Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Drove down Eight Mile this afternoon, eastbound (that is, the Detroit side), and remarked upon graphic depictions of the decline of a major city, evident in nearly every block.
BTW, no more state fair. Wanna buy some land in Detroit? This parcel has lots of parking….
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Yesterday afternoon several lines of storms came through, and now the garden is moistened anew. Winds were worse around us than here, thankfully. Yet, oddly, the power went out sometime after 8 pm, meaning male members of the household went into sump-pump nurturing mode. We thought it’d be an all-nighter of that, but we were hugely lucky that the power came back on just before 11:30 pm.
Yawn.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Yup, when there’s a basket of these fresh-picked from the garden on the kitchen table, and it’s starting to sprinkle after a dry spell, life is pretty darned good.
Locally, anyway.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
We were on the move today, and had thought about taking the ferry over to Mackinac Island, but spitting rain at the straits caused us to rethink our plans.
Instead, we drove west to Bliss, then down to Cross Village, which is quite a place. Leg’s Inn there, established by a Polish immigrant, is decorated along the roofline with upside down stove legs. We stopped along the beach and took a few photos of the churning skies over Lake Michigan.
We dropped down an extremely scenic (“heritage”) road from Cross Village to Harbor Springs. We found a nice sandwich shop with good bread and a stack of Sunday NYTimes amidst all the fancy places at ritzy Harbor Springs. From there, we continued south to Petosky and then Traverse City, before cutting inland. Nice.
The weather never improved greatly, but we had a great run even so.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
I haven’t yet taken a picture of the stand of lilacs. One year we were here at just the right time, and the floor of this stand had so many morels we picked a loose grocery bag-ful. Believe it or not.
This year…no morels in the lilacs. But the Hunter-Gatherer has been finding them here and there, particularly when he’s been mowing the grass…. And, kindly, he’s shared them with us a time more two. Yum.
Friday, 5 June 2009
…and smells super, too! The orchard is in pretty much full bloom, and the microenvironment is heavily perfumed, in a good way. And the bees are happy!
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Laurel came over, trimming floral specimens as she walked, and then we picked some rhubarb, which isn’t as floral as the lupines and lilacs and jonquils (that are probably something else). They’re just so pretty in her basket that I had to (with the help of a decent Internet connection, which I’ve not had in, what?, two weeks?) make a second post of the day….
Thursday, 4 June 2009
The Botanist found this exceptional rhubarb somewhere and planted it here in the Northland, and it is as tasty as it looks. I promise, there’s no food coloring in this sauce—just rhubarb, sugar, and a little water. The red continues through the heart of the stalk most of the way up to the leaf, instead of just at the base, as with other rhubarbs I’ve examined.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
They’ve gotten into some clever recycling over at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge (your tax dollars stretched in creative ways, no?)—I only wish I could take them home!
Monday, 1 June 2009
Our ancient apple orchard doesn’t have many trees, and they are of diverse types. These blooms are from one of three “early” trees, planted by the grove by Grandma’s brother Norton,* according to The Botanist. They’re already beginning to fade, and the rest of the trees are coming on strong. I am surprised there’s so much pink in the blossoms on many of the other trees.
More of the lupines are showing color, and the ones that earliest showed their blue “skirts” are opening nicely.
The forget-me-nots are gorgeous and dainty, and I can’t seem to take a focused, decent shot of them at all.
* But when? in the 30s? perhaps the early 40s? Dunno.