Pink, White, and Blue, and a Beet

 I bought one more blue petunia on closeout for $1. It's not as pretty as the first one, but it's OK. The planter actually looks decent except for all the surrounding junk.

Last weekend, Jean gave me a yellow beet. Yummers. I ate it earlier in the week, but will share today because I don't have much else right now. I LOVE beet greens. I think they are my favorite cooked greens.

That was part of one meal. Then I had the beet itself for another meal.

This week, Corewell Health was giving out free bags of produce to Seniors. I expected some apples and potatoes, but it was actually great. Corn, cukes, carrots, a few potatoes, spinach and basil. I think they might have come from the community garden. It was all actually fresh, not store packaged. I really appreciate this. The price of food is out of control. I was surprised there was no zucchini. I actually wouldn't mind if someone left a couple in my car!

I was pretty busy today. Edited and then got ready for this weekend's event in Onekama. Had to restock my supply buckets and repack the car. Also needed to finish reading two books because I'll probably be seeing the authors this weekend. The recycling is on the way to the event, so that's all stacked on top of the book tubs to be dropped off first. Have to leave at 7:30 in the morning, so I need to be ready tonight.

Oh, I also made yogurt and some breakfast bars.

See Not Red White and Blue

Hiking with Kate

 Today, I got to take a hike with the brand new Executive Director of the North Country Trail Association. She is spending time visiting with a few of us "old f*rts" who have been around long enough to see a lot of things happen with the trail. Her name is Kate Hagner.

We could have met over coffee, but how much better to take a hike together!

We went to Sterling Marsh so I could show her the massive boardwalk project our chapter did a few years ago. There's a bit of open water.

Just proof that we made it all the way to the beginning of the 13 boardwalks. Yes, each one is numbered.

She signed our fairly new trail register! I'm thrilled to see that about 4 pages of entries have already been made.

We talked the whole way about hopes and dreams for the trail. I'm afraid I did more of the talking. I guess that was kind of the purpose, but still... I could have shut up and done more listening. Nevertheless, I got to tell her my personal hot buttons on trail issues, so I feel valued. Her head must be spinning as she does this with a whole bunch of trail people.

Best nature find- A tooth fungus.

At first, I didn't think that's what it was because I didn't see the teeth. The edges are smooth. But they are hiding back in there!

We did about 3.5 miles. She got to see the Ed Chappel boardwalk and a very pretty section of trail. And listen to me- what a treat! Ha (I really did talk too much but hopefully she'll forgive me.)

Miles walked in 2026: 290.7
Miles on the NCT in 2026: 112.2
Onekama Challenge: 102.5- complete!

North Country Trail, Lake Co, Michigan, Jenks TH south 1.75 miles and back.

See NCTA Introduces New Executive Director

10 Miles = Hike 100 Challenge

 It took a little longer than last year, but I finished the 2026 Hike 100 Challenge today. It wasn't planned, but it seems fitting that I accomplished it at the place the trail is closest to my house.

I pulled this off with a ten-mile hike on the North Country Trail today. In fact, it's the first ten-mile hike I've done this year. I needed to accomplish one for sure before I commit to my hopeful hike this fall.

Well, I did it. And I did it in 88% humidity. The temperature was decent, but I was soaking wet when I got home and not because it rained. It WAS supposed to rain, but it didn't. My knees and hips are tired, but not impossibly painful, and the joints didn't seize up like concrete after I got home.

Two nice finds on the trail. This is a group of Inky Cap mushrooms.

Best find of all was a really large blue racer. They aren't endangered, but they are becoming more rare.

Here's a closer look at his head. He was right beside the trail, but he let me pass.

I didn't do much else today. I figured the long hike would be enough. It took me just over 3.5 hours. I did take one snack break, so that was pretty close to a 3 mile/hour pace. I chose the route on purpose because it has decent elevation change. Not sure about all the ups and downs in between, but overall, I climbed 260 feet from beginning to turnaroud. If I'd been willing to make it an 11-mile hike I could have climbed another 130 feet. Maybe another day. That's a fair amount of elevation change for around here, so even though it's such a familiar hike to me, it's a good workout.

Miles walked in 2026: 287.2
Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 108.7= Complete
Onekama Challenge: 99.0 miles! I'll complete that tomorrow.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Wingleton Rd to 8th St and back. 10 miles

See 2025 Hike 100

Onekama Township Parks

One of the things you can do for the Onekama Challenge is visit all 7 Onekama Township Parks to get a sticker. Today, Cathy and I went and did that. There were places you could hike/walk at 3 of them.

First we went to John Langland Park which is where the channel from Portage Lake enters Lake Michigan. There is a short accessable walkway to the beach, but by hiking a little extra down to a public access point we were able to hike along the channel to the light on the north breakwall.

I do love these Lake Michigan pictures with nothing but sky and water.

There were ducks alongside the breakwall. Mama merganser...

And a raft of teenagers trailing her.

Then we went to North Point Park where there were also hiking trails. Part were paved for accessibiltiy, and part were dirt surface. One short loop was gravel. A nice feature there was a garden of native plants that are labeled in Braille, Anishinaabemowin, Spanish, and English. Most of the plants are very new or gone. Hopefully it will be maintained. That had 2 miles of trails, and they were fine, but my favorites were the lakeside one above, and the next one.

There was a mile of trail at Glen Park. This is the site of a mineral spring where a grand hotel was built in the late 1800s. The waters were considered restorative, and people traveled from all over to visit. Here is Cathy on a bridge over the creek.

Several places in the creek still have these ceramic tiles sunk in them to contain pools of the mineral water. And these three are under a shelter to help preserve them. I sampled the water, and yup, it has that oily, mineral taste.

Of course the hotel burned long ago, and we couldn't even figure out where it had been. This park had the most primitive trail and the most topography.

After we visited all seven (two of them we barely got out of the car because it was just a matter of taking a picture of a sign for wetland preserves- but it was good to know the township is preserving a fair amount of wetlands), we went for ice cream. Came home, did a few errands, voted. Oh yeah, I got laundry on the line before we left this morning. I had a Zoom event at 6 pm, but I forgot. Hopefully it was recorded.

Miles walked in 2026: 277.2
Onekama Challenge: 89.0 miles

Onekama Township, Michigan, John Langland Park, Glen Park, and North Point Park trails. Total 4.1 miles

See Portage Lake- A Brief Glimpse

Critter Day

These were taken over the last few days. Here's my local woodchuck. They often take very human poses, and this one was standing upright for quite a while before s/he saw me and scooted away. Just needs a vest and tophat!

This is author friend Jean with one of her chickens that helps her sell books. This is Jelly.

Here's a Margined Blister Beetle. There were a bunch in the rock garden. I'm not sure what they were eating. Web says they eat alfalfa, but probably other things too. If you squish them the "juice" can give you a blister.

This is one of the red meadowhawk dragonflies. But it's smaller than the ones I usually see. Not sure which of the meadowhawks. This was also in a flower bed.

Here's the best one, but I couldn't move fast enough to get the best picture. There was a very large spider climbing up a rock in the rock garden. But it didn't look right. Then I realized that the spider was dead and it was being carried by about 5 ants that were probably taking it "home" for dinner. I don't think I've ever seen ants capture anything this large. You can see one ant hanging on the lower leg of the spider and one pulling at the very top.

Today, I worked my little part-time job, did some volunteer stuff and some gardening. Took a road walk after dinner- 4 miles.

Miles walked in 2026: 273.1
Onekama Challenge: 84.9 miles

See Ruby Meadowhawk