Paddling, Playing (Bells), Perfect

 Bruce and Jenny invited me to go paddling with them again today. Well, I had planned to get a lot of work done, but with the weather so gorgeous... you know I went paddling.

There were a lot of water lily pads, and the sun was making the underwater stems glow with an amazing neon red color, but I was not able to capture a single picture of this. You'll have to settle for the pads floating.

We saw a fair amount of wildlife, but I didn't get many pictutes. there were painted turtles sunning themselves (I got pictures, but they are nothing special), little fish (Bruce thought maybe bass), two kingfishers, a hawk, and another heron. I got a couple of pictures of it, but was shooting into the light, so they aren't great.

No frog on a lily pad, but how about a snail?

Love the reflection of this floating log.

The low hills surrounding the lake are in full autumn color. What lake you ask? Shhh. I promised I wouldn't share too loudly. It's a very special place. Gooseneck Lake.

I'll end with my two favorite pictures of the day. The color of this pattern on the water, and the stong horizontal and vertical lines just makes me want to dance.

Maybe this is my favorite: floating leaf.

I have so many good pictures, I can't even share them all.

We paddled some out toward the middle, and not that going along the shore is a bad thing, but I discovered that I really like being out in deeper water. We spent 4 hours, and it just didn't seem that long at all.

And, I at least got one of the handbell videos processed. Sorry, these take a while to do.



What I had hoped to do today was re-read the part of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp that I have written and see if it's really going to work. I have been doubting that it was worthy. After the long break from writing on it, it's easier for me to assess how readable it is. I'm up to chapter 20, and still feeling good about it.

Got some sad new today that a good friend has had a serious stroke. Of course, no one gets guarantees in life, but at our ages, there are certainly fewer good days left than previously. I am extra thankful for the perfectly wonderful day today.

See What a Perfect Morning

What a Perfect Morning!

  Believe it or not, I haven't been paddling since 2017. That's hard to get my head around, but true. Well, I was doing a little hiking, and I have an issue with no rack for my car again. Pretty sure that date is accurate.

Anyway, friends Bruce and Jenny invited me to kayak on Round Lake, and they said they would bring all the equipment on their trailer. Can't turn that down!

The north side of Round Lake is not developed and we all enjoyed the "wild" feel. The quiet was wonderful. There were a couple of small boats on the lake, but it wasn't noisy at all. We loved the eroded roots of trees. This was the best. It looks like it's trying to climb out of the lake.

The colors of the day were blue...

and green.

We did see a couple of kingfishers, but getting pictures of them is nearly impossible. However, this blue heron let us get pretty close.

Got a decent picture when it took off.

But it didn't go far. There are quite a few dead trees along that shore, and the birds love to perch in them.

The trees are just starting to turn colors. This reflection catches the peaceful mood of the morning with hints of red.

I spent the rest of the day on my current pet project. I thought I might be sore becuase it's been so long since I've paddled, but not a bit. It was a lovely, lovely time.

See Kayaking the South Branch

Bernie's Very Bad, Very Good Day, and More

Today was non-stop, but the important things happened. Bernie was here all day. We spent the morning talking about things he should know concerning the trail in Vermont and the Adirondacks.

The reason for the title is that the afternoon was very good in that Bernie got some much needed dental work done. The bad part is that he has to deal with the pain of that and antibiotics on the trail, etc. Because you know he's not going to take any more time off. Hopefully, the pain of the dental work will be much less than the pain he's already been dealing with on the trail. He called every dentist in the county, and did find one that would see him.

While he was doing that, I took a little walk in Ludington. There is a little urban loop that goes along the marina and the channel. Here's the marina.

The Badger, the carferry, is sadly sitting in port. The rest of the sailing season is cancelled. The "apron," which is part of the dock, not the boat, collapsed and the removal and rebuilding is going to take months. Without that part, vehicles can not be loaded onto the ferry. You can see a crane already working behind her.

Kayakers were taking advantage of the protection of the breakwall to enjoy some time on Lake Michigan.

This is a relatively new addition to the Mason County Sculpture Trail. This is an actual propeller from the Badger that was damaged in ice. The date is not given, but it was many years ago when the ferries sailed year-round. You can see the big chunk missing from one of the blades.

When Bernie was released, we went shopping so he could get medication and supplies. We arrived home in time for a downpour! It only lasted for about a half hour. Southwest salad and corn bread for dinner.

One of the strangest and most humorous events from Loretta's arrival is that we have twin cars. Supposedly hers is 2012 and mine is 2013, but we can only find a couple of minor differences. The body and lights are exactly the same. They are the same color. Usually there are at least changes in the taillights from year to year. But unless one of us has a faulty title, they are not the same year. We both have NCT stickers. It's really weird. We've each gone out and momentarily thought we were in the wrong car!

So that's a total mish-mash of stuff from today. But that's how the day was. Bernie thinks he's going to be good-to-go to hike a full day tomorrow!

See Long Distance Hikers

Day Twenty-Two - Midland to Mackinac

 
Jumped the gun a little on the ending of the rain. Oh well. I walked in hard rain for an hour, but then things cleared up and the rest of the day was beautiful and warm.

Made it past the community of Aloha, and Aloha State Park.



This beautiful carving done in a stump is at the entrance to the park. Look at how even the roots are painted.


The trail swings by the shores of Mullett Lake, which is really large. After the rain cleared it was quite warm, so mist was rising from everywhere. It made the water and sky all swirl together, even with a distant shoreline.



I just liked this interesting little fungus on the end of a log.



In one place a large swath of white cedar needles had fallen across the trail. The pattern is fascinating.



Finally, both "tunnel" pictures I took today are inviting, with the sun shining through wet leaves. I think I like the first one better, but each has a unique feel.





My feet aren't crazy about these 14-mile days on the hard surface. Actually, the feet as a whole are fine, but the two toenails I'm losing are sore tonight. Neither one is quite ready to fall off yet.

People must have been waiting to pounce on a nice afternoon. By the time I turned around and started back, there were power boats on the lake, a kayaker, a bicyclist on the trail and another walker on the trail. She said she saw me go by her house in the rain on the way out.



Looks like the weather is going to cooperate tomorrow, but Wednesday may be a complete washout. I'm not walking in thunderstorms. We'll see what the sky actually produces. I'd like to try to pick up a bit of that missing section on the way home on Friday, but it has hardly stopped raining since the day the roads were flooded before. Probably, they haven't improved.

Forward progress: another 7 miles. Total miles walked today: 14 again. Total trail miles to date: 179. I haven't added up the total miles walked yet. I'll do that later.

	See Day Twenty-One
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Lakeshore Art Fair- In the Book

 
Today was the second day of the Lakeshore Art Fair in Muskegon. I'm home now, and glad to be so. It was a great weekend, but really at the limit of nearly everyone's tolerance for people. We were all counting down the minutes until we could wrap up the booths.



Like many cities that choose to display some common decorated sculpture form, Muskegon has chosen kayaks. I just liked this one with the food midway spreading down the street in the background.


Now I'm doing a repeat of some pix I threw up on Facebook yesterday because these are the other authors I shared a tent with (there was also a second tent), and want to promote them again. One of the best things about events like this is talking with other people who are all trying to do approximately the same thing. You get to hear other authors' stories, learn from them, hear about what works and what doesn't... all that sort of thing.

All the mystery writers shared one side of the tent. That worked really well for all of us! Here I am with Don Levin, who writes traditional police procedural mysteries. As you know, I do cozies and now children's mysteries.



On the other side of me was Peg Henning/Maggie Pill (she writes under both names) who has cozies and traditional mysteries, and Michael Carrier from the UP who has what he describes as "hard-boiled" mysteries.



Across from us was Rose Hammond with memoirs and historical non-fiction about Idlewild, Bonnie Vokits with a spiritual memoir, and Nick Hutchinson with a novel.



And finally, Bob Muladore with a memoir about being in the State Police, Jules Nelson with an historical novel, and Andrew Smith with thrillers.



Don, Andrew and I will be at the Ludington Writers' Rendezvous in two weeks!

Saddest stories of the day: Two different times kids had my books in their hands, but when they went to get their parents the adults wouldn't even come look. I'm not passing judgement on parents who may be at their last straw... kids may be been pills all day... they may have already bought the kids something, etc. But the only part I don't understand is when a kid wants a book that they wouldn't even come look.

Best story of the day: Almost at the end of the day a girl- about nine- picked up Secret Cellar. She showed it to her dad. She asked what each of the books was about. They asked the prices. Her dad asked her which one she wanted. She "whispered" I want them all. He asked her again, and she didn't whine or get wheely-dealy or anything, but just said, "I want all three." He pulled out the plastic and got all three. Sorry dad... and I got to tell him the 4th one will be out in two weeks!

I haven't done the accounts yet, but I think I did quite well. Very much worth the risk of taking on a more expensive show. Surprisingly, I sold six copies of North Country Cache, which usually only does well at hiker/trail venues.

	See Lakeshore Art Fair- Day 1
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Kayaking the South Branch

 
I promised you a paddle event, and today was the day! This was a semi-impromptu get-together of people who have been doing the Challenge hikes. Eight of us met at Laura's house, and with only about 4 miles of driving could put in at Washington Bridge and take out at Anthony Bridge with 2.5 hours on the river. The river is the South Branch of the Pere Marquette. No permits or time limits like on the main branch.



A lot of my pictures really aren't very good. The water was a little low at this time of year so almost always there were rapids or rocks or trees to steer around. I couldn't keep the camera out of its plastic bag very long at a time or I was getting turned sideways to the current or pushed into a tree. And all the most interesting pictures would have been at the places where I needed both hands on the paddle.



Sue and Sophie were there. Sophie not only hikes, she canoes!



Actually, they both took a dunking. There was one rapids where you had to go through the "chute" (we're not talking serious rapids, ok), and then make a sharp left turn to stay in the current and not hit a gravel bar. Somehow, Sue was already through it, and flip! over they went. I have to tell you this because it leads to the funniest image. Sophie quickly swam for the rest of us who were waiting at the edge to be sure everyone made it. Her life vest has a handle on the top. So Michael plucked her out of the water by the handle, and she kept paddling like crazy all through the air as he lifted her into his kayak!

Gary and Sue righted her canoe. And Gary got his butt dunked doing that.



I have no pictures to prove it, but Michael was the winner. He went in the drink twice. He and Gary borrowed sit-on-top kayaks. It may just be the brand, or the fact that they are both pretty big guys, but they sure didn't like those kayaks. They both said the boats were very tippy.

Here we all are at the end, the same number of people we started with, but with a little digital magic, we completed the trip with two of Sophie.



And how about my Sea Wings? They work great. The kayak feels much more secure. But it's still annoying to tie all those straps and ropes.

	See Kicking Back- Awesome Day
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