A Few More Fall Color Pix

I think maybe we hit peak color here today. This is the line of trees by the cemetery and it's clearly more vibrant than it was 5 days ago- see link below for same row of trees.

This is looking right into the cemetery. I love the section on our side of the road, the "old" section, because of all the big maples.

And I just liked this one. It reminds me of bargello embroidery.

Today was pretty average in terms of getting things done. I did have to go do errands and shopping which always takes forever.

See More Fall Finery

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

Three Waterfalls and a Nod to the Past

  Marie and I did a little more hiking today. We went to Montour Falls and did the loop trail there. Listed as 5 miles, but with spurs to visit the waterfalls and a couple of other places of interest we figure we did at least 6. The first little side walk was to visit Deckertown Creek Falls. It was a pretty little double drop in the woods. Farther down the same side of the loop was Havana Glen Falls. An earlier name for the village of Montour Falls was Havana. Thus the name. There was a trail we could have followed to go along the creek beyond the falls, but we didn't really have time to dilly-dally. When we started back up the other side of the loop, we were on a rail trail. There was a funny little jog near the middle. We found it with no difficulty, but the problem was that there were multiple choices of paths. There were signs that you could dial in with a cell phone to a certain number and hear a recorded tour. We tried it, and only got a busy signal. There was a web site with the same info. We could not get it to come up either. Bummer, because we would have liked to know more. One of the things on the side trail was to this memorial to Queen Catharine who was a Seneca Indian matriarch. Where the village of Montour Falls now stands was once Catharine's Town. This was a star-shaped mound with one monument in Seneca, and another that said "In memory of Queen Catharine Montour of the Senecas, born about 1710, died Feb 20, 1804." We wandered on many of the pathways and found some other things of interest, but could not get the interpretive info. Tried the web site at home, and it's defunct too. Too bad. Final stop was at Montour Falls, also called She-Qua-Ga, "tumbling waters." This is one of the large falls I remember visiting as a child. We knew we were really warm. We found out why when we hiked through downtown to complete the loop and get back to the car. One other project of the day was to finish cleaning the headstones of my Mom, Dad, Grandfather and Grandmother. I guess that's the least I can do once every 25 years, eh? Here is Mom's after cleaning, with her DAR marker. We spent the evening with Dick and Darla. Lots of fun. They made bar-b-que chicken and 4-bean salad. Really good. We shared pictures. It turns out that I was in an accordion recital with Darla in 1955. We have no memory of meeting, but it's pretty funny because this means that I sort of knew her before she even knew Dick! An awesome day. (And we did a couple of other things there is no room for in this post. I may share at a later date.)

See Fun with Elaine

First and Second Snow - Winter 2019-2020

 
I have to take a break from the Meijer Garden because we got our first real snow of the winter today. It was gorgeous.



The first actual snow was on November 1. That was just enough to whiten the grass. Still, I always like the first. Last year's first snow was November 9.



The snow today was fluffy and collected on everything. Even autumn olive berries are attractive against pure white.



The cemetery edge does not disappoint.



I'll take you back to the Gardens another day.

In other news: I wrote in the morning and worked on formatting in the afternoon. Very productive.

	See First Snow 2018-2019
if you like this blog, click

Fall's Final Fling?

 
It wasn't raining, and it wasn't even bitterly cold, just gloomy. I decided to take a walk and picture some of the places I show fairly regularly. This fall hasn't had spectacular colors, and what's left will start coming down in the rain predicted for later this week.

Nevertheless, my "usual" spots aren't too shabby. Here's part of the line of trees along the edge of the cemetery.



The Cemetery Creek is always an old friend. I haven't been walking out back very much. Long story, not a quality one. Maybe I'll tell you another day.



It rained last night, and that makes the tree trunks dark, so they contrast nicely with the bright maple leaves in the cemetery proper.



A mile away, around the corner, is a small wetland. You've seen a number of pictures taken there at various angles. This is just a long shot of one end. Sometimes nice fall pictures are as much about texture as color.



Another tree line in the distance with an asparagus field in the middle ground.



And now we've reached my photographic destination, the tunnel of trees on Conrad Road. I figured it would still look pretty good, and I think I was right.



About a 4 mile walk.

In other news: I wrote in the morning, baked bread (maybe you'll see that tomorrow), and worked on photo sorting a little.

	See Conrad Road Tunnel of Trees See The Creek in Winter
if you like this blog, click

Fall's Final Fling?

 
This year the colors here have definitely been less varied than some years. I thought that certain trees would always turn certain colors, but this has been proven not a sure thing this year. The line of trees that form the edge of the cemetery is almost pure yellow this year. Other years there's always at least been orange, if not pure red.



I love the way the maples glow behind the red pines.



The cemetery itself is pure gold.



Of course, there's the "standard" Civil War memorial, but I like it better with the colorful backdrop.


I'll take the yellow for the few more days it will last. As much as I enjoy winter, somehow I'm not quite ready this year.

In other news: Finished mowing the yard. More outlining and wrote a chapter of DMS Mistletoe. Packed the car for tomorrow (no big deal).

	See Cemetery Trees
if you like this blog, click the +1   or