winter | Change Is Hard

January 5, 2015
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

Abundance

Abundance of ice.

Abundance: “The great or plentiful amount” as defined in any number of dictionaries. Katybeth over at Odd Loves Company chose tarot cards for some of us at the beginning of the year, then asked us to think about our word, how we could incorporate it into our lives, figure out what it meant to each of us.

My word was abundance.

I sometimes think about abundance when I’m at the grocery store, walking past the wall of cereal choices, or picking through mounds of produce. But most of the time I don’t give it much thought. And surely I am not alone in taking for granted the abundance in my life. Especially the abundance of stuff.

And that’s what it’s all about, right? The abundance of stuff? That’s why we all go to work – to pay for all the stuff; the house, the nice car, the trendy shoes, the best cuts of meat, that great bottle of wine. Because we’re used to having abundance. And we think we’ll be happy once we get that next great thing to add to the abundance we already have. Won’t we?

Abundance of deer food.

But I’ve been thinking small lately. There’s a growing trend of living in tiny houses, and even HGTV has jumped on the band wagon and now has a version of the show House Hunters that follows people looking for a tiny house. I’ve read a few blogs and articles that talk about the lifestyle. I think the most difficult thing is the downsizing, the divesting of a lifetime of accumulated abundance. And if you were to succeed at that…would you no longer have abundance?

Or would you, perhaps, recognize an abundance of a different kind?

Looking through my rose colored glasses I think you’d have an abundance of freedom and an abundance of choices for how to spend your day. And a person living tiny would still have all the abundances that really matter. Family love, good friends, a sense of serenity and peace, quiet times and times to share.

So on this winter weekend as I consider the abundances in my life what do you think? How tiny could you go? Have you looked? Not all tiny houses are log cabins on wheels, I’ve seen some stunning glass and wood houses perched on hills overlooking the woods or grasslands, other tiny places that melt into the landscape and let a person enjoy the abundance that nature has to offer.

It’s a thought.

Tiny is a process.

January 4, 2015
by dawnkinster 7 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: New

It’s a new year…what makes it new for you? WordPress has challenged us to look around and find something new. For those of us in Detroit this Sunday it’s an obvious choice. The Detroit Lions are playing football in post season, their first foray into playoff football in many years. Since 1992 to be exact. 1992 might not seem so long ago until you remember that the senior Bush was president, and Black or White by Michael Jackson was the number one song.

Outside city offices in downtown Detroit sits a sculpture titled The Spirit of Detroit. In the Spirit’s left hand is a gilt bronze sphere symbolizing God, and in his right hand are people representing family. And when one of our sports teams is in the playoffs the Spirit dons a team jersey.

Excitement in the city.

It’s something very new for the Detroit Lions, but this weekend The Spirit of Detroit is sporting a jersey of Hawaii blue and silver.

And while we’re on the topic of Detroit, the blue jersey may be new, but being tough sure isn’t. Across the street from The Spirit of Detroit is another sculpture, a memorial to the boxer Joe Lewis.

Detroit is strong…like Joe Lewis.

Detroit has just come out of bankruptcy and is blossoming into a new leaner and more vibrant city. It’s turning into the kind of city where parents take a newborn downtown to be photographed in front of an iconic sculpture. The kind of city where people smile and wait patiently in a gentle cold sleet for their turn at photographs. Where they know the meaning of family and toughness and patience.

It’s a new Detroit and I can’t wait to see it in this new year.

You can see other interpretations of the concept of new at the original link at the top of this post. Or you can see a few of my favorites here, here, here and here. Enjoy.

And… Go Lions!

December 28, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: Warmth

No matter what time of year you visit the University of Michigan’s Conservatory at Matthaei Botanical gardens you’ll get a warm feeling.

Warm holiday greetings!

So it’s there that I found a photo for this week’s WordPress photo challenge representing warmth. The tropical warmth of the building in conjunction with the warmth of the season.

Many people have gone out to find a bit of warmth in their worlds. You can find a few of my favorites here, here, here and here. And especially here. Or check out the original link above to see them all.

Stay warm everybody!

Christmas kaleidoscope

December 27, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Holiday musings

Warm holiday wishes to you!

It seems as though I should be writing a holiday post. I feel this odd responsibility to comment on what for most is the biggest holiday of the year. To talk about the shopping and the cooking and the traveling and the family and, maybe most of all, the memories.

Yet I feel very still inside. Quiet.

And though during this past holiday week bits of blogs have floated through my head, equivalent to sugar plums of old I suppose, nothing has demanded to be committed to digital paper. Nothing has caused me to stop what I was doing and rush to the computer to get it down, to edit, find the right words, rethink the meaning, tell the story. Oh I’ve done plenty of reading; lots of other blogs and articles about the meaning of Christmas. I’ve gone down plenty of other people’s holiday lanes and connected with their memories which are so much like my own.

Christmas Eve I watched Andy Williams and his three brothers in a compilation of his Christmas shows on PBS and smiled a lot. OK. I’m old, but watching the 4 brothers sing in their outlandishly awful color coordinated outfits just made my evening. And cooking dinner with my Aunt on Christmas Day was pretty special too. But it was an uncharacteristically quiet holiday.

Which is not a bad thing.

I’ll leave you with one memory that might get you thinking. I saw this idea on a Christmas special that one of the local networks did. They were interviewing their cast and each was asked if they could go back to one specific Christmas – – which one would it be? Think about that. Can you pick just one?

Mine would be the Christmas of 1964. I was eight, my brothers and sister younger and we were all upstairs that Christmas Eve having our baths before bed. Of course we were anxiously waiting for Santa to arrive with presents, but some of us weren’t quite sure we believed. We had hung little metal bells all along the lower branches of the Christmas tree so that we’d hear him putting packages under the tree. If he was real. I’m quite sure Mom and Dad were upstairs with us as well when we heard the faint tinkle of a bell downstairs. Our eyes got big. We wanted to run down the stairs in our footed pajamas to catch Santa in the act. Then again, we knew if we did that he’d never visit us again. So we didn’t. We stayed upstairs and climbed into our warm beds and smiled from ear to ear. Because that year we knew that Santa was very real.

That’s my special Christmas memory. Special because we were all young and innocent, even Mom and Dad; we were warm and happy and excited and most importantly, we were all together. What’s your special Christmas memory? I’d like to hear about it. Sharing makes the memories permanent, and all good memories deserve to be shared.

I hope all of you had the perfect holiday, whatever that means to you and your family. And I wish for you an extraordinary 2015.

Happy New Year!

The only snow we have is fake!

December 22, 2014
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Sunday afternoon surprise adventure

Katie here! Hey, bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon! My mama doesn’t let me have her blog very often you know, but since it’s Christmas and all I guess she’s feeling generous. Or she doesn’t have anything to say. Either way it works for me!

In the Arboretum.

So she was lying around the house all weekend. I was plenty bored but after awhile I just gave up and went off to sleep in my secret places. But then she turned off the TV and said: “Katie-girl! Where are you?” And of course I came running because whenever my mama calls me I get right to her as fast as I can in case she’s handing out treats and such. Well this time she was still on the sofa and she asked me if I’d like to go for a ride with her. A ride! Well OF COURSE MAMA! I jumped right on top of her and licked her in the face and then I barked and barked and barked and then I jumped off of her and ran to the door and I barked and barked and barked and then I ran around the sofa a bunch, and then around her feet while she was trying to walk and I kept barking.

I guess you get the picture.

Grandpa & Grandma’s rock

So anyway, my mama took me down to see her Mom and Dad’s rock on the banks of the Huron River. She’s been missing them lately, what with all the family movies and advertisements and stuff on TV, so she took me for a visit.

I never got to meet them.

I wasn’t the least bit interested in the river or the ducks that she said were “right there baby!”

Ducks are boring!

I was much more interested in the other people and their dogs. We only stayed at the rock for a moment or two and then we went walking in the hills. It sure was pretty back there. I guess they got a little snow, but mostly it was just wet leaves.

A little bit of snow.

As we were climbing up and down the hills my mama kept saying “Easy, easy girl” so I wouldn’t pull her and her camera down into the mud. Silly mama. Like I’d ever do that. When I didn’t have her hanging on to me I was as nimble as a mountain goat!

Running down a hill.

We had a really good time. We talked to a couple of people who were out walking their dogs. One lady in particular had a dog named Gus and we walked with them for awhile. The lady was talking to mama about camping with Gus. Mama wishes she had gotten the lady’s name, she says she thinks we could have had a good time going on walks with them again.

Lots of good sniffing!

I slept all the way home, but don’t tell my mama that. I like her to think I’m always vigilant.

Don’t you know.

December 15, 2014
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Happy Birthday little girl!

Katie here.

Guess what, Guess What, GUESS WHAT!?!?!

I am eight years old today! I think there should be a giant party and everybody should come over and tell me how beautiful I am and give me stuff, especially yummy treats, which I would not share with anyone because princesses do not share.

Oh.

Mama says I need to be polite.

OK. So I’d share with all of you. Princesses can be gracious if reminded.

I guess.

But Mama has to go to work today so there isn’t going to be a big party for me. I’ll probably just get my regular dog food too. Sigh. It’s so stinkin hard to be a sheltie princess when the mama keeps going off for entire days at a time. I mean if a girl’s a princess in an empty house and no one sees, is she still a princess? Huh? I ask you? Not fair. That’s all I’ve got to say about the matter.

The only good thing about today is that my bestest dog walker friend is going to come take me for a walk at lunch! When my mama has to go away for the day she sometimes gets my friend to come over and play with me. That’s just so much fun! She comes with treats too…so I guess my birthday won’t be an entire washout.

And my mama will come home from work eventually and then we’ll play play play! I hope. She’s been pretty preoccupied lately. The whole truck thing last week got her really sad and I had to work double time to cheer her up. I did my best work at 5:30 in the morning when she seemed to need cheering up the most. A dog always knows that timing is everything. She’ll thank me latter when she’s in a better mood. She seems a bit of a grouchy pants at the moment.

Anyway…because today is my 8th birthday and because she has to work today she took me to my favorite park yesterday afternoon. It was a gloomy day but I didn’t care, I love going to my park and she lets me sniff as much as I want. It’s the best present she could give me. Here’s me next to some beautiful tall grass. I think I make the grass look even prettier, don’t you?

At my park 12-14-14

And just in case you haven’t seen me as an cute little puppy, here’s me my first day at home. I was 3 mos old and just as cute as could be. Mama and Daddy fell in love with me the first time they saw me, even though I wasn’t at all sure about them. I hid behind a big chair at my first mom’s house and watched them. But then I let mama pick me up and it was OK after that. I slept upside down all the way to my new house, and it’s been perfect ever since. I can’t blame them for loving me right away. Can you?

First day on my sofa, March 31, 2007

I know, I know…adorable…right?

So I think everyone should go get something yummy and treat themselves on me! Sort of my gift to you from me on my 8th birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

Enjoy everybody!

November 8, 2014
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge – Minimalist

The concept of a minimalist photo is simple. You might even say minimal. It should contain a large amount of negative space and a somewhat monochromatic color scheme. And if you can, it should tell a story. This morning we woke to our first significant snow, so large parts of our world were monochromatic; I found this right outside my front door.

I’m not sure this is totally correct, I don’t see negative space for example. I’m hoping to get out tomorrow to search for another example. But you never know about tomorrow, so I’ll put this out there for now. You can see other examples of minimalist photography here, here, here and here. And especially this one. Or go to the original link and read all about it, then look at the hundreds of submissions attached.

Meanwhile I’ll enjoy looking for another bit of minimalism. You can too. I’d enjoy seeing what you come up with!

May 31, 2014
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

Spring cleaning

December memories

Ha! I bet you thought I was going to entertain you with stories from the backs of closets or under beds. And how would that relate to the frigid photo above? Are you confused?

Well so is our yard this spring. Confused. After the brutal winter we are managing to get through a sad and wet spring. We didn’t get any forsythia blooms, no redbud blossoms, the Japanese maple is dead, many of our birch were irretrievably bent during December’s ice storm.

So this spring instead of planting beautiful young flowers, patting soil gently around their tender roots, our tools look like this:

Cleanup tools

And the results are just as harsh.

Makes me cry

It’s a sad spring, but some things are blooming, and Katie of course tries to brighten our day. So I guess we will accept what is and move forward with what’s left of our landscape. Let’s hope next winter isn’t as harsh. I don’t think the plants that survived this last one could make it through a second.

Hey Mama! This one made it!

I don’t think I could either.

brrrrrrrrr

April 19, 2014
by dawnkinster 2 Comments

Picture a photo

I’ve been enjoying the photography of Heather in her blog for a long time; she captures life in the north so beautifully. Her photography website showcases her art and if you take a moment to stop and peruse, you can enjoy all four seasons of the beautiful north country in just a few minutes. This winter she had the opportunity to take amazing photos of the ice caves along Lake Michigan, who knows if we’ll ever have another chance to see something like this, so go take a look!

I especially enjoy her photos of the Point Betsie Lighthoue, both because it’s beautiful, and because it’s where my folks went on their honeymoon in 1953. I’ve been there a couple of times myself and have my own photographs, but I’ve never been in winter so I was especially taken by this shot:

I know, I know, it’s a bad photograph of a great photograph! It was hard for me to decide which Point Betsie lighthouse photo to purchase but I eventually chose this one because it was different and because I loved the shapes of the ice in front of the lighthouse. I plan to hang it in my folk’s house down in Alabama, a modern twist on their love of northern Michigan.

Thank you Heather! For taking wonderful photographs that remind me of my trips to the north, and for making them available on your website! I can’t wait to see what you discover next!

March 23, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Was going to

Was going to blog about any number of things today. Had them all lined up. But I have to tell you a couple of things not related to any of that.

Even though my yard looks like this today, which doesn’t seem all that spring-like…

1. I SAW a pair of sandhill cranes flying over Katie’s park when I was driving to Ann Arbor to go to the symphony yesterday evening! Their flight is so distinctive. I got to watch them for quite awhile, and I smiled every second of it.

2. This morning there was a red winged blackbird on my feeder, more proof they are really here. Now this sort of makes me smile, and sort of makes me not smile. They are such pigs. They eat so much food they can eat me out of house and birdseed over a weekend. But I know they’re hungry, just like all the rest of the birds, so for now I’m opting to smile. Because they are truly signs that spring is not only on it’s way, it’s already here.

3. I was just giving Katie a little shoulder massage while looking out the window and I saw a bird in my little redbud tree. Then it flew to the ground and back up again. I ran for the camera, but by the time I got back it had moved to the top of a small spruce hidden behind some bare branches of a shrub. But you can tell it’s a bluebird!! There were actually two males be bopping around the yard. I couldn’t get a good photo of either of them, the light was bad, so you’ll have to settle for this one.

I’m so happy I could sing….and I was…singing along with a clip of Jimmy Fallon’s show, but that’s another blog.

Happy happy dance.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: winter