Musings

We had rain overnight and most of the daylight hours, on and on…so we rolled with it and had a low-key day, with a mid-afternoon trip to the nearest groc-shopping hub. As we crested Dollarville Hill, the view north across the Tahquamenon Swamp was so obscured we could only see the south edge. A rain-everywhere situation does indeed bring obscurity.

Now that evening’s here, the sky is overcast and everywhere outside is wet. Cool temps are predicted for tomorrow—sounds like it’ll be a good work day….

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments Off on Enforced relaxation

Although the afternoon was overcast, enough heat was generated by the pallid morning sun that I took my first lake-bath. The water was cool and I didn’t linger, yet I was glad I splash-splashed and washed my hair.

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments Off on Clean clean

This morning was dreary after night-rain, and I walked the beach in my rubber boots. I very much liked this contrasting dark-light sand at the shore, as well as the not-quite identical repeating pattern.

Our Sweet Neighbor joined us for dinner, and brought us flowers! I call them lilies-of-the-coffee-table. As you can see, the gloomy morning turned into a sunny rest-of-the-day.

Posted at 8:58 PM | Comments Off on If you don’t like the weather wait a few minutes

These fisher-folk trolling on the lake reminded me of many paintings, like a Winslow Homer piece, although I think he did sea settings, not a lake like this.

This apple was just so beautiful I had to include a shot of it. Friends kept it through the winter wrapped in newspaper in a crate with many other apples in a cool spot. Some made it, some didn’t. This one is spectacular, and as firm and luscious as it was when it was put into storage.

Posted at 7:55 PM | Comments Off on Evocative

We gazed at the bridge before crossing…unusual for us…usually we just stay on I-75 moving north without stopping.

We found the cottage in a sea of green, meaning mowing is at the top of the chores list when I, perhaps naively, assumed we’d get a few days of respite before it reached calf-height. Nope. Move-in was without drama, just the way we like it.

Ornithological omens at arrival: a spruce hen crossed the road in front of us as we drove out of the swamp just north of our property; when I went down to the lake, the first bird I saw was a loon.

Posted at 10:11 PM | 1 Comment »

Northbound this time of the year in North America is a journey back in spring. In southern Michigan we found our first lilacs in bloom, this small type with a confusing shape to the plant and an unmistakable scent…our first lilacs of 2024.

We also spotted our first Great Lake of the year. We are so fortunate have a room on the beach facing Lake Huron—this is our view. The beach is infested with some sort of beach flies (not mayflies), if you trust my identification. The seagulls are flocking to the insects, so there’s more drama than the waves crashing on land.

Posted at 9:52 PM | Comments Off on Firsts

Back out on the open road using the interstate highway system…our tax dollars at work. In fact, here’s a newly sculpted cut in a an Appalachian spine with what used to be burlap sheeting to stabilize the new surface, and probably now is an inorganic compound emitting bajillions of nano-plastics.

Posted at 8:18 PM | 1 Comment »

Tomorrow is election day, and I thought up this post before I “hit a wall,” and went to bed early. Without posting. Without watching the Rachel–Fani interview.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Delayed post

You’re looking at an illusion. It looks like the sun over to the right, peering through the leaves. But: no; it’s a night shot, and that brightness is the moon. Truly, it was rather dark out; the camera brightened everything (no flash).

Posted at 9:51 PM | Comments Off on Trust me

In early Covid, the Apple store moved to an exterior location in Lenox mall, not far north of our house. We visited there because the Guru’s new iPad (with a fabulous screen), began just rebooting without rebooting, with an Apple logo, then the waiting circle; repeat. Not good. Anyway, a Genius determined that the system software needed to be reinstalled, meaning that after we returned home the Guru started over with repopulating the device with his digital world. Fortunately, the machine seems to be fine…just some software stutter-glitch. [If I have it right.] Oh, the staircase? The sterile, angular, cold staircase? It’s in the interior of the two-story Apple store, invisible to people in the store. Mostly Apple customers leave the store and take the escalator in the hallway outside the store to change levels. Since the rest of the store features clear glass, even along the balcony wall of the second story, this walled-off stairway is additionally strange. Must be a fire code requirement to have the staircase.

Posted at 9:56 PM | Comments Off on Stark stair