Another School Year and a South Side Bike Ride

The granddaughter is now fully moved into her dorm room, my part mainly being to take a full truck load of her stuff there on Friday.  Then JB and I both made a trip to campus yesterday to deliver and hook up her TV set.  OSLO, the grands and I also did some very efficient shopping for new bedding for her room, then made a trip to Sam's Club so she could get stocked up with some basic stuff before the semester began.  Her first class was at 8:00 this morning -- I hope she made it.  We also had a second/maybe third birthday dinner with OSLO, so her birthday week is officially over.

Today was probably the last day when biking will be possible this week, with highs in the upper 80's and low 90's forecast for the next several days.  LH and I loaded our bikes on my bike rack and drove to the south end of Holland, parked at a farmhouse owned by a friend of hers, and biked along the lakeshore south towards Saugatuck.  We rode the same road that GZ and I rode a few years ago (maybe quite a few years ago).  That trip included a close encounter with a prison chain gang, or something similar.  This year we had a peaceful ride past Kelly Lake and Gilligan's Lake, down to the Saugatuck Dunes State Park.  TT and Unky Herb and I visited there and did a little hiking out to the lake about 4 years ago before making a stop at the Felt Mansion.  I didn't take any photos there today, but here are two from that trip.

LH and I cut across to Beeline Rd for our ride back north, passing the famous spot where a man on a tandem lost his stoker and asked GZ and I if we'd seen his dog.  It was all very confusing.  Anyway, today we decided to throw in one more loop before heading back to the car and made a stop at Castle Park Beach along the Lake Michigan shore line.

There has been a lot of erosion in that area and their stairs to the beach end in thin air.  About 10 feet above the water.  The ride was fun, though tiring for us both.  It's a lot hillier on the south side of town than it is on the north side, but we managed it with only one thrown chain.  And no flat tires this time.  I think I may sleep well tonight.

OSLO's Birthday

My daughter -- OSLO on the family blogs -- is having a significant birthday today.  Her father and I love her a lot.  In the spirit of the occasion, here's a photo from her first Christmas.

I noticed that a lot of people on Facebook today are telling her what a beautiful, sweet, lovely and caring person she is.  I would just like to point out that her father and I knew it first.

Summer's over.

Before the Smiths left for home today, Mrs. Smith and I took one more short(ish) walk.  Quite some time back I had promised to show her a new flight of stairs to the beach -- the ones from Sunset Bluff to the water.

It felt more like fall than it did like August, but the beach managed to put on a pretty nice show anyway.  The last I heard from Mr. Smith was that they had arrived home, safe and sound.  We (with OSLO and the Grands) had a final family supper last night that featured Jimi's fish, and there were hugs and good-byes all around. Our house guests will absolutely be missed.  Today the girl grandchild planned to pick up the keys to her dorm room for this fall, tomorrow is a big birthday for OSLO (it's only a number, dear dafter), the grandson and I will be helping the girl move her stuff into her dorm this week, and the seed heads are beginning to form on the dune grass.  Apparently summer is about over.

Winding down.

My granddaughter, on a walk with BDE and me this afternoon near the end of the rain. It's almost a "light at the end of the tunnel" photo. She heads back to college this week.

GZ, BDE and I teamed up to cook the second best spaghetti dinner ever, with green beans and tossed salad as sides, and some crusty garlic bread.  After OSLO and the grands headed for home I took a short walk along the beach towards the big new house.

The sun had set by the time I got back to the top of the hill, but I did get some pictures of the sun from the sand at the bottom of our stairs.

The lake was in its low roar mode and beautiful.

Nice Ride

Three bikes and three bikers.  We found some cardinal flowers and the "road ends" sign at the old bridge across the Pigeon River.

This is one of my favorite ride destinations.  I like the shape of the river at this spot.

After a brief stop at the PSPS we rode back together as far as Tunnel Park where the Smiths turned off to ride another loop.  I followed my Granddaughter's car up the hill, and got to spend some quality time with them before GZ and I headed off to Bowerman's to pick up some berries and some veggies for our evening meal.

Read, eat, ride.

Activities for yesterday?  The bike shop, Barnes and Noble, and the grocery store.  Tire, books, food.  Things picked up speed today, with a bike ride (in 22 mph winds) and a walk with my grandchildren after supper.  (Pizza, salad and blonde brownies.)  Good quiet family time with some exercise thrown in.  There was also some time for talk and reflection, things I need.  Here are a couple of photos from the day.

Holland Highlight

First thing this morning my computer  informed me that its fan no longer worked and that I shouldn't continue to use it.  Wonderful.  I am using JB's laptop for now, since he mostly uses his desk top computer.  It is just enough different from my old computer to make blogging frustrating, but I have little choice but to learn a new way of doing old things.  A metaphor for life, I guess.

Before my lovely and much loved niece left us for her real life back in the big city, we braved the hot and muggy day to visit the site of the Japanese Red Bats that her father blogged about yesterday.

She expected something of this sort.  Both GZ and I were disappointed in the general quality of the red bats.  They used to be bigger.  Or nicer.  Or something.  Anyway... our little village has gotten smaller again.  OSLO and the COTU left after supper last night, and we already miss the girl who came this far to be here with us for a while.  Thanks, Emmy.

Summer Reading, Captain Sundae, Tunnel Park at Sunset

It was a throwback to visits from years past -- three members of GZ's family arrived together yesterday. The girl has been visiting us on her own for the last several years, but accompanied her parents this year. It has triggered the replay of several old traditions from her summer visits here as a teenager and college girl. A trip to Walgreen's, Beach Boys sing-alongs in the truck, Crunch and Munch, to name a few.  And reading on the deck with her Mother.

A visit to Captain Sundae with OSLO and the COTU after supper was the only "required" event on her wish list for this visit. It was a perfect night for ice cream, warm and muggy.

We got back in time to take the inland route to Tunnel Park and arrived at the top of the dune there in time to catch the last few rays of sun.

The new header photo at the top of the blog is sunset tonight, occurring as we walked back along the beach towards home.

YouTube Videos

Florida, 2014.  A little patience is required.




Another, February 25, 2014, Sunrise Park, across the street from our house in Florida. There's no audio that is loud enough to hear in this one.



In this one below, Jimi was taking photos of NCW on our dock in Florida on March 1, 2014. No audible sound on this one, either.



Here's one from 2009 (I think) that shows where that whole "fork in the road" bit came from between Jim and I.  Just goofing around over at Sunrise Park one day when we were eating lunch over there.



And this last one was a video he did for Kelsey one year, perhaps 2009, in Florida.  She apparently knows what "serious monster" is all about.



I have finally gotten to the place where I can go through old photos without melting down, and I am printing some of mine out (Walgreens) -- some for me, the girl grandchild asked for a few to take to her dorm room with her this fall, the boy grandchild would like a few and I'll be happy to share them when/if I get them organized.  I thought I'd share these videos now.  It's a good thing that he can still make me laugh.

Quiet Time

It was about 8:15 this morning when they loaded up their car with 50 pounds of blueberries (five boxes, 10 lbs. each) and headed for home. I have a couple of photos from yesterday that I want to put up here, from A&T's walk to Tunnel Park yesterday. B was under the weather and slept most of yesterday, so I have no new photos with her in them. Fortunately she felt some better this morning.

My favorite grandchildren are keeping me company this weekend, and all is quiet here for now.

Visitors doing tourist like things.

Physical activities have gotten progressively more difficult for A over the last year, as most/all of you know.  Some things that he wants to do on his visit here seemed like they might just be too hard for him, but that failed to take into account his persistence. Several times this week I've hear him repeat to himself,  "Never give up.  Never, ever give up."  Today he applied that to his quest to get to the water.  Tunnel Park a couple of days ago was a good experience for him, but it wasn't all the way to the lake.  Today's plan was to go to the State Park and walk down the plastic ramp near the edge of the park, the one that crosses most of the sand nearly to the water's edge.  It was a successful plan, and his first reaction was to give his daughter a big hug when he got there.

He declared that he was happy -- then decided that he wanted to walk out on the pier, and he wanted to get there by walking along the sand at the edge of the water.

That was a hard one, and by the time we got to the channel he was feeling the need of a sit down.

He rallied though, and we walked out the pier as far as the end of the blue railing. Balancing on the narrow top of the remaining length of the pier, with all of the other people out there today, seemed too risky, so this was deemed to be far enough.

Returning to the mountain, he decided that he was quite tired, and that maybe a little lie down was a good idea, but he was clearly pleased with having done what he set out to do.  Finally, there was this...

Neither A nor T had been there before, but Beth had been there with OSLO last year.  It was a very "Holland" kind of day.

Illiterate Scofflaw and Sunset

I have not made much (any) progress on my resolve to exercise regularly.  A few evening walks have been about the extent of it this week, but those have been nice.  A few nights ago we saw a deer that clearly was either illiterate, and thus could not read the DO NOT ENTER sign, or a scofflaw and ignored it.  Your choice.

This week has had some good moments.  I've had a few good talks with A, whose long term memory is still pretty good, and there have been some nice sunsets, including the one tonight.

The Queen of the Mountain came over tonight and we all spent some time talking about the TRAMs of 2002 and 2005. Long term memories.

Family Time

They skipped the baseball game in Chicago and arrived before the storm front rolled through here. They got to watch an impressive lightening show over the lake from our living room windows.  It was good to have people in the house again.

This morning the four of us walked the one mile circuit around the neighborhood before lunch, later T and B walked to Tunnel Park along the beach and confirmed the high water levels, then A decided he was up for a second walk. He was determined to walk to Tunnel Park and back along the streets, and he and T have a photo of the two of them on the lake side of the tunnel, sitting on the bench overlooking the beach. It's a round trip of at least a mile and a half. My Grand Haven family arrived for a spaghetti supper, followed by one more walk around the neighborhood. By my math, that makes over 3.5 miles of walking for A today, and about 4.5 or 5 miles for T. He's pretty well knackered as I write this, but doing well. So far they all seem glad to be here. I am really glad to have them here.
Late Edit:  A photo of our guests taken at sunset.

The Twins fan missed our evening walk, and I wanted to include her in this post.  She's an excellent daughter to her Papa.

Big Red

It was too windy today to ride a bicycle, by any reasonable standard.  I didn't get much exercise yesterday, as I felt a bit under the weather, so I hated to give up on a ride.  Instead I chose a short ride down to the state park and back.  The lighthouse is always a good subject for photos.  Here are my best ones from today:

One of the things that TT always wanted to do here was visit the lighthouse.  It's only recently been open to visitors on any regular basis, so he never did get there.  But then, neither did I.  Based on the people milling around it, today was one of those days when visiting Big Red was possible.

The flag and the waves give an indication of the wind out there today.  My guess is that the boaters had given up.  That's just not a big enough boat for those conditions.

This flag is the red flag that tells swimmers that it is unsafe to swim at the State Park.  It seems that it also means that it is prime wind surfing conditions.  My bike log says 24 mph winds, but the gusts were certainly higher.  It was a short ride, but I'm glad I didn't wimp out.  As my brother used to say, "Never give up.  Never, ever give up."