Tuesday, 5 August 2025
No humans on the beach today, until I went for my late afternoon lake-bath. I’m guessing these are pelican tracks; they’ve been sighted, but not by me.
Great fun dining with the neighbors. Short Stuff created her own midden of mostly brown rice.
Saturday, 2 August 2025
We met up with an extended family of the combined genetic and friendship sorts for a very lovely ritual…
…involving kayaks and a few flowers. Soooo glad we attended.
BTW, almost no breeze yet no biting flies down on the Lake Michigan shore. We did not kayak, but we admired those who did, and the paddleboarders, too. I now know there are inflatable paddleboards.
Note the smokaze.
Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Somehow, these harebells looked bluer in person, although I rather like the purple-pink cast.
Keeping the bluer shade in mind, know that I was going to make some sort of (weak) joke about blue and gold being overshadowed by green green green pretty much everywhere else. Thus, we can say “Spartans win!,” no?
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Tonight, we enjoyed a group dinner-on-the-deck, with four younguns in constant motion (more or less), around us assorted adults. Here, the two six-year-old boys attempt to hoover up all the smoked whitefish appetizer. The moms sent them elsewhere soon after this, and the rest of us were able to nosh….
Saturday, 26 July 2025
We stopped at a rest area with well-tended flower beds, and I took over a dozen shots. Looking through them, I realized all were of yellow or yellow-orange specimens, except for two rather desiccated white daisies. Am I part bee?
When we crossed the bridge, ever a hugely important landmark when connecting two immense peninsulas, the sky looked strange. I figured there were smoke particles in the mix with humid air, but never smelled it…which I’m happy about.
I took a lake-bath about 8pm, to sluice off the sweat and bring my temperature down after doing assorted cottage-opening chores in the heat and humidity. Now the temp’s dropped to 72° and it feels heavenly. The humidity is down to 82, but it’ll be picking up through the night, to decrease again when the sun arrives. After tomorrow’s heat (outrageous high of 90°F predicted), the highs are supposed to moderate. I sure hope so.
Friday, 25 July 2025
I always get a bit excited to see this long-view of the mountains, even though the powerlines-strung-with-orange-caution-balls disrupts the skyscape, as it signals that we’re leaving the Piedmont…in short: we’re On The Road!
Not pretty enough? Here’re some asters at dusk three states to the north.
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Often kids accept that the household practices of their home are what happens in the other homes around them. I remember thinking how odd it was that none of the neighbors changed out their living room rugs so that there was a winter one and a summer one. Of course, many of them had wall-to-wall carpeting and that complicated my pattern observation. Turns out, I’ve yet to meet someone who changed out the rugs like my mom insisted we do. Was that a Victorian practice?
Monday, 21 July 2025
I walked around the corner to a local shop to do an errand, and today’s gully-washer hit! This was the view out into the back parking lot.
It wasn’t all bad, because I waited in a bookstore!
When I left, it hadn’t totally quit raining, but I had a broad-brimmed sunhat on so I was (largely) covered.
Friday, 18 July 2025
Apologies for delayed post. I just got too yawn-y too early to have sufficient thought to post before crashing.
I’m fine (she indicates while sipping her morning coffee).
Monday, 14 July 2025
Like gardenias and camellias, I was unfamiliar with caladiums when I moved to the deep south. I’ve never grown caladiums, although one time I planted them at the new house of friends.