Chilly and Short

Had to do errands and get groceries today, so even though it was cold, I decided to walk. My body really wanted something more physical too.

Did the loop and spurs at Cartier Park which had been plowed, so it was better walking. But it was 11°!

This is Lincoln Lake.

Stumps had biscuits perched on top!

I spent the morning doing stuff for Confidence Camp, then all the on-the-go-stuff. Then a volunteer zoom meeting, and another meeting in 5 min. There you have my day.

Cartier Park, Ludington, MI, Loop and both spurs. 1.8 miles

See cARTier Trail

cARTier trail

I can't believe I never shared any of these with you before, but apparently not.

Cartier Park in cooperation with the Ludington Area Center for the Arts has installed three large frames that have art displays that change every few months.

The three currently on display are: "Peace" by Francie Skarritt. She "likes to have fun experimenting with different ways to portray real and abstract images." (part of the text that is displayed below the image)

This one is "Thy Own" by Erin Houghtaling. She "explores the interplay between identity, memory, and myth through the medium of collage."

The third is more traditional "Lincoln Lake Birch" (and the park is on the shore of Lincoln Lake) by Helen Heddens. "Landscapes are her favoirte subject; the natural beauty around this area of Michigan lends itself to many beautiful scenes."

Someone has also decided there should be a little Christmas cheer in the park. I found three trees that had a few decorations hung on them. This is the most showy.

So the day got off on the wrong foot. I have two appointments... tomorrow. But I went to town for them today. Um. That didn't work. So I went to the park and walked instead! That did work.

The biggest project at home was getting 20 inches of packed snow off the trailer roof. I really goofed and didn't get it covered before snow hit this year. I got it pretty well cleaned, but not dry. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I don't think I can cover it then. We are supposed to have three days above freezing next week, so I'm taking a chance on being able to do it then.

Miles hiked in 2025: 472.8

Cartier Park, Ludington, MI. Twice around the loop plus spurs. 2.8 miles

See Photoessay in Black and White

Cartier Park Visit

I have been without a computer all day. That is a serious sort of weaning! I'm blogging on the old computer which could die, using accessories that have also been relegated to the "dead" pile because they are totally unreliable. My new computer is being put together, but it wasn't quite done at end of the business day.

I've been thinking about it, and I think I've had a total of 5 laptop computers. I don't think I've bought a single one of them. I can say for sure that 4 of them were used and gifts from people. I can't quite pull up the memory of where I got #2 in that lineup.

At any rate, I am forever grateful for the generosity of folks who have helped me. However, I've been fairly covetous of a computer that doesn't struggle for quite a while. I decided it's time to get serious about that.

So, I dropped my current computer off this morning along with all software disks and accessories. My recent computer problems may be all one issue, or they may be several things conspiring to do me in. So, I left all the stuff with STS Computers in Ludington. They've been my computer folks for over 30 years. They know that I know just enough to be dangerous, but they treat me with respect and don't try to force stuff on me I don't need or want. And their prices are reasonable.

Then I went for a walk at Cartier Park. We had thunderstorms overnight and the paths were damp and cool.

The last time I was there (February), the gazebo was where it's always been. But then, it was torn down because they discovered serious structural issues. But February was a while ago! Someone donated the money and a new gazebo has already been built!

Lincoln Lake was silver rather than blue today.

And did you notice who was also enjoying the water? A great blue heron.

I have managed to find some tasks to do that didn't require a computer. Mostly I read a book and tried not to stew over not being able to work on pressing things.

Now I have a Zoom meeting. I'll have to try to also do that on the old computer which needs to not be allowed to be on long enough to get very hot. Hopefully, it will hang in there just a little longer or I'll have to switch to phone.

Report on mouth- just a little swelling left. Things are good. Not eating crunchy foods yet, but everything seems to be on track.

See Mile and a Half

Mile and a Half!

 Today I did screen time in the morning, then a couple of errands, and... ta da! I walked 1.6 miles with Cathy.

We went to Cartier Park in Ludington because it's the right length and I knew the paved trail would be plowed.

We actually did 1.6 miles.

The best thing about that trail is going along Lincoln Lake. Well... what can I say? It looks wintery.

Haven't done a selfie of us hiking in a while. Yes, my eyes are still a little sensitive, so sunglasses it is.

When I got home I worked a little more on the project I need to finish, and spent some time on my jigsaw puzzle. You need to know that this is truly an amazing amount of activity today. I was on my feet a whole lot, and I'm not exhausted. Although I do need to go rest my eyes pretty soon. But I lasted an hour longer with the eyes than yesterday.

I'm working hard at rebuilding my stamina.

See A New Pose

A New Pose

 With all the chipmunk pictures I've taken over the years, this is a completely new pose. It was running away from me and just stopped with its hips spread wide, ready to leap at a moment's notice. Which it did!

I guess the pose isn't new for me, but the background for the shadow is. There is so much algae piled up along the shore of Lincoln Lake it's solid green. It made a nice picture.

By contrast, the lake was bright blue. The weather has cooled a bit. It felt great. Just right for a walk before bell choir practice.

This is a nice park with a paved trail circling through it. I don't walk here as often as I might because it gets a lot of use, and I prefer more solitude and natural trails. There is a non-paved mountain bike route through it which I often walk, but it's really for cyclists, and I hate it when I get "caught" on their trail. Walkers disrupt their riding.

This is a part of the trail beside the lake, but the important thing to notice here is the white tree tubes. There has recently been a big project to remove alien Oriental Bittersweet and Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus). There are native trees being planted in their place (currently protected in the tubes), but I don't know what.

Another nice feature along the water is this large gazebo. There are native plantings around it too, but I wasn't able to get any decent pictures. The flowers are really well past prime here.

A lot of the paved trail isn't very picturesque, but this curve always looks inviting.

It smelled like fall in the park- that unmistakable scent of autumn aspen.

I spent most of the day on my "project," which although I'm pretty obsessed, isn't really a priority. Sigh. I need to divert my attention to more important things. This walk only managed to get me 2.3 miles before bell choir.

Miles walked in 2024: 470.9

See Six Miles with Cathy

Urban Walk with Cathy

  Bell choir practice was allowed to start up again! This is great, but it meant that Cathy and I had to sandwich our walk between when she got off work and the practice. So we just did a walk around some of the less used streets and spaces in town. Ludington is not a big city, but the wildlife is what you'd expect for a town- lots of squirrels.

One of our block loops took us down to Lake Michigan. Pastel green today. It's always different!

We went through the north end of Cartier Park and then returned through Cartier Cemetery. It's big enough to keep you off the streets for a couple of blocks.

We managed 4.8 miles in the time slot, with enough time left over for me to change before practice, and get there on time.

In other news: I am getting my head back into continuing to work on Dead Mule Swamp Singer. This involves reading what I've written to date. Managed that this morning. Maybe tomorrow I can actually write something. Also spent time on the phone trying to get problems straightened out with two different companies. Ugh. Hike and then bells.

See All Day with Cathy

Cartier Park Quickie

  Cathy and I met this afternoon for a fast four miles at Cartier Park in Ludington. Covid cases have been on the rise here, so we kept our distance, but it was nice to chat a bit.

There weren't a lot of photo opportunities today. The best is the view of Lincoln Lake with light coming from under the clouds.

A rock covered with moss and a chalky corner broken out. That seemed a little odd.

I liked the jelly-roll log quite a bit. In better light this has possibilities to be an interesting picture.

There were lots and lots of squirrels out, both the regular gray ones and the black color morph. But none of them was very interested in having their picture taken.

We walked about four miles on the loopy bicycle trail. That was nice- to be off pavement. I took more pictures, but none of them are really much good. Then I went to bell choir practice. So far, we are still being allowed to practice.

In other news: I wrote 859 words for Dead Mule Swamp Singer. That's about all- oh, a tiny tiny bit of cleaning.

See Cartier Park- Ludington

Six Miles with Cathy

 
The book is awaiting a couple of answers from the printer in the morning, but it's essentially done. Cathy and I did a 6-mile walk, mostly on roads, but the last mile was through Cartier Park in Ludington. No icy surfaces to contend with.



Best was some Common Goldeneye ducks on Lincoln Lake, but they were too far away for me to get really good pictures.



Another couple of miles and we were close enough to Lake Michigan that it was just barely visible beyond the sand. Look right in the middle of the picture and you can see a lens that is a slightly darker blue-gray than the sky.



Did we have a good time? We did. It was lightly snowing and wet, but not enough to be a big problem. And, it was mostly a roadwalk. It's nice to have someone to chat with when the scenery isn't too exciting.



In other news: There is no other news. Once I finished the book cover I quit being productive for the day. Yippie! But I'm getting in shape for Thursday.

See Cartier Park

Cartier Park- Ludington

 
Since I ended up with a lot of extra time in town yesterday, I decided to walk the loop trail at Cartier Park. It's only a bit over a mile, but I managed to make it longer.

This park is about a half mile on each side, and goes through some nice mature woods.



The loop is a paved trail. It gets a lot of use in all the ways you'd expect for an urban (small city) trail. But it's nicely shaded and very pleasant. The north edge runs along Lincoln Lake, so you get a good "water-view fix" on the way.



I got sort of decent pictures of a couple more dragonflies. Actually, the first is a damselfly- they hold their wings parallel to their body. I THINK this is an Eastern Forktail, but identifying in the field, especially when you don't know all that much about Odonata, is a challenge. But all one can do is try to begin sorting them out, and you learn a little more each time. It's also extra hard from a picture. Finding ones that have died, so you can really look at them is the best. It's even better if you have the insect and the book in the same place.



On the next lily pad over was a dragonfly. The book says this kind is even harder to identify in the field. At first I thought it was some kind of clubtail. See the thickened segments near the end of its tail? But none of those in my book had a single yellow spot. I didn't get good focus on the thorax, but even so, that single yellow spot on segment 7 of the tail makes me think it's an Illinois River Cruiser, a general term for about seven different species.



And, I found several patches of another fern- one I knew from before, but hadn't seen them locally. This is New York Fern. No spores on the backs of the leaves yet. I'll have to try to get back there some time to picture those.



And I just liked how annoyed this red-wing blackbird looks.



The really big news is that the Shoreline Cycling Club has added a long, loopy mountain bike trail to the park. This is great, because formerly everyone just rode bikes all over the place and were making a real mess. Now there's an actual trail to follow. I walked part of this. It didn't say no foot traffic, and I would have yielded to any cyclists in a hurry.

So, I've updated my Get Off The Couch website with this new information. See Cartier Park

In other news: It took me till mid-afternoon, but I got all the rest of the journal for the Arrowhead hike turned into digital files! Tomorrow I can start making notes. Simultaneously, I worked on a bunch of stuff for the July author event the Ludington Writers is hosting. And then I updated the site mentioned above. Worked on pictures some too. Got a lot done, but tomorrow I have to clean up the house!

	See Lincoln River Continued
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