fun stuff | Change Is Hard

May 10, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Katie’s perfect day

Hi there everybody!

Katie here. Bet you’ve missed hearing from me haven’t you! Sometimes my mama forgets I’m a princess and need to talk to my subjects regularly. She’s sort of ditsy like that you know.

So anyway. I got her up this morning at 6 a.m. I tried to get her up at 5:30 but she told me to go away. So I did for a few minutes. I can be patient if I have to, but not forever, you know? So after we were up she started getting stuff done, like she made humming bird food, and she cooked some chicken (and no I didn’t get any) and she did some laundry and she went to the grocery store and then we went out front where I supervised her while she started spring weeding.

Mama filled this cart up with weeds.

Mama says she really appreciates me getting her up so early because otherwise she’d never have gotten all that done before lunch! I figure if I get her up about 4:00 tomorrow morning she’ll be even more appreciative.

And then you know what she did in order to say thank you to me? Yes indeed, I bet you know already!

This is my park.

She took me to my favorite park! Of course I had to sit around and get my photograph taken in all the yellow flowers. We do this every single year. Except for last year. Last year mama got to the park a little late and all the yellow flowers were puffy things that made me sneeze. She says this year she’s trying to be more organized.

We had such a great time at the park! The weather was beautiful and no one else was out there! We walked all the way around, and I even stood on this stupid bench for her so you could see the little lake in the background. I’m cute aren’t I. I practice being cute all the time when they aren’t looking.

See how pretty it is here?

Then we got home and mama made me stay inside while she and daddy went out and did lots more weeding. I wanted to stay inside anyway to rest my eyes you know, after being out in the park and stuff.

It’s exhausting being perfect.

OH! And I almost forgot! Mama bought a new tent and I helped her put it up this evening! I don’t think we’re sleeping in it tonight, she’s just letting it ‘air out’ whatever that means.

This goes up pretty easy with my help.

I think it’s pretty cool, I ran right in as soon as it was up, even though none of my camping stuff, like my blankets and my pillows, are in there yet.

Did I tell you that mama and I are going to go camping at a State Park up north sometime? She made reservations for us, I just can’t remember when. The calendar sort of confuses me. I think every day should be a Saturday, don’t you?

Welcome to MY tent!

So that’s the story on my perfect day. We have a whole new day tomorrow too! I can’t wait. But I really need to get some sleep. I might not be able to get mama up so early tomorrow if I don’t get to bed soon.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there tomorrow! We hope you have as perfect a day as we had today! Spend it in the sun with people you love.

That’s my plan, yes it is. See you guys later,

Katie-girl.

Made you smile!

May 3, 2014
by dawnkinster 30 Comments

WordPress photo challenge: Spring

While I still seem unable to follow the WordPress photo challenge series, I am grateful that Heather sent me this week’s challenge. Especially because the topic is spring. I’ve been encouraged by the signs of spring around here in the last couple of weeks. It’s still cold though, and today the 46 degrees (7.77 C) is augmented with rainy drizzle and clouds. It didn’t feel much like spring, but it wasn’t winter either, and after all…anything is better than this past winter, right?

So I headed out on a photographic adventure. I just drove a bit and thought about what things make me believe that spring is finally here. Of course the red-winged blackbird arrival signals spring, as does the goldfinch changing from olive drab to brilliant yellow. But I’ve shown you those before, and I wanted this to be different.

I hadn’t gotten very far along the road when I saw a bit of yellow green far off among the still leafless hardwoods. And I knew. Spring can sneak up on a person when they’re fully involved in their lives, commuting to and from work, filling the weekends up with chores. And then one morning as you’re driving you see a simple willow tree turning yellow green long before the rest of the trees bud out. And there it is. Spring.

So this morning I headed out to a local park, hoping I’d find what I was looking for; the brilliant green of hope set against the dark trunks of tall trees still hanging onto winter.

It wasn’t long until I rounded a corner and found it.

I spent a wonderful few minutes just enjoying the quiet and the water and the green. Then I explored deeper into the woods and found more hints of spring.

But that’s another post.

April 30, 2014
by dawnkinster 6 Comments

It’s been a busy week

Have you ever had so much to talk about that you can’t find the beginning? Can’t sort out your thoughts, put down a linear storyline? That’s me right now. I can’t tell if I’m so tired I can’t think straight or if there’s just so much jumbled up in my brain that it’s tangled in on itself and is stuck there.

The last blog post was a week ago and it’s not as if I haven’t done anything since. In fact I traveled to North Carolina for a long weekend to visit family. A family that was celebrating a wedding.

Newlyweds

It was a big day for everyone, but especially for the special couple who got married at the county courthouse on a sunny, windy Friday afternoon.

I wish them a long and happy marriage filled with joy and adventure, self reflection and growth. I know that marriage isn’t always joyful but I think if the partners always keep the other person’s happiness in mind it’s easier.

Heading to the courthouse.

So my advice is to concentrate on each other. At this time in your lives you can afford to slow down and take the time to learn about each other, to explore the world with each other and see how differently it looks from another person’s eyes.

Mostly just enjoy the company, the feeling that someone has your back, that someone is sharing life’s experiences with you. That’s what it’s all about.

Go forth and love.

Celebrate

April 21, 2014
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

Greening of the park

Katie here! Did you have a good weekend? A wonderful Easter? A beautiful Passover? Mama says she’s glad she didn’t invite anyone to dinner because she just slept and slept and slept all morning! I could hardly make her get off the sofa until later in the afternoon when my Dad went outside and started up the lawn mower. Well. That got me barking and Mama decided we should go to the park. Wonder how that’s all related.

So anyway.

Guess what? The burned up park is already green and it’s only been a week! We had the park almost all to ourselves…guess everyone else was home eating Easter dinner.

Mama says here’s a reason we don’t go down the hill and explore the train track:

Hey Mama! What’s THAT?

I didn’t like it one bit when that train went by. I barked and barked at it until it ran away. Got to protect my Mama that’s for sure. I’m good like that.

Get out of here train!

The rest of our walk around the park was pretty uneventful. My Mama made me stand on this stupid log like she does every year. But since I get cheese I don’t mind.

I’ll pose for cheese.

We practiced recall too, once. I got cheese again…and then somehow my Mama lost my treats. So that was that.

Cheese Mama?

No more working for me! I did spend some quality time in the shade under a picnic table getting a drink while my Mama watched the pond. That was nice.

Chillin in the shade

Then we went home and I took another nap.

Yep it was another great day!

zzzzzzz…

April 20, 2014
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

WordPress photo challenge

For quite awhile I’ve been getting photo challenge prompts from WordPress on Friday afternoons. They have been so much fun; I looked forward to them eagerly as Friday mornings went by and I’d check while I was still at work, eager to find out what the current week’s challenge would be. Then I’d think about it on the long commute and generally by the time I made our driveway I’d have an idea.

I haven’t received a photo prompt in two weeks, and it looks like maybe there haven’t been any. I’ve always wondered who comes up with the challenges and where they got their ideas and how long they could keep it up. But, still, it makes me very sad to think there will be no more ideas coming. Especially since I couldn’t find what I was looking for on the last challenge “threshold.”

I never did post the photo I thought I might use for that challenge. It’s a stretch, but here you go.

I think of the sky between the old building and the new building as the threshold between time.

This was on the University of Michigan campus, I was wandering around and happened to glance over my shoulder and saw the two eras standing in the bright sunshine.

So there you have it…..’threshold.’ Sort of.

I’m going to miss the photo prompts. I hope they come back. In the meantime if anyone has a challenge for me…well…I’m up for it.

April 16, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Weekend v.s. Wednesday

April 14, 2014
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

Brahms and magic

Saturday evening + the Michigan Theater + the Ann Arbor Symphony = magic. Guaranteed. And even though I knew that going in I was still blown away from the start of this concert until the last thundering applause faded after the encore.

I’m no classical music scholar, I never took a theory class, didn’t play beyond high school until I reconnected through the community band, but I know when I’ve experienced something extraordinary. That happens every time I hear the Ann Arbor Symphony, but this weekend was beyond any expectations I could have had.

Saturday night it was all about Brahms, starting with Academic Festival composed by Brahms in response to being nominated for an honorary doctorate degree. The piece includes several student drinking songs, woven through the music. Who knew that composers back in the mid 1800’s had a sense of humor?

The second piece was The Black Swan: Intermezzo in A Major. What a stunningly beautiful piece of music. Transcripted for orchestra by Bright Sheng, a University of Michigan professor, the piece is based on Brahms’ composition for piano. It’s so beautiful you just have to listen to at least a little of it. Lush, contemplative, you can’t help but let the cares of the week slide off your shoulders as you let the music wash over you.

The last piece before intermission was Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A Minor, played by two amazing young musicians, Itamar Zorman on violin and David Requiro on cello. They played seamlessly, often one began the phrase and the other completed it, almost as if there was a single instrument. Such talent. They so obviously loved doing this piece, and we loved hearing it. Mr. Requiro said it was an ‘indulgent’ thing to play because the first movement begins after only a few measures with a beautiful cello solo. My favorite movement, though, was the third. Listen to a little bit of it; how playful it is. I had a stupid grin on my face through the whole thing.

And as wonderful as all that was, after intermission I fell in love with Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. Though they say Brahms was a bit intimidated by Beethoven you can hear him pay homage to the other composer in this piece. It’s beautiful, from the suspenseful beginning to the triumphant conclusion. And the Ann Arbor Symphony pulled every bit of beauty out of the music. They left nothing in reserve, put it all out there on the concert stage. The audience didn’t even wait for the last note to drift away, the applause started immediately and continued until we convinced them to play us one last encore.

Ann Arbor, you have a gem in your symphony. Every concert is astounding and leaves us shaking our heads in amazement. Even if you don’t think you like or understand this kind of music take a moment and listen to a little bit through the links above. And if that intrigues you go to one concert of your symphony next season, try a little taste, open yourself up to the possibilities. You’ll have an experience you won’t forget. It’s so much more wonderful live and your symphony is..well…there’s no other word…just magical. Attend a concert next fall, let the music take you away, overwhelm you, transform your soul if only for one evening. Go listen to the Ann Arbor Symphony and experience the magic yourself.

You won’t regret it – I promise.

April 12, 2014
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Park burn

Katie here. I bet you’re getting tired of hearing from me every weekend, ey? I just wanted to tell you that they burned my park between when I was there last weekend and today! HUH!

Look at all the burned grass!

My mama says they do that every other year or so, it helps keep invasive plants away. I don’t know. I just know it smells bad.

It’s a beautiful day here in Michigan and my mama took me for a quick trip to my park after we cleaned up the deck and sat out there for a bit. I was, as usual pretty excited.

It was windy. This is not my most flattering angle mama.

Along the walk to the back of the park I stepped on a bunch of big burs and started limping. My mama is very observant and checked out my foot right away and found 4 big burrs tangled in my fur and running down right to my pads! She pulled them all out and I felt lots better, but when we got way back to the point furthest from the car I decided to limp again. Just to see what she’d do. She checked my foot again and didn’t see anything, but geeze, she wasn’t wearing her glasses so how much did she think she was going to see?

I decided I’d refuse to walk at all. I do that sometimes when I feel like messing with her. Then I asked her to pick me up so she did and we walked a little like that, but it got hot pretty fast, all my fur and her sweatshirt and all. So she put me down and told me I needed to walk. I did a little and then I stopped again. She sighed and picked me up for awhile. But it’s a long way back to the car and she said I needed to suck it up and walk some more. Then you know what she did? She dropped the leash and went on without me! HEY MAMA!

She walked up to the top of the next hill and turned around and you know where I was? Right in back of her that’s where I was! She can’t get away from me! Na-uh. So we walked a little bit more and then when I refused again she just left me again. After awhile she turned around and said “KATIE! COME!” just like in school and I ran really fast with all my furs flowing and sat in front of her just like I’m supposed to and she gave me a treat!

Well! After that I just walked along with her like a good girl, no more messing with her cause this time she got me good! Mamas are sometimes smarter than you think.

Anyway, it’s a good thing mama took pictures of the field of grass last weekend…

Last weekend’s grassy field.

…because this weekend it’s all black.

Smelly black field.

But it will be green soon, the grass is already coming up.

Bits of green.

See you guys next weekend I’m sure. Maybe she’ll take me somewhere new! I’m off to take a nap now.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

See you later!

April 9, 2014
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Come on summer

Katie says:

Let’s get moving people!

I think my park ranger people should set these picnic tables up and get this summer started!

And guess what? Guess what, guess what, guess what?!!!

Mama made a reservation for us at Hartwick Pines State Park! For two whole nights in June! She’s got a campsite in the woods and there are trails for us to explore!

You remember I had so much fun when we went camping at a real campground last summer, right? Well, this will be even better! I can hardly wait! She says we can explore stuff, and people watch, and go for a walk, and then we can take a nap and then we can do it all over again!

I am so excited!

April 8, 2014
by dawnkinster 8 Comments

Birds at the park

Sunday afternoon I went to a park without Katie. Don’t tell her, she’ll never forgive me. I needed some time to myself and I wanted to walk on some nature trails where they don’t allow dogs.

At this park there is a heron rookery, and the herons were all paired up on their nests high in the oak trees out in the middle of a shallow lake. (Click on the pictures to see more detail.)

There’s a boardwalk built through the lily pads and cattails where you can sit and watch the herons, and later in the season the egrets on their nests. The most exciting time is when the youngsters begin to explore and test their wings.

But right now it looks like the nests are all occupied by pairs of herons, I don’t know if there are eggs in the nests yet, but certainly there are a number of pairs getting ready to be parents.

As I was watching from the boardwalk there arose a screeching to the left – sandhill cranes make such distinctive sounds. A pair of them flew right toward us on the boardwalk, then across in front of us and on into the marsh to the right. This is where I got the hugely cropped photo that’s currently my blog header. In the photo below you can see the legs of the bird as he/she descends into the cattails. It was so cool!

THEN…on the way home I saw a pair of sandhill cranes feeding in a field near the road. I turned around and went back. They accommodated me and posed for quite awhile.

Aren’t they beautiful!

I had a great day on my own. Katie had a great day with her Dad.

Win win.

🙂

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: fun stuff