Reading Rocks in Rockford - 2025

This year, Reading Rocks in Rockford did not conflict with National Trails Day (next weekend), so I signed up again. Last year I explained some about how well the event was run, and I'll say that again. They (the library) have been doing this for 16 years, so they have every detail covered. Every author had to have at least one book aimed at kids (babies through teens, so there's a lot of leeway there) to participate.

This is the Book Bus that is a mobile library with books for kids up through about 6th grade.

It's pretty great to see a community where kids are excited about books. There are reading awards given throughout the year. There are featured authors who speak. There are crafts, and just lots of kid-centric fun.

Flicka the miniature horse was there again.

My friend "Stella the Dinosaur," could find a soul-mate here.

But I have to be honest and say that I gave my heart to Willow the Vizsla. Yes, it's a puppy. Vizsla puppies look like miniature adults, not puppy-ish. That's one feature that helped me identify Maggie as a Vizsla.

I did quite well, for which I am grateful. Only problem, the day did not warm up as fast as I expected so I about froze for the first couple of hours. I rarely forget to take an extra jacket, but I take no responsibility for my actions before at least 7 a.m.

So three hours of driving, book vendor event, and then I took a hike. I'll tell you about that tomorrow. Hint- the NCT goes right through Rockford on the street the library is on!

I've made it to tired. Not doing much else tonight.

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Reading Rocks in Rockford

 Today was an event I've been trying to get into for several years. It's a little different from the average vendor event. The focus is on getting kids to read. You can sell books that are general audience, but you are supposed to have at least one title that is aimed at a younger audience- everything from toddlers to teens.

It was a very well-run event. First of all, they appreciate authors. You pay a deposit when you are accepted, but if you show up for the event you get that money back. They provided a light breakfast, and a free slice of pizza for lunch to all authors. Authors are not asked to donate a book for prizes. (That annoys me slightly... especially at events where we already pay a fairly stiff fee to get in.)

They have games, crafts, and activities for kids. Every time someone bought a book from one of the 34 authors they got a "ticket" which was entered into a drawing for two nice prize baskets at the end of the day.

This is the Rockford Book Bus. The library got a grant to create this mobile library that carries only books for kids up through about 6th grade. I didn't get a chance to ask how it operates, but I assume it has scheduled stops around the Rockford area throughout the summer.

There was also the regular Bookmobile, and the library was right across the street with a "bag of books for $5" sale. Certain authors were also giving programs.

Every single vendor was an author selling their own books. The picture was taken before it actually opened, so it looks bare, but there were plenty of people who came.

Lots of families came out. The organizers have done a fantastic job of drawing the local audience to this event.

There was an area where there were dogs who had been somehow approved as safe and were available for kids to pet. They all wore little jackets that said they were pettable.

I saw this lady come into the area and thought she was bringing a big dog. Nope! It was a small horse. Her name is Flicka, and she let everyone pet her.

Actually I saw more kids enjoying the real animals than these kind. A couple of little ones were kinda freaked out at the costumes. There was a dog, a tiger, and this elephant.

So, will I do this again? I will recommend it in a heartbeat. I did reasonably well in sales. But, here's the thing. It is always on the first Saturday in June which is also National Trails Day. That meant I had to miss our trail chapter's event which also included a short business meeting. It's a tough decision. Guess I'll see how I feel about it next April when it will be time to apply again.

I thought I could get in some garden work when I got home, but it started raining immediately after I arrived. And then there is the energy factor. I should try to do a little something else tonight, but I am tired, and I have plans for tomorrow too.

Maybe a little spark of energy will appear from somewhere yet this evening. Maybe not.

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Cattails and Horse Tails

  I didn't sleep much last night, and had a terrible time getting moving today. I did finally go paint for a while, and then Cathy and I took a short road walk.

These two beauties came over to say hello to us.

My brain was too groggy to process much, but I tried to get a couple of interesting pictures of last year's cattails. I do like this one with the reddish saplings behind.

Are the individual heads ratty or artistic?

Only walked about 3 miles, but it was good to do a little bit.

In other news: I did manage to pull my brain together enough to do a little editing, and run a couple of errands. And- just for an extra chuckle, there were some potatoes along the road, and we picked up a few... free food!

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Glorious Temperature!

  Cathy is now officially semi-retired, so we can do longer walks on Tuesdays. There is still the constraint of bell choir practice at 5 pm, but we were able to do a longer road walk. And we chose a place where not every road is a straight, flat line.

We were welcomed by this cutie.

The temperature was almost 60 degrees! I started out with a light shirt over my t-shirt, but ended up shedding even that. There was a light breeze, but surprisingly, it was warm. The wind near the lakes is almost always cold. The sun made last year's beech leaves glow.

This loop was out on the north portion of Hamlin Lake. There are quite a few other loops we can do in this area, so I'm sure we'll be back there. Upper Hamlin is more narrow and is oriented east-west. There's a map at the link below if you care to see. I was a bit surprised to find that it's still completely iced over. (If you look at that map, we were hiking near the number 10)

We walked past a place I've showed you before, but there is a new sign there now. This is Indian Pete Bayou. More about it at the link below.

It certainly felt spring-like in more ways than just the temperature. We saw and heard the first red-wing blackbird of the season. Ditto a sandhill crane. I tried to get a picture, but only got two shots of blue sky. I did catch a cedar waxwing.

Sun on the water makes nice reflection pictures.

We hiked a 6.4 mile loop, and had time to go buy cold drinks and a salty snack. We went to the beach to enjoy them. Locals enjoy walking the beach in any season, even if we have to put up with the ugly sand fencing in the winter. It does keep the sand from drifting to some extent. Even so, they always have to do serious road and park cleaning in the spring, to return lots of sand to the beach. You don't have to guess where the lighthouse is in this picture! People were even walking on the breakwall today.

In other news: Finished the tax paperwork- ready for the appointment tomorrow. Took this walk, had bell choir practice, and then did grocery shopping. I think I'm done for today!

And just a silly sidenote- I got an itch to rewatch the 1978 movie, Coma, last night. It holds up surprisingly well. Still pretty creepy!

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Just Chillin'

 
I'm still with Ester, and we mostly concentrated on not doing very much. That was perfect for me! I did take a little 4-mile walk around her country block. A lovely pastoral scene



I hope the kids are coming back to put the pony away. Meanwhile, it was waiting patiently.



And this smallish woodchuck was keeping an eye on me.



I have more pictures from the trail for you, but may need to get home with my books to nail down some identifications first. I think there is another day of chillin' ahead.

However, I am sort of beginning to think about it being time to get my head back into author mode. Sort of. I read the first five chapters of The Lonely Donkey to Ester, and she likes it. That may motivate me.

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Five Miles with Cathy

 

I was hoping Cathy might be free to do a fast road walk this afternoon, and she was! This was great, because it makes the pavement miles seem to go much faster. You aren't thinking about your feet when you are visiting.



And I got to see some miles I don't walk as often because we went out from her house instead of mine.

I've showed you wild clematis seeds (Old Man's Beard) before, but not for a long time, so I guess you won't be tired of it.



Next mile had a couple of handsome horses.



The geese were moving and honking overhead. Not sure if these are some late migrators or just a local bunch that stays.



We didn't start walking till 4 pm, so it was getting on toward dark when we finished. I like the sun on the trees.



Same time as yesterday- 90 min for 5 miles, which is 18 minutes a mile. Not bad. It's a real treat to have these relatively mild days in December. I'm happy to get limbered up. Too much sitting this month.

In other news: I wrote in the morning and did more formatting in the afternoon. Went to the grocery store after we walked. Hopefully that is that last shopping before Christmas. You may remember that we pretty much celebrated at Thanksgiving when Steve was home. However, we got stuff for a nice meal on Wednesday, and have some activities tomorrow night. All will be calm, and that is FINE with me.

See Singin' Between the Rains

When Ben Fisher Reappeared

 
I had to scan some pictures today, so I thought I'd add one more little piece to some family history. You might recall that a year ago I ran across a picture of Benjamin Smith Fisher when he was young. I believe him to be 13 or 14 in this picture, taken about 1897, just before he ran away. He was my grandmother's brother. She was oldest, Ben was next, then Lew and Charley.

So from 1897 on, no one knew what had happened to Ben. His parents died, and both of his brothers died. Only Emily, my grandmother, was left.

In 1955, out of the blue, we received three photographs and some gifts from Ben. He had settled in Montana, working at the Anaconda Copper Company mines. I believe he herded sheep on their land.

His wife, Clara, wrote this on the back of the picture of Ben on Snowball. You can see the Anaconda smokestacks behind them.

Dear Emily,
Here is a picture of Ben on the Snowball. She is pure white. But was a little dirty when the picture was taken making her look gray. Hope you have a good time on your vacation. We are very busy now but won't be when we get back in the valley.
Ben & Clara

He sent one more picture of himself with three children identified only as Clara's nieces. The front one looks like a boy to me. I don't think Ben had any children, but I'm not positive.



Oddly enough, yesterday was his birthday. He would have turned 136. I did not know that until just now. He died the year before Granny, so she, the oldest of the siblings, lived the longest. Ben is buried in Idaho. All the rest of the family is in Spencer, New York. I believe he wrote to Granny a few more times. We knew he retired to Idaho. I know I wrote a couple of childish letters, but never got any back.

Here's the gift he sent me. He also sent salt and pepper shakers, and earrings for Mom and Granny, all made from copper. We never had any idea how he found out where Emily was, or how he know she had a living daughter and granddaughter.



In other news: It was a wacky day. I couldn't sleep last night. Finally thought it must be close to when I needed to get up and clear the driveway. Nope, it was 2 am. Lay down again, and at 3:30 gave up and went out to run the snowblower. When I came in at 4:30 I still was wide awake, so I watched a Perry Mason episode, and finally fell asleep. Naturally, then I slept the morning away. I did manage to do a little editing and formatting and housecleaning this afternoon.

See Startling Family Resemblance

Day Twenty - Midland to Mackinac

 
It was a really early start for me. Actually, not the earliest I've ever made it on the trail, but close. We spotted my car and then Sue dropped me off at a road corner with my pack and gear and a half piece of apple pie hoarded from last night's dinner. It was barely light! I ate my pie and started off on one of those unnecessary loops that adds three miles of trail where a one-mile road walk would get you there. But I'm trying to do "the trail."

If it hadn't been so wet and foggy, I think there would have been some views because the trail climbed a ridge and stayed up there for a while.



I kept seeing these weird fungi all day. It breaks open like an earthstar, but the ones without water didn't seem to have the central button of the earthstars. I have no field guides with me. But they were neat.



I walked in steady rain for two hours, and then it backed off to just a drizzle. And, of course, there was the nearly obligatory bushwhack when the blazes disappeared. Actually, I was somewhat concerned about having to do a bushwhack today. This piece is really out in the boonies. There were very few things one could bushwhack toward and be sure of finding. I explored both routes available when the blazes ended, and both led to dead ends.

At the end of the second try, I actually considered turning around, walking all the way back to the main road, and around on roads to get my car, because I wasn't even sure how close I was to where I needed to go. But I had just enough service to get my location. It said I was 1000 feet from the two-track I was trying to get to. The problem was a huge wetland between me and it.

Once you commit to bushwhack without being certain of finding the same path back you'd better know where you are headed. I didn't feel really good about it, but I worked my way west (I could hear an occasional car), and eventually came out on a two-track with BLUE BLAZES, and was only a few hundred feet from Stoney Creek Pond. Right where I needed to be. Thank you, Lord!



When I got to Stoney Creek Campground, I made new friends who fed me a hot and satisfying lunch of potatoes with sausage, eggs and vegetables, and a big cup of orange juice and a gingersnap. That was quite a treat! Multiple dogs, Bandit the pet goat who is housebroken, and two horses. Nice people. And they said if I lost the trail beyond there I could come back and they'd drive me around to my car. This was very reassuring, because the next three miles were some of the ones I was most concerned about. Trail angels!





However, the trail was really well marked for the rest of the day and I never lost it again. Loved the water drops on the aspen leaves.



The fall colors are showing more and more.



OK, just because I could find the trail didn't mean it wasn't without a couple of issues. Here's a beaver lodge for you. Where beaver lodge, they build dams. They are trying to take over the "road" the trail followed all afternoon. They have built five dams to expand their ponds which is causing water to flow across the road. This is in addition to all the ordinary kinds of puddles. I managed to walk across the first dam, but the others were overgrown with saplings. I just had to wade the ponds. Nothing over knee deep. Kind of begs the effort I spent to stay more dry all morning in the rain, however!



One more bright and cheerful hint of fall.



I reached the car at 2:40, which is nice and early, but remember, I'd been walking since 8 a.m! I also saw a kingfisher, a blue heron and another grouse. I haven't mentioned these, but I flush one up almost every day.

Anyway, miles for the day that count as forward progress: I'm saying 13.5. Miles actually walked: maybe 14.5. Total miles of progress on the trail: 165.

This is adding up nicely, but there is no way for me to finish in the remaining time I have. I'm going to hike tomorrow, since the weather looks decent. Right now, they are saying thunderstorms for Monday and Wednesday. I may go home, and try to get someone to come back with me after the weekend to spot me for the three or three-and-a-half days I'll need to finish.

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Friday Night Live

 
I did something tonight that I would never do of my own free will (because it's all about crowds and noise), except that I had a purpose. Needed to scope out the Friday Night Live event in Ludington as a possible future venue of the book event that we had last weekend.

The entire downtown of Ludington is closed to traffic and there is family-friendly stuff all over. Here's some of what I captured. The Flipstar Gymnastics Club was doing a demonstration. I caught one girl in mid-flip.



I'm adding one more picture because I want to show you that all the girls, big to small, lined up and each did what they could in a run whether it was the standard two flip-flops and a roundoff or back flip, or just a roundoff or maybe one flop-flop. Most of the girls who ended with the roundoff were then spotted by the coach to add on a back flip.



The West Michigan Old Engine Club had a whole line up of antique tractors.



And an antique fire engine which kids could climb on.



I got there just after 6 pm, when it had barely opened, and it runs till dark. There was already a sign that said all the pony ride tickets for the entire evening were already sold out!



There are portable stages with live music at the deadends of each closed off street. This band was at the end of the main drag. They were playing zydeco. Of course, when I heard the accordion I was just pulled down to see the player. His keyboarding was very good, but that's what he is, a keyboarder, not an accordionist. He never played any of the left hand buttons, and that thumb on the frame of the keyboard is a no-no. Nevertheless, very enjoyable because he was good and also a good singer.



In other news: I worked half the day out at Shagway. Made a little progress on my computer restoration. Realized another batch of files I've lost. Found out some more things to try to get my phone reading its card again. Sometimes technology is the pits.

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