No public water sources here any more.
Lots of empty benches.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Last October Ride
Late October weather is challenging, but not so much that I'm willing to quit going outside -- not yet, anyway. The State Park is a favorite destination of mine for short rides, and it's where I headed today. It's a different place than it is in the summer... nearly deserted, snow/sand fences lined up across the beach, and gray skies.
No public water sources here any more.
Lots of empty benches.
No public water sources here any more.
Lots of empty benches.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Beach silliness and reclaiming a tradition
Here is another photo heavy blog post. The college girl and I were on our own yesterday -- Totally Jammin' was going to a Halloween party with a friend. (He went as Donald Trump and won first prize. Sadly, I do not have a photo of that.) This morning I took a walk on the beach while the college girl did some homework, and took the first two of these photos.
Water levels have dropped sufficiently to expose enough sand to call it a beach. We aren't too excited, since this is most likely a seasonal fluctuation, but still it was nice to see. The water is really, really clear this time of year.
After the college girl and I made a quick trip to Best Buy for some ink cartridges for our printer so she could finish her homework, OSLO and Totally Jammin' arrived to spend the afternoon. We were inspired by the sunshine, the crisp fall air, and perhaps a sugar rush from some early Halloween candy to take another walk on the beach. Silliness ensued. We decided to rename the newly recovered section of beach running between our house and Tunnel Park as the Jim Miller Beach. Having no flags to plant, we settled on writing it in the sand. Here's mine.
The college girl put more into hers -- she had us each put a hand print into the sand around the name. All four of us did, but my photography was bad. Sun, sand, reflections off the water -- I think she got a better photo, but this is what I have.
OSLO's is hard to see with the angle of the sun. I am pretty sure it says "Jim's Beach" though.
Totally Jammin' took a different approach. He claimed all of the land below the ordinary high water mark for himself. I couldn't get an angle where you can see it all, but the words say "This is Mine."
Here are the two of them surveying his domain. I like that he thinks big, and hope it doesn't get him into too much trouble in his life.
We continued on down the beach to Tunnel Park, so that the three of them could help reclaim the "climb the Tunnel Park stairs from the beach to the top of the dune " tradition.
OSLO and Totally Jammin' were up for the entire experience, including running down the dune to the park.
Neither of them can claim to be the oldest man to ever do this, but we were happy to take back a little piece of summer that we missed this year.
Water levels have dropped sufficiently to expose enough sand to call it a beach. We aren't too excited, since this is most likely a seasonal fluctuation, but still it was nice to see. The water is really, really clear this time of year.
After the college girl and I made a quick trip to Best Buy for some ink cartridges for our printer so she could finish her homework, OSLO and Totally Jammin' arrived to spend the afternoon. We were inspired by the sunshine, the crisp fall air, and perhaps a sugar rush from some early Halloween candy to take another walk on the beach. Silliness ensued. We decided to rename the newly recovered section of beach running between our house and Tunnel Park as the Jim Miller Beach. Having no flags to plant, we settled on writing it in the sand. Here's mine.
The college girl put more into hers -- she had us each put a hand print into the sand around the name. All four of us did, but my photography was bad. Sun, sand, reflections off the water -- I think she got a better photo, but this is what I have.
OSLO's is hard to see with the angle of the sun. I am pretty sure it says "Jim's Beach" though.
Totally Jammin' took a different approach. He claimed all of the land below the ordinary high water mark for himself. I couldn't get an angle where you can see it all, but the words say "This is Mine."
Here are the two of them surveying his domain. I like that he thinks big, and hope it doesn't get him into too much trouble in his life.
We continued on down the beach to Tunnel Park, so that the three of them could help reclaim the "climb the Tunnel Park stairs from the beach to the top of the dune " tradition.
OSLO and Totally Jammin' were up for the entire experience, including running down the dune to the park.
Neither of them can claim to be the oldest man to ever do this, but we were happy to take back a little piece of summer that we missed this year.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Back home again, a week or so in Michigan. (Fair warning, this is long.)
Most of my backlog of photos and stories from Minnesota and before have been used up, but I ran across this one this morning. This was taken through the living room window at GZ's one morning. Yes, it is a fox. My sources tell me that this is not good news for the neighborhood cats.
Locally, we've had our first hard freeze. Frost on the dune grass early one morning.
Other than the early sunsets that limit walking after supper, this is my favorite time of year for outdoor activities. Sunday was an excellent biking day -- 46 degrees when I left, 52 when I returned. It was a 'wheels through leaves' kind of ride. Soulful.
The grands were helping their Mom for the weekend -- OSLO's fiance's father has been ill, and was transferred to a nursing home facility from the hospital this week. We're hoping he continues to improve. GOINFS.
Gale warnings kept most people inside on Monday. What's a little wind? Just don't walk into it -- that sand stings your face.
The Tunnel Park stairs are finished, and the deck at the top is nearly done. Access to the top of the dune from the beach has been restored. The workmen had kindly left the gate between the park and our neighborhood open, so I took advantage of the rare opportunity for a shortcut home.
Tuesday looked good on paper and LH and I rode our bikes south towards Waukazoo Woods. The sky soon got dark enough to concern us, and when we checked the weather apps on our phones, we were minutes from getting stormed on. We (almost) made it to the Anchorage Party store before the deluge hit. They have a lounge area in the back with chairs, wi-fi and magazines -- and we bought a paper and caffeinated beverages and waited out the storm. It was a short ride, 6.5 miles total. But we got home dry. Mostly.
Yesterday we tried again. This time we loaded our bikes on my bike rack, drove to Hemlock Crossing Park and biked around the Pigeon River. This is sort of an annual event -- when we were younger we started from home.
There was a stop at the old bridge over the Pigeon River, another October tradition.
JB went to a meeting in Saugatuck today -- water levels -- and though I could have done something productive, I took my 4th ride of the week. (If you count that 6.5 mile ride.) This tree seemed like an potential entrant in the "most spectacular tree" category. Tunnel Park, of course.
Since it is October and this is Michigan, here's the annual "blueberry field in fall colors" photo. I hope you enjoyed the color tour. :-)
Locally, we've had our first hard freeze. Frost on the dune grass early one morning.
Other than the early sunsets that limit walking after supper, this is my favorite time of year for outdoor activities. Sunday was an excellent biking day -- 46 degrees when I left, 52 when I returned. It was a 'wheels through leaves' kind of ride. Soulful.
The grands were helping their Mom for the weekend -- OSLO's fiance's father has been ill, and was transferred to a nursing home facility from the hospital this week. We're hoping he continues to improve. GOINFS.
Gale warnings kept most people inside on Monday. What's a little wind? Just don't walk into it -- that sand stings your face.
The Tunnel Park stairs are finished, and the deck at the top is nearly done. Access to the top of the dune from the beach has been restored. The workmen had kindly left the gate between the park and our neighborhood open, so I took advantage of the rare opportunity for a shortcut home.
Tuesday looked good on paper and LH and I rode our bikes south towards Waukazoo Woods. The sky soon got dark enough to concern us, and when we checked the weather apps on our phones, we were minutes from getting stormed on. We (almost) made it to the Anchorage Party store before the deluge hit. They have a lounge area in the back with chairs, wi-fi and magazines -- and we bought a paper and caffeinated beverages and waited out the storm. It was a short ride, 6.5 miles total. But we got home dry. Mostly.
Yesterday we tried again. This time we loaded our bikes on my bike rack, drove to Hemlock Crossing Park and biked around the Pigeon River. This is sort of an annual event -- when we were younger we started from home.
There was a stop at the old bridge over the Pigeon River, another October tradition.
JB went to a meeting in Saugatuck today -- water levels -- and though I could have done something productive, I took my 4th ride of the week. (If you count that 6.5 mile ride.) This tree seemed like an potential entrant in the "most spectacular tree" category. Tunnel Park, of course.
Since it is October and this is Michigan, here's the annual "blueberry field in fall colors" photo. I hope you enjoyed the color tour. :-)
Monday, October 19, 2015
Checking off Vadnais
Lake Vadnais is a destination ride for GZ and BDE. It's also a benchmark. The first time you ride that far every spring is symbolic of returning fitness, for one thing. It's also my favorite ride in the cities -- the scenery is more rural that urban, and the lake itself is in a beautiful setting. It is, however, a long and hilly ride to Lake Vadnais from where I woke up that morning last week. I would also like to note that at this point in time, my bicycling fitness is mediocre at best.
I'd taken one bike ride with GZ and BDE already that week -- it was the Sunday ride that was mentioned here, a nice ride to Como and the Fairgrounds. On the way back to the house, I think there was general surprise when I mentioned that the ride to Lake Vadnais was a bucket list ride for me. At 20+ miles, it's farther than I'd said I was capable of riding on St. Paul's hilly streets, for openers. Weather forecasts were scrutinized, and it didn't look good. Monday was a raw, cold and windy day. There were other, more important things to do that day, as well. But Tuesday looked possible. Cooler than normal, but sunny and with a fairly light wind from a decent direction. We geared up -- I had to borrow some extra layers, and some warmer gloves. As the photo below proves, it wasn't too far after all.
You gotta ride 'em before you can count 'em, of course. We were doing well enough when we got to the desired destination (pictured above and below) that we added on a loop to ride the gorgeous trails through what I think is called Vadnais-Snail-Sucker Lake Regional Park.
The bike? It worked fine. Some user errors here and there. The gear? Perfect. The hills? Manageable, except for one or two that made me swear under my breath. (No hike-a-bike was necessary.) The weather? Perfect, except for a pesky little headwind on one leg of the return trip. The pace? Well over my average, but it seemed okay. The company? It doesn't get any better. The mileage? 22 and change. Check.
I'd taken one bike ride with GZ and BDE already that week -- it was the Sunday ride that was mentioned here, a nice ride to Como and the Fairgrounds. On the way back to the house, I think there was general surprise when I mentioned that the ride to Lake Vadnais was a bucket list ride for me. At 20+ miles, it's farther than I'd said I was capable of riding on St. Paul's hilly streets, for openers. Weather forecasts were scrutinized, and it didn't look good. Monday was a raw, cold and windy day. There were other, more important things to do that day, as well. But Tuesday looked possible. Cooler than normal, but sunny and with a fairly light wind from a decent direction. We geared up -- I had to borrow some extra layers, and some warmer gloves. As the photo below proves, it wasn't too far after all.
You gotta ride 'em before you can count 'em, of course. We were doing well enough when we got to the desired destination (pictured above and below) that we added on a loop to ride the gorgeous trails through what I think is called Vadnais-Snail-Sucker Lake Regional Park.
The bike? It worked fine. Some user errors here and there. The gear? Perfect. The hills? Manageable, except for one or two that made me swear under my breath. (No hike-a-bike was necessary.) The weather? Perfect, except for a pesky little headwind on one leg of the return trip. The pace? Well over my average, but it seemed okay. The company? It doesn't get any better. The mileage? 22 and change. Check.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Charlie's Angels
We had plans for a bike tour this fall, like the one we took last year. There's a saying out there in the universe somewhere that goes something like this: "Man plans, God laughs." It applies to women as well. One morning a few weeks ago the three of us (Jill, Kelly and Sabrina for those keeping track) set out without much of a plan, other than to spend the day hanging out together. We took my truck, three bikes and some bike gear. Our departure time was somewhere around 7:00 am. The first stop was an estate sale in Grand Haven -- the kind where you get in line between 7:00 and 8:00 am, and put your name on a list to get numbers at 8:00 to allow you into the sale at 9:00. We got our numbers and went for a walk along the waterfront. The fog rolling in off of the big lake was pretty cool.
Jill is an antique dealer, so estate sales are part of her business -- meaning mostly that we packed some stuff into the truck with the bike gear and were on the road again between 10:30 and 11:00. Without a plan we headed north -- I drove while Jill and Kelly searched Google maps for descriptions of bike trails nearby. Kelly and I had ridden the Hart-Montague trail quite a few years ago, and it has since been extended about 10 or 11 miles further south from Whitehall. Google recommended the extension, so we found the terminus (about a quarter of a mile from the nearest paved road) and unloaded our bikes. Google was accurate -- the trail was mostly through shaded woodlands with early fall colors and plenty of filtered sunshine. Nice.
We rode through some interesting parks along the shoreline of White Lake before heading into town.
Lunch was in Whitehall, we visited two antique shops in Montague, just across the bridge over White Lake, and the ride back was easy. 22 miles round trip. We were back in time for supper.
Today Kelly and I took Jill to the airport for her return trip to her other home in a warmer climate. For now, only photos and good memories remain.
Jill is an antique dealer, so estate sales are part of her business -- meaning mostly that we packed some stuff into the truck with the bike gear and were on the road again between 10:30 and 11:00. Without a plan we headed north -- I drove while Jill and Kelly searched Google maps for descriptions of bike trails nearby. Kelly and I had ridden the Hart-Montague trail quite a few years ago, and it has since been extended about 10 or 11 miles further south from Whitehall. Google recommended the extension, so we found the terminus (about a quarter of a mile from the nearest paved road) and unloaded our bikes. Google was accurate -- the trail was mostly through shaded woodlands with early fall colors and plenty of filtered sunshine. Nice.
We rode through some interesting parks along the shoreline of White Lake before heading into town.
Lunch was in Whitehall, we visited two antique shops in Montague, just across the bridge over White Lake, and the ride back was easy. 22 miles round trip. We were back in time for supper.
Today Kelly and I took Jill to the airport for her return trip to her other home in a warmer climate. For now, only photos and good memories remain.
Friday, October 16, 2015
There was a baby shower last Saturday ...
I hadn't gone to a baby shower in a long time. All of the children of my friends have passed through the baby making years, and there's been a bit of a lull for me. This whole "circle of life" concept is very real, however, and I was happy to hear that my dear nephew and his lovely bride were expecting a new life, a little girl, to arrive around Christmas. (That poor little girl will have to share her birthday with that major holiday forever.) As is traditional with these things, there were baby themed decorations, games, the opening of gifts and lots of food.
Most of the guests were women, but a few hardy modern men braved the outdated customs and shared the fun. We needed an official photographer and the baby's Daddy stepped up.
The baby's auntie was one of the three hostesses, as well as the official gift record keeper. (Jim's beloved partner (NCW) and Adam's mom were the other two hostesses.)
You can see from the baby Mommy's expression how much fun she's having, and how much she is enjoying the gifts. The gifts from the College Girl were fun, and drew lots of smiles and laughter. Especially the blue tu-tu.
Eventually it was time to eat -- complete with cake of course. These two compared baby bumps, but what I loved is that they were both glowing with that rare radiance and beauty of expectant Mothers. What a treat it was for me to be there! My new niece made a lovely speech, sharing with us her belief that this new baby will bring with her a new beginning for our family and much joy. (These last two photos are for OSLO, who is helping to plan a baby shower for her niece next month. I promised her I'd show her these photos of the centerpiece. A diaper cake with a panda theme.)
Most of the guests were women, but a few hardy modern men braved the outdated customs and shared the fun. We needed an official photographer and the baby's Daddy stepped up.
The baby's auntie was one of the three hostesses, as well as the official gift record keeper. (Jim's beloved partner (NCW) and Adam's mom were the other two hostesses.)
You can see from the baby Mommy's expression how much fun she's having, and how much she is enjoying the gifts. The gifts from the College Girl were fun, and drew lots of smiles and laughter. Especially the blue tu-tu.
Eventually it was time to eat -- complete with cake of course. These two compared baby bumps, but what I loved is that they were both glowing with that rare radiance and beauty of expectant Mothers. What a treat it was for me to be there! My new niece made a lovely speech, sharing with us her belief that this new baby will bring with her a new beginning for our family and much joy. (These last two photos are for OSLO, who is helping to plan a baby shower for her niece next month. I promised her I'd show her these photos of the centerpiece. A diaper cake with a panda theme.)
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
October 14, 1942 was a good day.
Jim was the one who was best at using these blogs for remembering the birthdays of those who have gone on before us. Two of those posts that touched my heart were on the 100th birthdays of our parents, Tom and Lillie. Here are the links to those two posts:
One Hundred Years Old from January 26, 2009, Dad's 100th birthday.
Lillie from December 21, 2013, Mom's 100th birthday.
It is too soon, I think, for me to post more than a few brief words for this anniversary of Jim's birth.
This was taken at one of his favorite spots in Michigan -- the hill at Tunnel Park. As he said as he signed off on his last blog post, "Only photos and good memories remain."
One Hundred Years Old from January 26, 2009, Dad's 100th birthday.
Lillie from December 21, 2013, Mom's 100th birthday.
It is too soon, I think, for me to post more than a few brief words for this anniversary of Jim's birth.
This was taken at one of his favorite spots in Michigan -- the hill at Tunnel Park. As he said as he signed off on his last blog post, "Only photos and good memories remain."
Monday, October 5, 2015
"Only Photos and Good Memories Remain"
I'm not quite ready to let this blog go dark, so I'd best do something here until I am. I got some help on subject matter from my favorite granddaughter last week, who sent me three photos from her files that she thought I'd like to have. She was correct. Here are two of them, from the day we spent at the old family farm on Yellow River, the end of June.
There's a story that goes with the photo below. The six of us (Me, OSLO, the Grands, TT and NCW) didn't want a traditional tour of the Fort. We planned to go find the foundation of the original farmhouse, and the bench. The person in charge of tours decided that it was too far to walk, (????) so brought out two golf carts. TT and TJ brought up the rear, with TT driving -- and on the return trip, TT planned to return the cart to the front of the storage building, but missed the brake and hit the accelerator. There was a bit of excitement at they did a quick U-turn to avoid hitting the building. TT and TJ laughed pretty hard at the near miss.
Love them, granddaughter. It was sweet of you to send them to me. Only photos and good memories remain, right?
I've done a few things over the last week, but have few photos to prove it. LH and I went into Grand Rapids again -- this time to Art Prize, an annual competition that features thousands of pieces of art spread across dozens of venues, with a quarter million dollar prize attached to the big winner. We went to 5 of the smaller venues -- two women's clubs, two churches and a coffee shop. They each had between 25 and 100 entries, if memory serves.
I didn't take my camera out of my purse. Our first stop was at the Women's City Club in Heritage Hills, an historic district near downtown.
There were a few bike rides last week, some were pretty nice, a couple were windy, one was cold and windy.
Sunsets keep occurring earlier and earlier. And harvest season has begun.
It was cool and foggy today. There may be another bike ride or two this week, or maybe not. There's some talk of a group ride on Wednesday, and if it materializes, there may be photos.
There's a story that goes with the photo below. The six of us (Me, OSLO, the Grands, TT and NCW) didn't want a traditional tour of the Fort. We planned to go find the foundation of the original farmhouse, and the bench. The person in charge of tours decided that it was too far to walk, (????) so brought out two golf carts. TT and TJ brought up the rear, with TT driving -- and on the return trip, TT planned to return the cart to the front of the storage building, but missed the brake and hit the accelerator. There was a bit of excitement at they did a quick U-turn to avoid hitting the building. TT and TJ laughed pretty hard at the near miss.
Love them, granddaughter. It was sweet of you to send them to me. Only photos and good memories remain, right?
I've done a few things over the last week, but have few photos to prove it. LH and I went into Grand Rapids again -- this time to Art Prize, an annual competition that features thousands of pieces of art spread across dozens of venues, with a quarter million dollar prize attached to the big winner. We went to 5 of the smaller venues -- two women's clubs, two churches and a coffee shop. They each had between 25 and 100 entries, if memory serves.
I didn't take my camera out of my purse. Our first stop was at the Women's City Club in Heritage Hills, an historic district near downtown.
There were a few bike rides last week, some were pretty nice, a couple were windy, one was cold and windy.
Sunsets keep occurring earlier and earlier. And harvest season has begun.
It was cool and foggy today. There may be another bike ride or two this week, or maybe not. There's some talk of a group ride on Wednesday, and if it materializes, there may be photos.
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