park | Change Is Hard

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 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.

Orange.

May 12, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Photo Challenge: On the Move

This week’s WordPress photo challenge is “on the move.” I immediately thought of the metro system in Washington DC, the long escalators down to the train platforms, the swish of wind just before the train arrives, the lights glowing then speeding away. But I’ve shown you all of that. And I thought about going down to Detroit and showing you the People Mover, Detroit’s version of mass transit, and some day I will.

But for this challenge I went a bit more natural, and headed out to my favorite park – a place I used to run every weekend when I was training for an event, and a place that still holds my heart. It was a beautiful day and I have so much to show you, but for this, a photo challenge, I’m choosing just one.

Moving through green hills.

I sat in cool tall grass high on a hill and watched the runners bikers and walkers as they made their way around the base of the hill through a beautiful meadow. I could have sat there for hours. In fact I did.

You can see some favorite on the move entries from others here, here, and here. These challenges are so much fun for me, especially when I get to go on little photo adventures to find something new. You should try it for yourself. You never know what you’ll find until you go out looking.

And soon, I promise you, I’ll show you what else I found at the park.

It was wonderful.

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 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 16, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Weekend v.s. Wednesday

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!