Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Michigan


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Camping objectives

Sometimes I go camping just to have a few days away from everyday responsibilities. Time to nap and read and snack and daydream.

Just one exit up the road from home.

Sometimes I go camping with a specific goal in mind. I’m hoping to get that perfect Milky Way image, or find a new bird to photograph, or see a part of the state I haven’t seen before.

My favorite site at this campground.

Last week, at the last minute, I got to reserve 3 nights in my favorite campsite at the local state park. It’s a spot where Katie and I camped many times. This trip I hoped to introduce Penny to campground noises.

“Did I hear something over there, mom?”

She’d been there for a couple visits last year, but it was all overwhelming to her, and even with her dad and me right there she was pretty nervous about all the people and cars and noisy trucks with trailers driving by.

“Hey! What’s my tent doing out here in the woods, mom?”

This year she’s older and wiser and a little bit calmer. Though she still looked when noisy things including people with their dogs walked by, she didn’t automatically come undone.

“I’ll just stay real close, OK mom?”

She was only visiting me for a few hours each day, and while she was there we took plenty of walks around the campground, letting her sniff the vacant spots…

“I approve of this one, mom.”

…and moving swiftly past those occupied.

“Nothing to see here, just protecting my bikes.”

She even got to walk past a couple of pitbulls and their flustered dad. She was a rockstar.

See them coming around the corner up there? Penny’s tail was already up in alarm and I didn’t notice them until they were much closer. She knew right away. She never barked, she just heeled with me right by them.

We spent about an hour on her second visit inside the tent as evening fell. I think she would have been fine spending the night in the tent if I had insisted. But she was a little restless after an hour and if I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to packing up in the morning with her on site.

“I guess this is OK mom. But daddy has air conditioning and a bed. Just sayin.”

It takes me an hour to pack up without the distraction of a curious dog. But next time, if she’s willing I think we’ll spend the night in the tent. Maybe she’ll begin to understand it’s all an adventure and mom’s got her back.

“Umm, excuse me mother, let me be clear. I’m not taking a shower.”

The other reason I jumped at a chance to camp at this site is the opportunity to photograph birds. Every time I’ve been at site 16 there have been birds flitting around. Their images are hard to capture, they’re not like Kensington birds, posing for treats.

A really poor image of a cardinal that swooped in and then out.

These birds are never happy when they stop by and you’re at their site. I sat for hours, still in my chair, camera ready, and didn’t catch a good look at one bird, though I heard redstarts and vireos and wrens all around me.

Mostly I got bird imposters like these brown leaves.

Then this guy bounced out of the underbrush.

A gorgeous brown thrush.

After looking at me he hopped up on a vine with his back to me. In a moment, though, he turned his head to make sure I got the shot, and then he took off.

“Did you get my good side, lady?”

I smiled, at least I got one decent image of a bird!

And then I noticed this little red squirrel looking a bit worse for wear. She skittered around the campsite and then disappeared.

A skinny little red squirrel.

While I’m looking for her, tossing a few blueberries in the direction she ran, a opportunistic chipmunk showed up, very happy with the blueberry offering.

“Hey lady! You got anything to spare?”

Meanwhile Ms. red squirrel, apparently a tired mom, was up in a tree at the edge of the campsite, happily chowing down on a nut.

Nom, nom, nom…

She was happy until she noticed the chipmunk was feasting on blueberries.

A special treat!

That seemed to make her very unhappy. She watched the chipmunk more carefully. I tossed a few more blueberries. She was conflicted.

“Wait! Those blueberries were for ME!”

And then she ran as fast as she could down that tree and back out into the site where she scored a blueberry of her own.

“That chipmunk got one, but he’s not going to get the rest!”

It all made me smile.

Camping generally makes me smile, even when it rains, which it inevitably does at least one day on every camping adventure. At least this time it was overnight. And in the morning the sun rose again.

Another beautiful morning.

Time to get packing and head home. A little fuzzy girl was waiting for me to provide her next adventure. She’s kind of demanding that way. I don’t mind.

Another adventure in the books.

Till next time, site 16. Thanks for the new memories.

Camping art.


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Penny says

Hi everybody! It’s me, your best girl Penny!

Mom gave me permission to write on her blog this time. She says she wasn’t even going to bring this up. And she doesn’t want to talk about it. So now it’s up to me.

You see mom and I have been working really, really hard on obedience. At first I tried my darndest to get her to be more obedient, but that wasn’t working, so I decided maybe I could get more treats if I tried to be more obedient myself.

A girl can grow intellectually even when she’s already full grown physically.

So anyway, mom and I have been practicing in my basement training room and out at a friend’s training barn. I like training a lot. When mom starts chopping up cheese I get all excited and run to the top of the basement stairs, ready to run down to my cheese training room as soon as mom turns the lights on down there.

Then mom and I went to a ‘fun’ run on Sunday, to see if what I am learning would translate to an obedience trial setting. Mom was pretty sure we’d do OK, maybe not perfect, but definitely OK.

Mom was wrong.

I didn’t like the noisy place with all the other dogs and when it was my turn I wanted to run somewhere safe, and I forgot how to heel and I certainly didn’t remember I was supposed to sit when mom stopped. Mom, for her part couldn’t read the signs right and was flustered with my inattention and tripped over her own feet.

And when it came to my recall, when I get to run to mom (I love running to mom) I decided it was safer if I just made myself as small as possible and sat very still. Very very still. On my behind. Not moving.

Even when mom moved closer and offered me cheese.

Mom says she was very discouraged and also worried about me because I was so scared and she felt bad for putting me into a scary situation.

But then!

The next day she took me to the groomer! What was she thinking. After that I got really mad at her and barked at her all the way home.

And then!

We went to my Rally class in my regular building last night and in between running rally courses mom took me to a back room and we heeled enthusiastically and I sat when she stopped and I did three different recalls almost perfectly.

So mom thinks I’m OK and not scared anymore. Which is good because the real obedience trial is this coming Saturday.

Mom says it’s very possible we will still NQ (Not qualify) but she says that’s OK as long as I’m not scared and get used to working in different places. She says this is not a sprint. She says it’s a marathon. I don’t even know what that means.

I’d like to remind mom that I’m still a puppy. (I’m going to milk that concept as long as possible!) And that I love her and daddy and I want to be a good girl. Sometimes I just need more time.

SO… please think about mom and me on Saturday afternoon!

PS: Pictures are stuff mom took of not me in my yard. Silly mom. I’m still the prettiest thing around.


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Magical

Almost a week ago now we had clear skies, no moon, and moderate temperatures. It was all perfect for a Milky Way photo shoot. So a photographer friend and I along with her daughter took a run up to the thumb of Michigan to find somewhere to spend the night under the stars.

Best to know where you are.

There’s a special barn up there, and I’ve always thought it might make a good Milky Way foreground.

This barn is “in” the town of Pigion.

We checked it out, both sides. The owner of the barn must have a sense of humor.

Open to interpretation.

But physically it wasn’t really faced in the correct direction for a Milky Way shoot that night. Maybe earlier in the season when the Milky Way will be further to the east. I’m keeping it in mind So we headed up toward Port Austin, near the point of Michigan’s thumb. We found a little roadside park with a small sandy beach.

The last light illuminates the log resting on the beach.

We decided to watch the sunset from there and then decide what to do. While we were watching the sun a small flock of cedar waxwings showed up, sitting in the dead tree near us and then flying out to catch bugs. The light was low and they moved so fast it was hard to get a good image.

A cedar waxwing keeps watch for a tasty bug.

But they sure made me smile.

There seemed to be an unlimited source of very thin rocks, perfect for stone skipping. So my friend and her daughter skipped stones and I took pictures.

So fun!

It was so much fun.

Meanwhile the sun began to set. And, though we didn’t get a great sunset it was pretty enough for us.

A quiet sunset.

We went back to the car to get our real cameras and when we came out to the beach hundeds of lightening bugs rose from the beach grass. I tried so hard to get a picture of them, but it was hard.

See the yellow fireflies? Now multiply that by 100s.

Just imagine standing there with all these glowing lights flitting around you. It was magical.

And then it began to get dark and my friend told me there was an aurora alert and we should take a test shot to the north and see if anything was happening. And guess what.

A pink dome, supported by a green base with a couple pillars in for good measure.

There was!

So we spent a lot of time shooting the aurora. It wasn’t a spectacular show, but there was plenty of pink and green and light pillars.

Crazy beautiful.

Then we turned our cameras south to see if the dark horse was leaving the protection of the trees yet.

Hiding behind the trees.

It was still, unfortunately, partially behind the hill. We weren’t in a prime location for Milky Way, looking to the south it was behind the trees for much of the night. But the aurora made the site worthwhile.

The aurora was moving out further into the bay.

Across the way you can see retangles of golden light. I think, after studying a map, that must be Tawas, a large town on the other side of Saginaw Bay. I also wondered if there’s a bank of foggy mist out there.

We looked back to the south. The dark horse in the Milky Way was moving further out from behind the trees.

The dark horse is headed west.

So that’s how the night went. Shoot a little to the north, shoot a little to the south. There was something spectacular no matter where we looked.

It was hard to believe we’d gotten so lucky!

The whole night was so wonderful. Fireflies, aurora, Milky Way, stars, a slight breeze, warm temperatures, the lapping of a quiet lake. You can’t beat it. And I felt lucky that we were there.

Milky Way AND firefly!

We left the beach a little after 1 a.m. as the mist from the bay started to move over the Milky Way and the aurora had fadded.

Notice all the light pollution from Caseville.

We had a 2.5 hour drive back home. I smiled the whole way.

Nothing but stars and the tail end of the Milky Way overhead.


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Backyard shenanigans

A long time ago I promised to show you the shenanigans going on in my backyard. Or should I call it backyardigans?

Waiter! I need a napkin!

These are self explanatory, but if the participants had anything to say I’ll add that as comentary under the offender’s image.

My morning abdominal workout might be offset by my morning snacking.

You will note there is one pictured here that is not like the others. She knows who she is.

I have to ask the help to fill this feeder every single day.

Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done in the house, given all the entertainment just outside my window.

I emptied out that birdfeeder, now my tummy doesn’t feel so good.

Oh wait. I really don’t get much done inside. Please don’t look at the dust covering everything or the dog fur rolling across the floor.

Somebody come help me with these two hooligans!

But I ask you. Which would you rather do?

I’m just going to sit here and watch the crazy in real time.

I thought so.

Me too.

Me three.

Not me, I’m eating while I can. A mom gets so little time to herself around here!

You are so right! Eat while you can I always say!

I see you lady with the camera! Could you please leave us more peanuts?

She always puts the peanuts at the bottom. Good thing I have short legs.

Seriously, I’m going to go crazy in .2 seconds.


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But what about the pretty stuff up in Northport?

I know. It all seems quite a long time ago when I traveled over to the western side of the state to camp and watch for stars.

This seemed too perfect not to stop.

You all know the star thing didn’t work out. And that it rained a lot. And that my last day there I drove up to Northport to meet with friends about a new book.

One of my favorites, I park up the road on a side street and walk back down busy M-22.

But on the drive back to camp I did wander a bit, looking at pretty stuff. Of course.

On a random backroad that I took to turn around for another barn..

Because why be up there at all if you’re not enjoying all the pretty stuff!

It’s not always about the barns.

Many of these barns you’ve seen before, but I’d have to say it was a long time ago.

I hope to get the Milky Way over this barn someday.

And some of you are newcomers so this will be your first glimpse of the beautiful rural landscape that sits along Lake Michigan in the upper part of our lower peninsula.

I parked over by the house in a bike path access parking lot and walked the bike path to get this image.

I feel like I’m jabbering too much. Maybe I should just show you a few of the pretties and let you decide for yourself if they were worth me stopping to grab the image.

This is a famous barn on M 22. Lots of people have shot the Milky Way over it. Maybe someday I will too.

I kind of think you’ll be in agreement with me that it was worth turning around and even driving around a really big block to capture some of these.

Near the bike path parking lot. I liked the vintage car, the vintage house and the famous barn all together.

Enjoy.


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Music in the night

Sunday evening, the last of the long, hot, 4th of July weekend, a couple friends from our community band and I were lucky enough to attend a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert held outside at Meadowbrook Hall.

A few minutes before I left home to meet them for a quick dinner before the concert, the skies opened up and rain poured down. It was the first rain all weekend. I was discouraged, but figured at least we’d have a nice meal together and we’d see about the music later.

But even as I walked out to the car it began to clear.

So it was with high hopes and a bit of excitement that we arrived at the venue and found a place to sit in the grass high on the hill overlooking the stage. Of course just as we began to settle in the rain began again.

But once again it blew right through, and with a few gusts of wind the sky began to brighten. Then the music began.

What a wonderful evening! The crowd was happy and appreciative. The weather cooperated. The music was, of course, wonderful. Celebrating John Williams, it was filled with the scores of his many works and as the conductor talked about each piece you could hear the audience anticipate which one would be played next.

We were usually right.

As I listened I thought about Shelley, our community band music director who passed away this past February. She would have loved this concert. What’s not to love? The Detroit Symphony, a group she had season tickets for, a beautiful summer night, families enjoying the music, a beautiful sky overhead, and John Williams.

Perfect.

Toward the end of the program a lesser known score was played, the theme from Far and Away. The movie starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and the music starts off similar to a lot of his movie scores, fast and furious. But the last minute of the 3 minute piece, those last moments, those are sweet.

I smiled because in those moments, with fireflies twinkling and the music soaring into the evening sky, I knew somewhere maybe right overhead and not so far and away, Shelley was smiling too.

And I bet, in fact I’m 100% sure, she enjoyed the concert just as much as we did.