Five Miles of Vitamin D

 
Today was even warmer, in the mid 40s and sunny. Had to walk. Went 5 miles and got a good dose of Vitamin D.

This is the frozen wetland around the corner from me. You can see my long shadow on the clump of cattails.



This old barn spoke to me.



Can you spot the creature with a white mustache? Maybe a lion.



The sun makes ordinary things, like a stubbled field, pretty.



And another sunrise picture from this morning. I'm just a sucker for the ones where the sun is a ball.



In other news: I wrote and edited and formatted pretty much all day except for the walk. What a project this book is! I SO underestimated how long it would take. Much longer than the first one. No clue why.

	See Trail Work Day
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Matthaei Botanical Garden

 
You'll have to wait till tomorrow for the post I wanted to do today. I think I have to re-scan some old photos. Meanwhile... here are some fun pictures from the same location I plan to tell you more about.

I worked at Matthaei Botanical Garden in Ann Arbor in a number of different capacities from about 1994 to maybe 2001. Sometimes full time, sometimes part time. It's the best place I've ever worked. That's what I want to tell you about, but today you'll just get some nice pictures from my recent visit.

This is part of the perennial garden, which is less impressive than they would like it to be. The deer refuse to be deterred, so these are critter-proof plants only.


How about those allium!



Inside the conservatory are tropical, temperate and desert houses. This is Rangoon Creeper, in the tropical section.



Here's a general view in the desert house with a blooming Perfoliate Crassula.



You know I love succulents. Crinkle Leaf is the appropriate common name for this, scientific name Andromischus cristatus.



Moving outside, this is an information kiosk, but check out the roof!



And finally, for today, just a nice view of the barn from the prairie trail. I used to get to mow the trails- one of my favorite jobs there, although there was hardly a bad task (OK, maybe a couple).



Hopefully, I can find the other pictures I want to scan for another day.

In other news: I wrote Chapter 7 in The Bigg Boss, and then I worked at Shagway Arts Barn for part of the afternoon and the evening. Thus the late post.

	See Fort Wayne Succulents
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Arts Barn Impressions

 
I spent the afternoon getting in some hours at the Shagway Arts Barn. Each artist is supposed to volunteer a certain amount of time. It was a very quiet afternoon. I made one sale.

Part of that was because it was pretty cold, and I don't think a lot of people were out and about. It was also the last day the Barn was open for this season.

I spent most of the time writing or jogging around the building to try to keep warm.

Apparently just being around so much art makes me feel artsy. Here are some impressions taken today.















Over the summer, I sold 11 books and seven craft items there. I just don't seem to be able to make things that people want to buy. I need to remember to focus on writing! Speaking of...

Accountability Report:
I wrote two chapters in Dead Mule Swamp Druggist today! I would like to tell you I'm two chapters closer to the finish. However, I had thought that what I wrote today would fill only one chapter, so I'm really no closer to the end. I'm putting off that total commitment one more day. We'll see how productive I can be tomorrow. Unfortunately, I can't write all day. I have some other things to do, too.

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Rural Splendor

 
Long day... out doing cases, then handbells, then writing group. All good, but I'm ready for bed. I LOVE country life. You can call it quaint, trite, hick, hillbilly, naive, whatever you want. I won't care and I'll still love it.

	See Pink, Blue (and Red)
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It's Gone!

 
I was out doing cases today and drove the same road on which I found the two silos from Silo Tops - 1, just last week. I mentioned that the barn attached to the first one had collapsed.

Now it's gone! Demolished, and the last of the rubbish is burning in a small pile near the middle.



I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. People do occasionally deal with buildings that need to be removed.

Nevertheless, somehow it felt like I'd lost a friend I'd just met.

I guess the quality in this post is that it's a good reminder to appreciate people and places when they are available to us.

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Silo Tops - 2

 
Although I went out for a nice walk again today, nothing new caught my eye. However, I've been saving these pictures, so this is a good day to bring them out.

I pass this barn quite often, and consider it a bit of a mystery. In the first place, it's really big. That's not totally strange, but even in this agricultural economy, this one is large. It doesn't appear to be in use for farming any more.



The silo is salt-glazed tile. We have quite a few of those around here, so that's not too unusual, but this is set on a really old stone foundation.


It looks to me as if at some time one portion of the upper area of the right end of the barn was made into an apartment, because of the dormer with residential-looking windows.



But here's the biggest mystery. Whoever saw a silo with glass windows at the top like an observatory of some sort? I've always wondered if they were added and the upper portion of the silo is part of the apartment. However, the windows don't really look sealed well enough for that, either.



At any rate, it's certainly interesting.

	See Glazed Tile Silo
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There's a Place Called Kokomo

 
And it's in the middle of Indiana. City of an auto accident I was once in. City today of Thanksgiving dinner.



They had a bunch of small murals of the local area. The train station was one of them. We ate at the Windmill Restaurant. If you're also ever in Kokomo, I recommend it. The food was delicious and it didn't cost an arm and a leg.



Loretta got caught in a huge detour around Louisville, so we warmed a booth and had hot drinks for over an hour waiting for her, and they were nice to us anyway. Then we ordered awesome dinners. I had pork chops, Loretta had steak and shrimp and Omer just had steak without the icky little crustaceans.



Now this is a realistic Indiana mural. Flat and corn.

We also saw some genuine Indiana history. This round barn is now part of the Fulton County Museum. That would be a fun place to go back to for a visit. Looked like they had quite a few interesting things to look at.



Home safe and sound (oh yes, with new windshield wipers for the day's excitement), and now I'm getting ready to go to work for the night.

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Orange Day

 

Just TWO days left to promote my blog in pretty much any way, let me know about it (a link I can see or a screen shot of what you did), and you get a chance to win one of my books for every share! Really low entries so far... you have a good chance to win. How about it?

Today, everything looked orange to me. It rained and rained. The snow is gone. I was out doing cases all day, and snapped some pictures. I don't like orange much, but I used to do a bunch of pictures to "please" Maggie when she was with us, so here are some orange shots in memory of Maggie Millicent.

The asparagus fields are feathery and golden orange.



The Pere Marquette River Flats are a monoculture of cattails that try really hard to completely obscure the river. But I found it for you.



This weathered barn is leaning with the grasses.



Almost home now. I topped a rise and the weeping willow, which always looks orange in winter, was sheltering the pale orange corn stalks.

	See Maggie Millicent 1998-2013
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