Memorial Day weekend has come and gone....

Some photos to help preserve the memories -- this is a good place for them right now.

Yes, the water was cold.  It's still May!  But early season swimming is traditional for these two, they've been doing this polar plunge since they were in single digits.  Their mother used to go in with them in those days.

Water temperature in the 50's?  The air was warm and there wasn't much breeze.

OSLO thought about it for a while, but only a little while.  The Grands were here both Sunday and Monday, OSLO arrived on Monday.

Sunday evening I walked down to Tunnel Park along the beach with these two.  We climbed the sand hill and stairs to the top -- that hill gets steeper every year.  They ran down the dune to the park, and we walked back to the house via the inland route.  It's always good to have them here.  We changed up our traditional Memorial Day meal --  everyone likes tacos so that's what we did.  Another summer officially begins.

Ozone Action Day -- Severe weather alert here.

Warmer temperatures here typically mean that the wind is blowing from the south instead of some other more bike ride friendly direction.  I took that as a sign that I needed a destination other than the PSPS, and chose Quincy Park.  It's a nice rural ride for the first half, through woods and blueberry fields.

Here is my annual photograph depicting "the birth of the blues."  (I never get tired of that one.)

There's a new piece of infrastructure across the Harlem Drain that runs through Quincy Park.  Interesting.  I was standing on a wooden bridge over the "creek" when I took the photo.  If that dam structure was there before, I never noticed it.

My turn around spot was the public water source next to the benches overlooking the softball field in the park.  The trip home from there was more urban, except for the pig farm in the middle of the neighborhood just south of Quincy.  Ah, Holland.  The route I took is one familiar to GZ and BDE -- through the dentist's office parking lot, across Butternut, down winding streets though another neighborhood, eventually south to Ottawa Beach Road to check out the congestion surrounding road construction there, then home. Someone should tell the National Weather Service that story about the boy who cried wolf.  It was an unsafe day for children and active adults to be outside, they said.  For me, it would have been a real shame to spend this mild spring day inside.

Syttende mai

Today is Norway's constitution day, the day in 1814 that their constitution was signed, marking Norway's birth as an independent nation.  Happy birthday, Norway.  (See the Prairie Princess' Facebook page for a more norske like greeting.)  It apparently took another 90 years to completely get rid of those pesky Swedes, but eventually it took.  It was a nice enough day -- and I spent part of this morning with the only other person I know here that may be more Norwegian than I am.

Our walking group has re-formed, though we're still missing our canine member.  Today we walked the roads to Tunnel Park, climbed the stairs through the woods, stumble slid down the dune and hiked back up the beach.  The winds and waves cooperated so that we managed to stay mostly dry.

There have been very few bike rides this year, but so it goes.  The ones I've taken have mostly been pretty nice, and today I once again rode up Lakeshore to the PSPS, headed east on Blair to 152nd, and turned south for the return trip.  19 miles or so.  Plenty good enough.

152nd Avenue is blueberry country for long stretches, and the fields are beginning to look like there will be blue fruit available some time in July and/or August.  It was a good day to spend outside.

Mother's Day Weekend

It was a nice Mother's Day weekend here.  The College Girl and Totally Jammin' were here on Saturday to get the yard spruced up -- the first spring mow/trim/clean up of the season.

My own mother had a love of plants and flowers.  African violets were a big favorite of hers, but I also remember that she had forget-me-nots growing outside of the side door in Coleraine.  I planned to plant some here last year, but got talked into "false" forget-me-nots instead.  Brunnera.  The flowers are nearly identical, and these are spring bloomers.  The plants can get to be 1 to 2 feet tall, and grow in a mound, so these will be fun to watch over time.

These are planted by the deck, with more on the front hill.  I was told that deer do not like to eat them.

Unlike these, that are a favorite snack of the four footed pests.  The only tulips of mine that have survived our local herd are on the dune below the deck.  I think they just haven't been discovered yet.

On Sunday the Grands returned with OSLO and her significant other.  They brought a sweet card and this gorgeous calla lily.  We ate brisket, as previously predicted, and JB declared it to be "the best brisket ever."  Maybe so.

Dated

Monday May 2, 2016.  A destination bike ride to the old Pigeon River bridge.  It was not warm, but finally there was a little bit of sun.

May 5, Thursday -- Cinco de Mayo.  JB had a meeting in Saugatuck, which I took advantage of by driving him to the meeting, then doing some shopping in this quaint little village.

Eventually I ended up sitting on a park bench along the waterfront in Douglas, sipping a latte while watching a gaggle of geese and some goslings.

May 6, Friday.  I took another bike ride up Lakeshore, this time my turn around spot was the power plant.

For the sake of symmetry on my blog, I took a photo of the "new" bridge over the Pigeon River.

Spring is still struggling to take hold here, but it's pretty clear that winter is over.  Tulip Time begins tonight with a fireworks display over the inland lake, and with Tulip Time, Mothers Day and Hope College graduation all happening this weekend, Holland will be a busy place.  OSLO and I have decided to eat in on Sunday, to avoid the crowds.  We're thinking a nice brisket.

May Day

It's a cool, foggy Sunday morning here.  The Grands are not here this weekend -- the flu has hit their household, and while they were both still healthy when we talked yesterday, we decided not to risk it.  Old people and flu can be a really bad combination.  I did promise them that I would post a few photos of the newest baby in the family, and the new baby's Mom has given her permission.  So here are a couple of photos of Emily and EMSA's baby, for my favorite grandchildren. (She's beautiful.)

Photo courtesy of GZMooHoo.  Here's one of my photos of Mr. MooHoo holding the same sweet bundle, also taken the morning I left Minnesota for home.  Turns out that we are both still good with babies.  :-)

There was time for lunch and a walk with the parents of the other new baby in the family on Saturday afternoon.  I have lots of photos of that baby, too -- however, I don't have permission to put them on the internet, so we'll have to figure out another way for the Grands to see them.  Here are a couple of photos of some of us, though.  It was a lovely spring day for April.

And here's one of the adults  that were there -- it was good to get to spend some time with these people. I quite like them all.

Sadly I took no photos of the evening that NCW made pulled pork and potato salad and baked beans for a crew of Millers.  The family elders -- all of TT's siblings (except Tom) -- gathered to meet the boyfriend of the Prairie Princess.  He was funny and just a little weird.  (High praise, and all of that.) He seemed to fit in just fine.  It is, of course, up to her.  Before the gathering of the clan at TT's house, Gino and I fit in a walk around Lake Como.

We saw a couple of red wing blackbirds, and two tree trunks lined with turtles, and what may have been wood ducks.  This photo is of none of those things.   In other news, I've taken at least one walk on the beach since I returned home from Minnesota.

LH and I hiked from Pine Bend Park to Hemlock Crossing (and back) one day last week and found a few trillium, as well as finally some of those elusive marsh marigolds.

We had a few storms go through here this week, making for some interesting views from my back yard.

There was also a bike ride -- yesterday, in fact.  Rain was forecast for 3 pm, and it rained earlier than that, so I got wet.  Once again, cold and wet is not much fun.  I was only 3 miles from home, so no harm done.  I took a few photos along the way.

Forsythia bushes at the end of Riley St. (Lake Michigan is at the end of the path in the upper right hand corner of the photo.  Up and over a dune, watch out for the poison ivy.)

I don't know what these are, but they look like tulips blossoms.

I only took 4 bike rides this past month, so not many miles to log.  Most of them were rides to or past the PSPS.  Other than that, it was a busy, maybe even intense month.  Doctor visits, here and in Grand Rapids, seemed to have no negative impacts on JB's health.  I was gone for 4 days, to MN to pay my respects to my much loved sister-in-law's father and my beloved niece's grandfather, and to feel the therapeutic effects of hanging out with my Minnesota family.  My grandson, thankfully, was here while I was gone.  My annual trip to the GVSU campus to assist my granddaughter in her move out of her dorm room on Friday was, as always, good bonding time with her.  Blogging has gotten to be a rare occurrence, but as I've said before, I do like to use this space as a record of family events.   For those of you who are still checking this space -- I'm amazed!  We'll see how it goes.  I'm doing the best I can.