Musings

We headed out early, down the Garden Peninsula to the ghost town of Fayette. Here’s the business part of town, where workers made charcoal pig iron for 24 years. The market began to decline and the hardwoods they made the charcoal from were no longer nearby…and, pfft, an industrial town went out of business.

I always take harbor-pilings photos. The water seemed higher than the last few years.

We made our return via Kitch-iti-kipi, the Big Spring. Love the raft ride, powered by park visitors’ arms.

More trout(?) that I ever remember seeing swam in the depths as we made our slow crossing and return.

Hot day; good day to avoid outdoor chores by going sight-seeing!

Posted at 9:16 PM | Comments Off on Excursion SW day

Train and…reflections.

Fern and…forest-floor floral friend.

Waterfall and…reflection.

Stars and…you know.

Lovely day to take a long, slow train trip, a slightly hustling walk (The Foot, of course) during…intermission(?), and the same long, slow train trip back. Not a loop; instead, an up-and-back.

In a foreign country!

Great fun!

Posted at 9:23 PM | Comments Off on And…

Pretty sure this is the Heracleum that is not friendly to the skin–sap makes the human skin photosensitive, causing blistering and burning (wild/cow parsnip).

A couple of years ago I saw one flourishing over the hill, but this one is by our beach!

Pondering how to carefully remove the plant with no…downstream negative effects…no burns, skin blistering or brown streaks that can last over a year!

Moon over Whitefish Lake. Which used to have whitefish in it, I have read. Most people don’t call it that anymore…because? no whitefish? I prefer the old name to the modern one: South Manistique Lake.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Appearance and disappearance

On a quiet evening, a stroll can be so rewarding. The lake was quiet. [Last night we heard a loon.]

But not too quiet. Doe and fawn also out for a stroll….

And the peonies are beginning to open. Just yesterday they were closed buds.

And the lupine field remains gorgeous. Look at the color variation. I think this year my favorites are the dark purple-blue ones and the bicolor variants.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Evening stroll

Lake Michigan was quiet (for it) yesterday when we cruised by, and our lake was relatively quiet later today…after rain last night and breeziness mid-day.

And, this evening, plein-air dining…with birdie pepper/salt shakers! And rhubarb spice cake! Yum!

Posted at 9:57 PM | Comments Off on Slapped a deer fly, too

Yeah, pure Michigan. Like the idea, but I haven’t yet been willing to put this stuff in my gullet. Not likely to change that opinion, either.

Moving on, yeah, the fish-flies are still here, and this one wanted to be my best friend. Pooooooooof, I exhaled, and it was gone, off to find another sponsor in this hard, hard world.

Droney captured a lovely, still-sunny moment. Lordy, lordy, the lupine are lovely. We are enjoying them to the n-th degree!

And, we reunited with our good friends (sigh; love them!) who have looked after our place through the winter doldrums and captured-and-eliminated many rodents who sought to reside in Our House (aka cottage), against Our Wishes, through the winter quiet. We reoccupied The Cottage without much competition from Rodents or Bats, in great part thanks to the efforts of ukelele-playing Puppet-Woman, whom today we recognized as Saint UPPW….

Posted at 10:08 PM | Comments Off on Moving right along

Despite all the spring blossoms, I found these juniper berries today. I usually associate fruits/berries with no earlier than mid-summer for woody plants. [Turns out juniper berries are “fleshy cones;” live and learn.]

Posted at 9:27 PM | Comments Off on What season?

Eastbound for long miles means your body clock gets confused when you cross time zones…and maybe, despite the odds that you’ll run late, it’s easier to get up with the sun. That was this morning for me…and the east-facing window meant I had a good view of the sunrise. Thank me for not offering progressive (aka repetitive) shots of the sunrise…a wee bit higher and a wee bit higher…you get the idea.

And, down at breakfast, a yogurt dispenser? Don’t recall seeing this before. No info about what kind of yogurt was dispensed…plain? with tons of additives? Greek? So suspicious, I am.

The day was long miles. Some were sunny. Some were rainy. Some were spitty, perfect for the intermittent wiper setting. Some were bright. Later, they became dark. We crossed several state lines, the last bringing us into the ATL time zone. I am posting this as we roll the final miles before we reach the city…the magic of technology, no?

Posted at 11:01 PM | Comments Off on Briefly

Darn. You can’t tell it’s snowing in the picture, even if you squint. But it was. Lazy drifting flakes. No accumulation. 😎

I nosed around outside after I finished my packing—first of suitcases and similar, and then of the car. I wanted to get pictures of the place, memory pictures we call them. I also found clear evidence that the plants have progressed into spring in this not-quite-a-week that we’ve been here. Poplar?

Our first stop was at Cerrillos, a boom town for a bit, and now a grid of unpaved streets. We walked from the visitor center a couple of blocks to this combination rock shop and natural history/history museum. The former was free and the latter $2. We just looked at the rocks.

Outside, we checked out the petting zoo, and this aggressive mama-to-be got plenty of happy pats from Nephew #2.

Returning to the car I found this just-opening lilac bush and happily shoved my nose into the bee-free blossoms.

Next stop was the Saturday packed-and-busy former ghost town of Madrid. Perhaps the best thing about the town was this bumper sticker. And that the main road was paved.

Our final sight-seeing stop was for us a return visit to Sandia Crest. Still ice on a few of the trees, but the wind wasn’t so stiff and the temp was much higher. We shared our watermelon (of course!) snack with other folk in the parking lot, then rebounded to descend to the city.

I think the nephews enjoyed the view. Down in ABQ, we said our goodbyes and they headed to the airport while we headed for first-class down time. Sigh. Such good times, with many laughs and a great week of getting reacquainted. Great weather, some fine food…. Lucky us.

Posted at 9:12 PM | Comments Off on Snow; yes, snow

From our rural rancho, we headed north, in general up the Río Grande Valley. Then we turned west, and descended to the river. This is looking up the valley before we crossed the river and began our ascent of the eroded flank of a extinct volcano.

As we climbed, we eventually reached elevations where we saw the tall pines I suspect are Ponderosas.

We stopped in Los Alamos. We recommend the Bradbury Museum. It’s not named after Ray. The displays are eye-catching and up-to-date. This is from the section on current research.

The nephews tried the thick-gloves and found it not-so-easy to pick up light plastic shapes and put them in large-ish test tubes.

After lunch, we headed over to Bandolier National Monument. Because the winds were kicking up, we headed off on the main train, near the visitor center, which goes to, through, and by kivas, room-block ruins, and cliff dwellings.

This is the room-block ruins of Tyuonyi (Qu-weh-nee) village today—I’m left in black.

For comparison: 1923 US government photo of Tyuonyi, before stabilization of walls.

Stabilized walls of Tyuonyi at eye level.

Here’s a section of wall that has rows of holes that held beams that were roof/floors (low in this shot).

Here’s a close-up of petroglyphs on the wall (a crop of the photo above).

Here’s another section of wall. The roof/floor beam holes are even more obvious…. At the base of the canyon wall are the ruins of rooms. Some of these rooms would have been for storing food, rather than for living in.

Farther up the valley is a high-elevation cliff dwelling; it’s in that ovate. Starting from the left in the lowest blob of tree shadow you may be able to pick out a gleam from a handrail. That’s already one ladder up from the valley floor. Visitors continue to the right to three more ladders, eventually reaching that large cave to the upper right. It’s large enough to have a kiva (closed) with ruins along the margins of the space (I’m told).

We also really enjoyed walking in the Frijoles Valley. The wind was kicking up, and we were glad we set off walking just after our arrival in the valley. It’s now several hours after we left Bandolier, and the winds are fierce—as they were last night. This is mildly concerning because the fire warning levels are “extremely high” and we are out in the bush (as it were), and the electricity has already flickered twice. But, it’s on now, so I’m going to get this up! Or at least try to.

Posted at 9:33 PM | Comments Off on Los Alamos and Bandolier