Miscellaneous

I kept myself motivated and working on all the small and generally annoying tasks that needed to be done by allowing myself 10 pieces in the jigsaw puzzle after each item I got to cross off my list.

Then I took a walk. It was 50° out! The first picture is from today. Paper birch branches against the clear sky. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

And I have something to share from my walk on Sunday. Look who was so busy on a tree he let several of us take pictures. Usually the pileated woodpeckers are skittish. Not this one! This picture has a good silhouette, but the branches are in the way.

This is a clearer picture, but it's the back. Maybe not as interesting, although it's also not a view you see all the time.

These are possibly the best pictures I've taken of a pileated. I did get some good ones in Ohio once, but if I put them on the blog the search is not finding them. Those were unusual because the woodpecker was finding something to eat on the ground and was totally focused on getting it so it didn't notice Marie and me sneaking close. Maybe I'll find and share them some time.

The sky on Sunday was also gorgeous. I have to say that it's much easier to be cheerful when the sky is blue.

I am in good shape to finish the last things on my list tomorrow and pack the car. May put a few more pieces in the puzzle and take my book to bed.

Miles walked in 2026: 45.5

Road walk 4 miles.

See Snow Mushrooms and Other Events

Winter Images

The big ticket item here is still winter and snow and more snow. Bell choir was cancelled, so I didn't have to go out. But winter sure can be beautiful.

This picture is from the other day at Cartier Park

The sun didn't quite break through this afternoon, but it tried for just a few minutes.

And I got another set of polka dots and stripes.

Bell practice was cancelled, so I didn't have to go anywhere.

We took the Christmas tree down, and I took the compost out. That was the extent of going outside.

I made my brain work on continuing the plot of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp and managed another 656 words. I at least have the next piece of what has to happen.

See Photoessay in Black and White

First Snowshoe Winter 2025-26

It always looks about the same, but I usually blog about my first day to use the snowshoes each winter.

We got more snow overnight here, and there are maybe 10 inches on the ground. You can see flakes in the air in this picture.

I did about a half mile, which was plenty for the first outing. And the wind was pretty cold. It was all overcast, so there are no shadows to help you see the tracks. But if you can tell, yes, I was using the wood snowshoes. The bindings are shot. Cheapest new ones I can find are $50! I'm pondering options and temporarily still using duct tape for repairs, but it's iffy. I do like the wood ones better than the small foam ones although those have their purposes.

The sky looks pretty much the same as the ground without the line of tracks!

I did a little bit of work today, but it was really a non-starting day for me. I played my game more than I should have and didn't do much.

I think maybe I didn't snowshoe at all last winter. We didn't get much accumulation. At any rate, I didn't blog about it.

See First Snowshoe 2023

Skyday #3

Here are 6 of the last 7 days of the sky. Even the blue has gone more to gray. Those bright clear days of October are over. It's odd how the tones from the top to bottom panes matched up. Just chance.

November 13- a nice clear day, and I think I did some outside work.

November 14- overcast but mild. I did trail work.

November 15- still mild but not much sun

November 16-Changeable skies. Blue, black, white, everything in between.

November 17- Pleasant for November, but ended with a little snow- all gove now

November 19- cold! But not bad.

Are you liking these? I like the tiles, but can't seem to think of much to say about them.

I didn't move around enough today. Sat at the computer too much. That will change tomorrow.

See Skyday #2

Skyday #2

I can tell that these aren't going to happen every six days. There are more interesting things to talk about most of the time. It's been 2 weeks since I did the first Skyday. So... should I pick the last six days? Should I pick the most interesting six days since I last did one?

Well, this time, it's the last six days. They have a nice mix. Actually, they show you that we've had pretty darn nice weather!

And here are the full images, day by day. October 29, a beautiful October day.

Ditto for the 30th!

For Halloween we got clouds. There was a little rain overnight, and the clouds did not clear out.

On November 1, we had some transitional sky. A dark bank of clouds above and a band of white near the horizon.

Yesterday was mostly blue again, but I forgot to take a picture until after I went to the play. Can you forgive me if these aren't all blue or gray?

Today, we were back to blue. It was a gorgeous day, although a little breezy.

I spent some time outside putting garden things away and cutting more autumn olive. Cleaned part of the bathroom. How exciting, right? Editing, computer stuff, etc.

See Skyday #1

Skyday #1

I'm going to start an occasional feature called Skyday. I've taken a shot of the sky each of the last seven days and I picked 6 of them to feature. They are arranged in chronological order from top left to bottom right, not necessarily in the most artistic positions.

This is mostly because I'm kind of fascinated by tile mosaics made up of images with similar color tones. Some don't have any relationship to each other, some do. But I thought I'd see what happened with a few of these sky mosaics. Winter in Michigan is often constantly gray... but we'll see what happens.

This is October 16-22 (seven doesn't make a balanced arrangement, and I forgot one day anyway.

Then I'll show you the entire picture for each day.

October 16- clear blue perfect October day.

October 18- partly cloudy, mostly high, thin clouds

October 19- rain all day

October 20- mostly clear with some puffy clouds on the horizon- the day Om and I went on the color tour.

October 21- quite a lot of rain, but not solid gray- the clouds were changing constantly

October 22- today. They predicted rain, but it was really only partly cloudy. I even went for a short walk.

I buckled down and spent my time quota on all the usual projects. Walked down through the cemetery and back.

Miles hiked in 2025: 402.6

See The Skies Have it

Early Autumn Rainbow

Every once in a while I like to do a collage rainbow post. You get one today. The pictures have all been taken in the past week.

RED- Jack in the Pulpit seeds, ORANGE- Beech leaves, YELLOW- Sassafras leaves, GREEN- mixed leaves including oak, BLUE- the sky, PURPLE- New England Aster.

I got my new computer today and have spent most of the day trying to get my software back to the settings I had, the calendar to work, and all that sort of thing. Managed a tiny bit of productivity. Then bell choir this afternoon, and a little walk.

I should be back to full steam tomorrow

Miles hiked in 2025: 372.

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 2 miles

See Late Winter Rainbow II

See Me Walk a Mile

 I was determined to find out if I could do it. I had to run one errand that gave me a place to park on a side road, so I set out to walk a mile. I guess the snow was surprised to see me out there again. I was pretty tired, but I did it!

I can't decide if this looks like a swirl on a cinnamon bun, the letter 9 with a decimal point, or a comma and a period.

It was really lovely during the time I was outside.

Doug plowed our driveway, which is good because it was getting bad and we are supposed to get even more snow tomorrow.

Today was fairly energetic. The walk and bell choir practice. About 90 minutes of screen time, but bell practice is a lot of eye use, although not as stressful as the computer. I feel as if I'm really making progress, although I still have to take 5 ibuprofen a day. Hopefully, I can cut those back soon.

See Cottage Cheese Blueberry Bake

Leaf Peeping 2024 - Part 1

 Today was the one day this week that wasn't busy. The colors perhaps aren't quite peak, but they are getting close. This one is on Custer Road. Didn't even have to go off pavement

Look who I convinced to go with me! He's even smiling. I didn't make him walk much, and he actually said he had a good time.

Got off the blacktop, but still weren't anywhere I'd consider off the well-travelled paths. This tree is on Stephens Road.

We made a stop at Hoag's Lake. It was looking nice. The only ones enjoying it were the geese.

After that we made a big loop on some much-less-travelled roads. In fact, I think we took one I'd never been on. It certainly was not the road I thought it was. More on that another day.

For now, I'll tell you that we ended the loop by coming south through the Manistee National Forest near Nordhouse Dunes. This view is on Green Road, always one of my favorites.

Om had had enough by then, but we had to stop for one spectacular October sky picture before we got home.

I have found a few more places that need exploring! A quality day on many levels.

I have ordered a replacement camera.

See Fall's Final Fling