And that it’s at least clear what they are selling.
I hope you all enjoy the game. Or whatever else you’re planning on doing with your Sunday.
(Photos on today’s blog are leftover mall ‘vibrant’ shots that didn’t make the cut. After all, everything there is meant to sell something too.)
Sweet.
