It's a Small World

 I stayed home and worked hard on a lot of projects today. It doesn't feel as if I made a lot of progress, but if one keeps doing small bits, they do add up.

I'm still working on processing photos from the 2010 Philadelphia Flower Show. I found one of the miniature displays that didn't win any award, but it was by far the best job of modeling on any of the entries. I suspect the judges expected a better balance of the plants and other elements. Here's the long shot- an abandoned car with a tree growing through it beside a garage. You know it's a miniature because you can see my reflection on the plexiglas in front of the garage.



That looks very good, but take a look at the interior of the garage. This is modeling to perfection. Still some reflections, but not bad.

Some of you may remember that I love modeling. However, all my own stuff is packed away until such time as I either: 1) can't hike 2) have more money 3) have more space. Maybe I'll need all three of those. (ho hum, OK, probably time too)

Meanwhile, here are a few pics of my own modeling attempts. The first one I've shared before. Front of a gas station, year depicted about 1948. The building is scratchbuilt. That means it did not start as a kit.



This is a layout edge scene. I never got a backdrop behind it, but the "town barn" is made from cardboard and corrugated cookie boxes. The grader and bulldozer are kits, and the pipes and stuff are a combination of purchased modeling details and junk.

This is a night scene. All these buildings are from kits. Some of them aren't quite finished, but you can make kits look great if you are careful with paint and details. And "kit-bashing" is a good technique too. For that, you start with a kit and then change things around a bit. The tanker truck on the street is kitbashed. I took one truck chassis and added the tank to the back.

This is sort of kitbashed. It's really a bit too late for my chosen model time period, from the mid-1950s, but I hate to give it up because I think it came out really good. Keep in mind this truck is, in reality, just over 2 inches long.

This was a piece of my tiny layout that I was pretty happy with. Except the field is too small, of course. But I was experimenting with techniques. The plowed field looks pretty good, but it should be more level. The trees are all natural material. I sort of prided myself on realistic looking trees.

If you look in the upper right of the above picture, you will see a tiny house on a hillside. That is scratch built. My first such attempt. A lot of the structures I did I built as "modules" which means when I do a different layout, they can be dropped in (with making good transitions at the module edges, of course) and they don't have to be completely re-placed in the landscape.

For sure, if and when I get to take this out and play with it again, I will figure out some way to rig a dust cover over it all. HO scale, for those who care.

Meanwhile, I edited, I wrote a chapter in Vacation from DMS- 565 words that I'm not crazy about, but I can figure out what they need another day, I worked on pictures, I did some other stuff.

See Model Train Layout 2001-2018 See more pix of my small layout

The Color is Yellow

 Most of the leaves are down, but there is still some color to be found.

This planter of chrysanthemums is bright yellow.

Norway maples are an alien species, but they are the most common maples used for street planting. This one is holding on to a lot of its leaves.

The leaves that have come down are still pretty.

It was a hugely people-y day. Meeting with someone in the morning. Meeting with someone in the afternoon. Bell choir practice, followed by my return (since pre-Covid) to Ludington Writer's Group.

And I walked to do errands, edited, and wrote Chapter 35 in Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp, 809 words. I'm ready to call it a day.

And these gals were waiting outside the church after bell choir. There is a much-too-large urban deer population in Ludington. You can see how concerned they were about being "shined" in the headlights. Not.

Miles walked in 2024: 527.

See Orange We Glad?

How Far Back Can You Go?

 In addition to Veteran's Day, this is also my mother's birthday, so I sort of alternate which I blog about. Today, it's Mom. And a little more genealogy.

I just finished reading a series of books that spans the time period from 1829 to 1919, following one particular family (fictional). It does continue on in an epilogue to bring the people's lives to their conclusions, but the general narrative spans about 100 years. It got me to thinking.

First, here are a couple of pics of Mom that I have not previously shared. These were taken on the same day (professional studio photos), but I don't know the date. However, I am guessing 1916. That would make my mother, Catherine Burnham Rowe Leary, seven years old. I think she looks a little older, but I'll explain why I choose seven with the next picture.

Here is the other picture taken on the same day. This is her mother, Emily Marguerite Fisher Rowe, her brother Merrill Fisher Rowe (Jacques), and her. Jacques (say Jack) is two years older, and I think he doesn't look older than nine. Notice their hands. Mom was large-boned and solid. Jacques was fine-boned. She always said she took after her father.

After reading the books, I got to thinking about who was born the earliest that I actually know. That would be my great-grandmother Rowe (Mom's father's mother). Meeting her is my earliest memory. I was about 13 months old. She was born January 29, 1858. That's 166 years ago. What's the birth year of the oldest person you personally remember?

Here is the day I saw her. She was brought to our house for the specific purpose of meeting me. She was 91. Her name is Annie Cordelia Burnham Rowe



Without getting too entangled in more genealogy, I learned who, specifically, Mom and her siblings were named after:
Catherine (her maternal grandmother Catherine Louisa Hall Fisher) Burnham (the maiden name of her paternal grandmother)
Merrill (his paternal grandfather Merrill Jordan Rowe) Fisher (the maiden name of his mother)
Margaret (never could figure this out unless a derivation of Marguerite) Perham (the maiden name of Annie's mother)- this baby died when only 3 hours old.

I edited (but not enough), worked on autumn olive a little, did miscellaneous things, and Om and I went to Applebees to take advantage of their free veteran's meal.

See A Veteran's Day Story

Hymn Sing Evening

  The Methodist Church (where I play bells) held an old-fashioned hymn sing this evening.

It's on my bucket list to get to a hymn sing hosted by the Greater Vision Gospel Quartet. But most of them are in the South, and I need to save my travel money for hikes and the flower show. So I'm happy to attend one right here. Not as many people (the Greater Vision ones pack out huge churches), but still good.

A local quartet named the Shoreliners has not been singing together for a while. I know one of the members has had health issues. No one is getting younger, eh? But they did two numbers, one of which is a favorite "Life is Like a Mountain Railway."

The leader took requests from the audience for an hour. Fastest hour that's ever gone by! I could have stayed, and I think my voice might have lasted for maybe one more hour.

This was followed by enough snacks to feed about 1000 people!

They are thinking of doing another in February with a soup dinner and more publicity. I hope so! If you want a bit more of my personal feelings about this activity follow the link below.

It was drizzly-rainy all day. I worked outside a few minutes anyway. Edited, wrote Chapter 34 in Vacation from DMS, 863 words.

See Hymn Sing 2015

Date with a Polar Bear

  Here's my hot chilly date for the day.

The polar bear was helping promote the local group that is forming called "Friends of the Pool," to try to influence the community college to save the swimming pool. I thought that whole issue was a tempest in a teapot, but apparently they are seriously considering closing it.

The event had pretty good variety. You could choose your holiday for which to buy decor.

Christmas of course.

But it's not Thanksgiving yet, so there were several people selling fall and harvest items.

There was even patriotic stuff!

Did OK- about as well as I expected. And I think I found one event to sign up for in December. A good enough day. But for whatever reason, I'm pooped. I'm going to go lie down with a book.

See Scottville Fall Festival

I Want My Trail/Garden Back

 Actually, the best thing that happened today has no picture. I'll tell you in a minute.

Meanwhile, I really want two things to happen. One has a good chance of happening this fall. The other I can get a good start on.

#1- get at least the "trail" on my own property cleared enough that I can snowshoe/ski this winter. It's really not very nice if the grass isn't chopped down.

The last time I tried to clear my trail by hand I was still going all around the property next door. Now, I only have to do my own property. The neighbor on the other side that still lets me walk there seems to have mowed a strip, so I won't have to do that. I managed to get 38 paces (about 190 feet) of raw pathway cleared with the weed whacker. It's a start. I can only manage about 15 minutes of that at a time before I'm pooped. (this is not a powered weed-whacker, except as powered by me)

The other 150 feet to reach the front door don't need whacking. They are either part of the yard or go through my "big" flower bed. Um... yes, this is supposed to be a flower bed.

#2- begin to reclaim my "big" flower bed.

I've actually done quite a bit of autumn olive clearing already this fall. You just can't tell. I'm hoping to cut out and treat enough of it before real snow arrives to let sunlight in.

This is what it's supposed to look like (in spring). This picture was 2003. Pretty pathetic- how bad it's gotten, right? But, as long as I only say I enjoy working on it rather than demanding that it be "done" at a certain time, then it's fun.



And the really fun thing? Author friend Jean was going by and she stopped for a visit. Did I remember to take a picture? No. Do I have a picture of the two of us together? Apparently not. Here's one of her from earlier this year.



I edited, I worked on various projects, I wrote Chapter 33 of Vacation from DMS, 844 words. Tomorrow is an all-day vendor event. If you are local- Cornerstone Church, Ludington. 10-3.

See Before and After Garden

Glimpses of My Kingdom

 Today, I needed to walk over to the Co-op to get a herbicide product they sell that is actually supposed to kill the Dreaded Autumn Olive. We shall see!

Walked home through the fields. For those of you who have been following this blog for years, most of this will look familiar although "my kindgom" is much smaller now.

We never actually owned much of what I loosely called mine. We have 5 acres. There are 20 between me and the cemetery. There are 10 on the other side, then the Lutheran Church property, and the Co-op propety beside that.

I was free to walk on all 6 of those properties, and I mowed a path on 4 of them (not the cemetery or the Co-op)

The Co-op is what I jokingly refer to as the "space station."

I used to be able to walk all the way over there without intruding on their operations. But they bought the back half of the church property and bulldozed a "wall" around it (probably for noise containment), and so I don't walk there any more.

But the grain elevator is very active. This is still an agricultural area.

Coming back across my own property, some of you may remember the "nature alphabets." Here is the letter B- turn it to the right to make it stand up. The trees are very much larger, but you can still "get" the shape of it. As a reminder, I personally planted those trees about 35 years ago.

Now, looking west toward the hill that is a little higher than our house, we do NOT own this. It's for sale again, and I'm concerned. This is the acreage that I was not allowed to even walk on for the past 10 years, but I don't want a business that close. I THINK we are safe because there is a big contaminated area in the back from an oil tank. No one wants to clean it up. But if someone does buy it and cuts down those pines I'll be very sad. We also don't own that little copse in the foreground. Sigh.

Well, there is lots more Big Bluestem grass than there used to be. I guess I'd rather see the field revert to native grasses than more autumn olive, but it makes such dense clumps I really can't walk through it either!

If I could keep a trail mowed again, it would be great. But the current mower is pretty wimpy. And it's not fixed yet, and may be expensive. I think I'll have to get one that is heavier duty.

Of course, I also can't help but think about how many more years we can keep up with this house and property. Well, we've never actually been able to "keep up" with it by many people's standards. But I may be slipping even behind my own lax expectations.

Maybe tomorrow I can talk myself into weed-whacking some bits of trail out there. Meanwhile, I edited, I did a little autumn olive detail, had a zoom meeting, worked on pictures, and wrote Chapter 31 in Vacation from DMS, 1062 words. Yeah, me!

See My Trail Out Back

More Exciting than It Looks

 These three pictures and what they represent took up a good portion of my day today. I probably can't say much yet about where they were taken, but what they mean is very good news. Here's the first.

I will just bring it to your attention that there are NOT any familiar blue blazes visible. Nor on this one.

And here, you can see there is a mowed path beside a road.

What these show is a potential route the North Country Trail may be able to use to get a bit of trail off a fairly dangerous road. We (the Spirit of the Woods Chapter) are working on it. Today, I met with the landowner.

Other than that, it was not a hugely productive day. I managed some editing, but then I read a book. Got soaked again when I was out this morning. Not that I'm not used to it, but it makes me want to hunker down with a warm drink and a book. And I mostly did just that.

Miles hiked in 2024: 523.5

See It Evens Out

It Evens Out

 I made a Facebook post this morning that I don't discuss politics. However, I would like to note that if you average Om and me together, it's probably about right. He considers politics the greatest form of entertainment.

Note that he is sitting there with four screens all with different content. Happy as a pig in mud. Just sayin'...

And yes, I, we, voted.

The weather is currently totally nasty. I got soaked going from the store to the car. But I walked in the morning- to the polls, actually. 2.2 miles. Editing, bell choir, shopping.

Miles hiked in 2024: 522.5 miles

See More Plant Weirdness

More Plant Weirdness

 I think most of us remember from some earlier piece of education that things like mules and ligers which are hybrids between two SPECIES of related animals are sterile, or are not even viable. I was surprised to learn, today, that there are some examples of animal hybrids between two different genera. Fish seem to hold the lead. But they are rare.

I suspect the takeaway from this is the reminder that the categories are imposed by humans who attempt to organize the world. And to remind us all, taxonomy is an ever-shifting discipline. Especially now that DNA testing is being used to recategorize things. Previously, the groupings were done almost exclusively on morphology, that is comparing the structures of one living thing to another. For example, in plants, are the flowers or seeds of this plant basically the same as that one? But the DNA is providing lots of surprises, showing that two plants not thought to be related are sometimes very close siblings!

But plants like to be weird.

For example, most of the wonderful Sunsparkler sedums I've been raving about are a cross-GENERA hybrid. They are mostly crosses between Sedum and Orostachys-a different kind of succulent. Techincally, this "new" genus is called xSedoro. All cross-genera plant hybrid names start with an x like that.

As a reminder, here's one of my fav SunSparklers. This is 'Dream Dazzler'



Crossing genera in plants is done fairly often. These two are xGraptoveria which are crosses of the genera Echiveria and Graptopetalum. The first one is called 'Ivory.' As you can see, they are blooming, but I don't know if they produce viable seeds.

This is another xGraptoveria, although I do not know which one. I think this one is pretty cool, with the broad purple leaves.

I tried to find out how many genera crosses there are for plants. I found a list from the UK that is 94 pages of small print, and it doesn't even have several that I know of on it. As you might suspect, a LOT of them are dealing with orchids. Orchids have been tinkered with for lots of years..

Well, I slept late big time this morning. Not sure what that was about. Then I spent most of the day editing. I have two big jobs I'm working on. Wrote Chapter 31 in Vacation from DMS, which is 723 words. A little short, but it's where I want the break.

See Sunsparkler Sedums