First Stop- Ester

  This almost doesn't count as leaving home. But I'm 3+ hours on my way. I'm basically using Ester as a motel for tonight. I'll stop here again on the way home to actually spend enough time with her to do something.

After I got here, I took a fast 3-mile road walk. This fat little donkey watched me go by.

A few houses down, I found a stiff friend for the donkey.

The best "natural" (it's man-made) feature is this pond. It's that time of year when there isn't much color anywhere. But this was at least something.

So far, I've only discovered one important thing I forgot. But I can work around that.

The biggest treat of the day was a tiny piece of chestnut pie that Ester saved for me from her party this past weekend.

See Last Time I Saw Ester

Home via Ann Arbor

I was going to spend a night with Ester, but she was in Ann Arbor! So I went home that way and she and I (and two other friends from Matthaei Botanical Garden days) had lunch together. I haven't seen Ester in over two years.

Our lunch spot was about 2 blocks from where Bill lives. Go figure. So Bill and I did a 3 mile hike in the Bird Hills park. I used to walk Maggie there before she was mine. That's how long ago I was in that area.

We walked to Barton Dam

and Barton Pond

and back to the car.

About halfway home from there I just couldn't stand driving at 70 mph, the aggressive drivers, and the noise any more. So I got off the interstate and worked my way home on state roads. It took longer, but I was much happier. I think I managed to find a couple of small towns I'd never been in before.

My back is really sore- probably from all the days in the car. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. All seems to be fine here. Tomorrow I have to get busy on a serious work list.

Bird Hills Park, Ann Arbor. Newport Rd to Barton Pond and back. 3 miles.

See Next Stop Maumee River

Ester Cooks!

 
I hadn't seen Ester since September. So I took a fast trip to visit with her. Her house is slowly getting put back together. She is pretty much living in one room, her lovely new kitchen, but at least she's indoors. You may recall she was still camping on her property when I last visited.



It's getting close to being finished, but there are still a lot of small jobs to complete, and she's really tired of having workers in her house at any given moment. I don't envy this process. A lot of the things she asked for and even had exact sources for what she wanted were simply ignored, and the contractor apparently just did what he wanted instead. Infuriating.

We had a fun day of doing not very much, but just jawing. She cooked pork chops and lima beans for dinner, with a little salad, and then some ice cream for dessert.

It was a wonderful restful day for me. Tomorrow I'm hiking. Stay tuned.

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Thrilling Prospect

 
Today, Ester and I did some cleaning and sorting of her stuff. We actually found four fortunes, so we got to choose the one we liked best. We picked "There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead of you."



Her life is pretty much still in chaos, but at least some of her stuff is coming home. She now has a weatherproof shipping container to store it all in. We spent the morning moving boxes in there.



Her camping home is nicely set up with a living tent and a kitchen tent.



But if she isn't in her house before it gets cold, she'll move into her little cabin. We spent the afternoon cleaning and sorting in there, and cutting brush so she can have vehicle access. They are telling her she'll be in her house by November, but given the speed things have happened so far, I'm not holding my breath.



Tomorrow morning, I continue on my way to Kentucky. Life is good! Life is better than I deserve.

Stay tuned for thrilling.

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Camping with Ester

 
Blogging will occur intermittently. I may not have power or access. It's even tricky here at Ester's, because she's still in camping mode while her house is being rebuilt.

Here's her temporary house.

I'm going to try to help her with some sorting today, and then I'll head south to meet Marie on Sunday.



Livin' the life! See you when I can.

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Last Day on the Road for a While

 
Life at Ester's will be primitive for a while yet. She still has only temporary electric and no water. But we are cool with camp living. We made coffee the outdoor way.



We did have one meal, then I had to hit the road. We tried a selfie that would show her beautiful new deck (so glad that didn't burn!), and the selection of flowers she bought to brighten things up a bit. But mostly you just get to see our silly faces.



The house is nearly cleared, and crews will start reconstruction inside this week. Her stuff is all over the place- at several different cleaning companies, and she can't find anything. Hoping to get some storage on her own property, and get her glam camp more set up. She'll be busy!

Now I am home and need some space for a while. Maybe some serious space. I'm peopled out for a bit.

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How Ester and I Spent the Day

 
Ester and I went out for lunch and then ice cream. Then we drove to the Gene Straton Porter estate, Limberlost, to visit again. This time the gardens had flowers in bloom.

Astilbe.



Missouri Primrose, or Sundrops.



And a lovely Japanese Maple.



I was wanting to help Ester get some things done that she needed to accomplish, but she said what she needed most was a day off. Here's the tree that was struck by lightning that started the whole crazy chain of events. See the stripe running the length of it?


But this was the only structural damage. Some of the wall beneath the window and a few floorboards need to be replaced.



The problem is that the whole thing smoldered for two days while she was not home and was unaware, so the entire house had to be emptied and everything professionally cleaned. To bring things up to code and rebuild, everything inside has been or will be taken down to the studs and rebuilt.

She's setting up camp to be nearby and live in relative comfort until its done. It's all going to be great in the end, but what a mess.



Keeping this post short and to the point. Gotta scoot. We have things to talk about, and I have to head home in the morning.

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Friends and a Book

 
The day started at Cindy's.



But I had to leave early to get to the book sales event on time. I had the table next to my good author buddy, Don Levin. Some of us chose to do a book reading, so here's Don reading from his newest book, Cold Dark Lies. (Psst... buy it, it's great!)



Now I'm at Ester's. We are in a tent because she's had a fire episode at her house, and although the structure is fine, she'll be camping (by choice) until the interior is rebuilt. Will be pretty glam as she gets things set up. For now, it's dry and workable. We are always able to have a good time.



And the book... well, that's what I sold today, one book. Sigh.

Gotta sign off. I'm on battery power.

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Truck Picnic

 
Ester is only a little over a half hour away from me for this week, but she's at an event I don't have admission to. We figured out a way to make it work and met in the parking area. We changed it from noon to evening, and it even stopped raining by then, which made the whole thing much more pleasant.

The event technically hasn't started yet, so that's why I was making a lot of food to take. She needs to have stuff to eat until it begins. Some of that food should look familiar. Here's the other part of what I did- I made rolls this morning.

With a roast chicken from Meijer we had a feast, and I left her with plenty of food.



We always have time to fool around a little.



In other news: I wrote in the morning and then worked on the pictures from that hike. They are almost done. Then I THINK there is only one more set of pre-digital hike pictures to deal with. That would be awesome. And now, I think I'm done for the day. Enough.

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Ester to the Rescue

 
Today was all about the almost final approach (tomorrow is the final approach) to the Writers' Rendezvous on Saturday. It was a little bit nuts, and Ester upheld her reputation of coming to the rescue.

First, let me point out that we took time to go get some yummy deli items and eat them at the beach for dinner.



I spent most of the day making cookies. All the rest of the minutes were spent answering emails and putting out fires in relation to the Rendezvous.

Here's the biggest snafu, rescued by Ester (who is coming to help with my book table on Saturday).

So... if one needs office supplies here, one is up a creek. A few years ago, Staples came in and built a small store. This put the local office supply place out of business. Then Staples left. Sigh. I have a business account with Staples on line so I can get free overnight shipping with a minimum order. No problem. Needed colored paper, name tag holders and a couple odd things.

Ordered them Tuesday. They didn't come Wednesday. Tracking said they were delivered to the wrong address. Try again today.

They didn't come today either. Tracking sent me a text that they had just been delivered. Not. This was at 4:00 in the afternoon. I immediately got on a chat with Reynaldo at customer service (I prefer that because they have to type in English no matter how they pronounce the words). He confirmed it was delivered to the wrong address AGAIN. I said "I NEED MY STUFF!"

Meanwhile, I realized that Ester was on her way here and was nearing Muskegon... last chance for an office supply store. Reynaldo said his computer system was acting up and he couldn't figure out where my order had gone, they would re-send tomorrow. I said "NO!!!!!"

Meanwhile, I'm texting Ester furiously to Stop... wherever she was. I caught her just at the Muskegon turn! Reynaldo asked me what I wanted to do. I said, "Issue me a refund." So he did.

I gave the order number to Ester and she got the stuff in Muskegon. She said they were falling all over themselves trying to be accommodating about the order. They only had more expensive name tag holders, but they gave them to me at the same price. Meanwhile, I got an email from Staples that my refund came through, and if the items ever showed up at my house, I could just keep them too.

They'll probably keep my business, since it's the only place I can get overnight delivery on my toner cartridges, but it was good that they tried hard to make it right. Shhh, don't tell them I'm stuck with them anyway.

So once again, Ester saves the day!

We spent the evening putting together info packets for the authors.

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Not a Day Over 70

 
OK, tomorrow, I'll be a day over 70, not today yet, haha. Ester is a few days and a few years behind me. Mr. Bullfrog popped up to wish us the best. I wonder if it's the exact same frog I showed you last year from this pond.



Ester and I went to celebrate at her favorite restaurant. You've been there with us before. It's called Riverlake Inn.



Really fancy food. Ester had rack of lamb



I had the French Cut pork chop. Both of us brought about half our food home for tomorrow.



Afterwards we walked their bluebird trail. It's always been too wet when we were there together before. Saw quite a few birds (no bluebirds), but didn't get decent pictures. On the way home we saw a herd of about 20 deer and a sandhill crane. Also a shrub that I couldn't ID from the seed pods, so there's a mystery for another day.

We had a great time. It's fun to celebrate a birthday with someone else.

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