Miscellaneous

I kept myself motivated and working on all the small and generally annoying tasks that needed to be done by allowing myself 10 pieces in the jigsaw puzzle after each item I got to cross off my list.

Then I took a walk. It was 50° out! The first picture is from today. Paper birch branches against the clear sky. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

And I have something to share from my walk on Sunday. Look who was so busy on a tree he let several of us take pictures. Usually the pileated woodpeckers are skittish. Not this one! This picture has a good silhouette, but the branches are in the way.

This is a clearer picture, but it's the back. Maybe not as interesting, although it's also not a view you see all the time.

These are possibly the best pictures I've taken of a pileated. I did get some good ones in Ohio once, but if I put them on the blog the search is not finding them. Those were unusual because the woodpecker was finding something to eat on the ground and was totally focused on getting it so it didn't notice Marie and me sneaking close. Maybe I'll find and share them some time.

The sky on Sunday was also gorgeous. I have to say that it's much easier to be cheerful when the sky is blue.

I am in good shape to finish the last things on my list tomorrow and pack the car. May put a few more pieces in the puzzle and take my book to bed.

Miles walked in 2026: 45.5

Road walk 4 miles.

See Snow Mushrooms and Other Events

Color in My Kingdom

I still have some really nice autumn photos from the past few days, but I think today I'll just show you what's going on in my corner of the universe.

Here's the female mulberry tree. The male one didn't look too healthy this year. I'm hoping it's not going to die. These two trees have given me several fantastic photos- see link at end for two of them

This is the paper birch I planted about 30 years ago. It's probably too close to the house, but oh, well. It almost died, and then came back, so part of the trunk is ugly. I have to keep trimming it away from the roof. It sheds leaves all over my front flower bed. That creates a big mess to clean up in the spring, but I think it has also improved the soil there tremendously. It's always golden in the fall.

The Sedum elecombeanum that I like so much in the rock garden with its yellow-green leaves all summer and bright yellow flowers in June- turns red-orange in the fall!

There is a big patch of Winged Sumac just out into the field a little ways. I missed the peak of its color, but here is proof that maybe a week ago it was bright.

Here is a picture from last year that shows how beautiful that clump can be.



And my parting shot is one of those "huh?" moments. I posted last year that the maple tree I planted as a sapling about 6 inches tall in 1991 got autumn color for the first time ever. It's the darker orange tree behind the yellow mulberry. That was taken October 31, so almost exactly a year ago.



Here's what it looks like this year. It has very little interest in changing color for me. You can see a few hints of orange/salmon on the edges of some leaves. But it's a nice tree, and I planted it, and it lived. So I like it.

I slept in this morning because I did not sleep well last night. Still got a fair amount done and took my 3-mile road walk.

Miles hiked in 2025: 416.2

See Pink, Blue, and Red

Snowshoe Trail, No Snow

 Mostly, I worked on THE project today. But mid afternoon, Cathy and I took a walk at the Ludington Pumped Storage Project Trails and to the Mason County Campground.

It turns out I guess I haven't been out there for nine years! Well, I got discouraged because they turned the area into a huge disc golf venue with four courses. I'm not against disc golf, but it totally obliterated the trail. A few years ago, a friend of mine re-established it as a snowshoe trail.

It's really a wonderful trail. There is a LOT of topography in a short distance. I didn't take many pictures because everything is brown. There's no snow, and there are no leaves. After hiking so much in the last two years, much of it in the winter months, I'm particularly tired of brown.

Anyway, here is one of my favorite features of the area- one of the biggest glacial erratics we have around here.

We did a loop by going back to the car on the access road. Total of 3.2 miles. On the road we passed some interesting white birch.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 85.6 of which 7.7 is North Country Trail.

Ludington Pumped Storage Project and Mason County Campground. Connecting trail and additional roads. 3.2 miles

See Pepper and Salt

Food, Food, Food

  Sue came over today and she packed up more food. I need to sit down and tally up what I really have to do yet on that project. But great progress was made.

The best scene was this late afternoon shot of the white birch. I think it took the bronze medal. I'll give myself silver for working on the trailer all day, and Sue gets gold for helping all day. Also from getting covered with golden cheese dust from packaging salty snack mixes.

I worked really hard in the trailer all day, but I still don't get to cross anything off. I just had to keep working at whatever I could do on any project while letting something on another one dry or set up or whatever. It's frustrating, because the thing I wanted to work on today got held up again because one of the braces was being a total pain, so I had to take it back down and redo the fiberglass. You just can't rush that.

One of my big goals was to NOT have to go to a store today. Sue says I succeeded because she did the store run!

All the other news is trailer. Cathy is coming to help tomorrow with a specific project, so I need to be ready to do that step when she gets here. I have worked hard to avoid the urge to "play house" and set up the kitchen area as it would be when in use. But I really needed to do that today. I needed to check some clearances, and decide if I am going to order a hanging wire basket for the kitchen. Answer- not sure yet. Looking for one the right size. Anyway... Sue approves of the kitchen. Good thing! She's my first support person and will get to try it out really soon.

I only got to cross off two small items today. The number of BIG ITEMS that are simply going to be dropped is growing.

25 BIG ITEMS to do- I should more accurately say to finish- (37 done), and 38 small ones to do (26 done). 22 days to go.

See Monica Packin Food

"Old" Trail Section, New Season

  Loren and I met up this morning to look at a section of trail where the Eco-Seeds volunteer crew had done some work a couple of weeks ago. One of the things they did was to replace the supports on this small bridge. You can see the new lumber.

They also installed some steps on a couple of steeper slopes. It's always good to have some enthusiastic younger muscles to work on some of the construction projects.

The white birch are just beginning to get leaves.

This piece of trail follows the south shore of the Manistee River for a short distance. It's certainly wonderful to see the trees greening up!

But the big surprise was the wildflowers. I've mentioned before that most of our chapter's trail is in dry sandy hills. There aren't a lot of wildflowers in those areas. But here, down along the river, and climbing to the top of the bluff, there were lots! I'll have to remember this. It was quite interesting that there was still some bloodroot in bloom. It's mostly done by now.

Lots of toothwort, but the sun hadn't really hit the flowers yet for the day, so they were closed up and a little droopy. The flowers don't open flat, but a little more than this.

Miterwort was a welcome sight. It really likes damp places. It was growing at the base of a tree. The roots probably create a little cup of moisture.

And there were quite a few trilliums, too. Also saw trout lily, and woodland horsetail.

I liked this one- it's just a Solomon's seal opening its leaves, but the curls are so perfect!

I had to take a new picture of the pups. They've had haircuts, and you'd hardly know they were the same dogs. I don't think I've ever seen Corky (the white one) shaved.

Anyway, it was only 4 miles, but it was a great hike- learning new things about a familiar section. We put out some new stickers on posts too.

North Country Trail miles in 2021 is at 280.

In other news: Did shopping and errands, and I'm getting ready to leave in the morning for more errands in Grand Rapids and then a vendor event on Saturday. I hope to squeeze in a little hike tomorrow. We'll see.

North Country Trail, Manistee County, MI, Highbridge to Chicago Avenue and back. 4 miles

See More NCT Hike Fun

A Fast 4.5

  Body wanted to walk today. One day of sitting is enough. But I'm so tired of the same road loop. I walked it backwards and expanded it to 4.5 miles. This was the best- a nice primary color winter scene.

I have walked all this before, and ridden bicycle on it, but hadn't noticed this little pond. Maybe it's not usually a pond!

Neat patterns in this small wetland with the hummocks behind the cattails.

The sky was blue to the north, but in the southwest it was very typically wintery.

The roads were mostly clear, with only a few slushy places. Going through town was the worst with icy or unshoveled sidewalks. Still, I averaged 17.1 minutes a mile. I know hikes aren't races, but sometimes the road walks are just a way to get exercise, and upping the speed increases the endurance.

In other news: I did some editing, and switched to non-Christmas accordion pieces to practice. Still pretty much in relaxation mode.

See Three Mile Loop Again

Gold by Day and Night

  The day was filled with errands and then bell choir practice. The sun came out for a while, making the last of the golden leaves brilliant. This is the large white birch by the post office. The link below takes you back to a blog post about that tree from 2009. The images had disappeared, and I wasn't sure I could find them again. But, they were taken with the first camera that had an SD card. I've managed to keep those pretty organized, so I found them and fixed the post! And the day ended with a golden sunset. I slept for 11 hours last night. That cured being unable to wake up! Worked on a lot of small pieces of bigger projects today. I need to have more days like today.

See The Blindness of Familiarity

Spring for a Day - I'll Take It

 
Today was wonderful! Birds, sun, light breeze, flowers. It's leaving again tomorrow, but at least we got to enjoy it for a day.

The white birch is loaded with catkins swaying. Dark pine and blue sky behind it.



The daffodils are at their finest. I really am not going to do anything with flower beds any more, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the things that come up without any extra attention, right? Here is Mt. Hood- a gift from Marie. It opens with a pale yellow trumpet that changes to pure white.



And the multi-color ones that I don't know the actual variety, with a buttercup behind it.



I think this variety is 'Minnow.' It's a miniature, one of the remnants of my rock garden. I do miss my rock garden, but it was SO much work.



Ester gave me some of this corydalis last year. She had so much that she wanted some of it to go away.



One of my favorite daffodils. I bought these long ago, and they don't self-propagate prolifically, but neither have they died. It's called 'Duke of Windsor.' Plain yellow dafs behind it.



And, these are some unknown variety of Sempervivum, Hens and Chicks. They stay maroon all season long, but the color is best in spring.



It's tempting to play in the gardens, but I AM GOING to focus on the things I can actually make happen. I can't compete with the deer, rabbits, squirrels, moles and rotten soil.

In other news: I wrote all morning (making notes), did laundry, did some small things on the trailer and researched a couple things I need, took a short walk, and went to bell choir practice. Then on the way home, I did grocery shopping. I guess it was a full day. No wonder I'm a little tired.

	See Daffodils on Parade
if you like this blog, click

White

 
Another nice day. White probably gets neglected in my color spectrum because... it's just white.

So I concentrated on bringing home some white pictures to feature. How about white birch bark? I like the tones. If it weren't for the green leaves you might think it was a black and white picture.



In fact, here it is in black and white. Very interesting texturally.



The lowly Queen Anne's Lace is always lovely.



The white globe bellflowers bloomed in my garden. Not sure why they are later than the purple ones.



Common yarrow is another overlooked wild flower.



Best white picture? This beautiful cumulus cloud rising in the east. Before I got home the base of it was producing some impressive rumbles of thunder, but nothing came of it here.



In other news: I worked on my files a bit. I worked on my Books Leaving Footprints newsletter a bit. I read a bit. A calm day. That's OK-- I'm supposed to be retired, right?

	See One Garden Fairy, One Garden Liar
if you like this blog, click the +1   or