Life is Good in Color

Just thinking this morning that Life is Good! I was in my chair with a cup of coffee, doing my wake-up computer tasks. The deck door is open. The sun is shining, but it's cool yet with a light breeze ruffling the quaking aspen. House finches with their bright red-purple heads are enjoying the bird bath. I took my morning "walk" to visit the gardens and see what flowers might begin blooming today.

The rock garden is beginning to explode with the yellows of so many sedums, but this picture I took today has to be the color winner. This is a Red-spotted Purple Admiral on the Creeping Thyme

But back to the yellows. The taller stuff is the Sedum Sexangulare, but there are bursts of the still-blooming Sedum 'Weihenstephaner Gold' to the right and one Ice Plant 'Granita' to the left.

This is the Bloody Cranesbill with Dianthus 'Kahori.'

This one has a whole lot of plants. The purple is Creeping Thyme, Sedum sexangulare to the left, the 'Kahori' is beyond that. Just in front of the thyme is the patch of Sedum 'Atlantis' that is slowing getting bigger. A small patch of dark 'Dream Dazzler' Sedum and more Bloody Cranesbill is on the right.

This one was from last week. The variegated Vinca was still blooming. Now it's trying to spread runners to take over the world. I've been giving it severe haircuts. More Bloody Cranesbill to the right. It is also getting shaved on this pass through the garden.

I haven't mentioned this pink flower yet this year. This is the 'Siskiyou' Primrose. It is fairly nifty, although it, too, is willing to spread everywhere. I've currently let it take over two spaces until I get something else to put in the second space. More Sedum sexangulare. And just starting to bloom on the far left is the Sedum elecambeanum.

Finally, color in the sky last night. Very intense, and making even the clouds in the east turn pink.

In other news: I did all the usual things, plus laundry, and put a piece of decor back on the wall that keeps falling off. Yeah, me. Josh stopped by. He's looking good.

See Mostly Current Colors

Blue Bonsai, Plus

The news of today is all about the return of the snow. I think we only got about 4 inches, but it's super fluffy.

The best picture goes in the "moods of my backyard" series, and it's pretty nice.

What started the post was a picture I took when I went shopping. Just trees in the parking lot, but I like how they looked.

But just before I took the first picture, a look out the kitchen door showed blue sky behind the white "apple bonsai." Cool!

I did the usual things and went shopping. Not very energetic. My insides are a little jumpy. I don't think it's anything serious, but I may go lie down with a book.

Got news that a friend from college days has passed. More and more of the people my age are fading. It feels weird.

See Three Tales of a Tree

North Dakota, Here We Are

First stop this morning was to see a house in Minnesota that was built by Diane's grandmother's half brother. It's now on the National Register of Historic Places!

Believe it or not, I think we made more stops than we did yesterday, although many of them were short.

Minnesota is in love with large animal statues. Along the NCT you can find the world's largest loon, prairie chicken, and turkey. I have pictures of those. Now I've added an otter to the collection. But this one is metal.

It's holding down a fish with one paw.

Next stop was to do a short hike at Maplewood State Park so Diane could get some Minnesota NCT miles.

Then we needed lunch, which was topped off with pie. Pie is picture worthy.

Then we stopped in Pelican Rapids to see, well, the world's largest pelican!

Then it was off for the North Dakota border and Fort Abercrombie. They have recreated the blockhouses of the fort.

We made a couple of short stops to collect scavenger hunt game answers that is part of the Hike Fest. Then it was on to Dead Colt Creek Campground. There are several other people here who are attending Hike Fest.

This day is DONE! Tomorrow starts early enough with a hike, and I think we maxed out this day. We are beat, but happy. View from our campsite.

Hiked 1 mile of NCT in Maplewood State Park, Minnesota.

Miles hiked in 2025: 330.2
Miles hiked on NCT in 2025: 191.2

See People and Places

"Just" a Sunset

 This is tonight's sunset. Nothing "special." Well, except that being granted the privilege to see one more sunset is certainly pretty special!

I managed 90 minutes of work screen time today before my eye said "enough" and did over an hour of light work around the house. I wanted to show you part of what I worked on, but I can't find a critical piece of it. I'm rather baffled as to where it could be.

I felt pretty good, but I can tell that I'm allowing about the correct amount of "up" time because I begin to get tired after a while. It's all good. Just need to work to incraese my stamina.

See Windy

Slice of Pie, Slice of Sky

 This isn't fruits of the forest pie. Although there are different recipes, most of them also have rhubarb. I didn't have any, not even in the freezer. So this is an apple-berry pie. Apples, blueberries, red raspberries and cranberries.

I'm here to tell you that although I like pumpkin pie, I LOVE this pie.

I just used an apple pie recipe and cut the sugar and threw in the berries. It needed a little more flour-- the berries have a lot of liquid. But that doesn't affect the taste.

And now for a slice of sky-- tonight's sunset.

In other news: I edited, I cleaned up the kitchen and made something else. I solved 2 of the 3 problems with trying to get my mystery series listed with IngramSpark. I did my other piece of the Christmas decor. Stay tuned.

See Pie Day

Not a Team Player

 So, I'm getting important things done, but that doesn't lead to many interesting pictures to share.

I may have to scrounge around and scan some pictures from some old event. There is one picture I want to use for the Facebook game "10 days of pictures that bring you joy" that I don't seem to have digitized yet. Often, I have Philadelphia Flower Show pictures to share through March, but I didn't go this year.

Last night's sunset was pretty nice. Ludington sunsets at the beach are famous. This one, seen from my deck, isn't shabby. Purple and orange. Are there any major league sports teams with purple and orange as their colors? A cursory search didn't find any, but that doesn't mean there aren't. I'm sure you'll tell me if you know of one.

But I haven't shared a sunset for three months, so why not? Picture taken at 7:53 last night. Woo hoo! I do like the light in the evening.

You know the drill: I edited, I wrote. I did laundry and a little cleaning. Still no car.

See The Skies Have It

Alabama is Closed

 They had seven inches of snow here a few days ago that has basically turned to ice because they don't have equipment to clear the roads. No church tomorrow, most businesses and restaurants are still closed. Randy wanted to take me to see several places this weekend, but none of them are open.

This morning I played sous chef for Annette.

What do you think we made?

Did you guess quiche? It was a yummy brunch. One of the best quiches I've had. We think using heavy cream and extra-sharp cheese were two of the reasons.

We watched a movie and some TV shows.

They have an aged mouse named Miss Pink. She is really old for a mouse, but seems happy and healthy.

The hit of the day for me is CoCo. She is a lab mix, so she's smaller than a normal Chocolate Lab. At 9 months she's still a puppy and has a lot to learn, but she is a really sweet dog. She's developing some real anxiety when they leave her in a cage when they leave the house, however. I hope they can resolve that.

This was last night, but I forgot I had taken this with my phone. This is sunset over the Tennessee River.

We are going to try to visit the people I had hoped to see at church tomorrow.

See Stop Eight

Family Day

 Here is everyone! Back row left to right- Charlie and JoJo, me. Front row- Sport, Cece and Elliott who is holding Cullen. Elliott is Charlie and JoJo's son, and Cullen is their son. Emma is on the right. She is Charlie and JoJo's daughter.

We had dinner together today, although there was a moment when Elliott wasn't sure he could make it. If you perhaps saw on the news about an explosion in a hotel in Fort Worth today, Elliott manages the restaurant chain that had a restaurant in the basement. Two of their employees were injured. The total injuries was 20, but so far no fatalities. It appears to be caused by a gas leak (not official word yet), but the hotel and restaurant will be out of business for an extensive time. The two lower floors were destroyed. Elliott was not on site, but it will be his responsibility to figure out a lot of what happens next.

On Mondays, Charlie and JoJo babysit Cullen. It's been an awful long time since I spent a whole day with a two-year-old. Wow! But we all survived.

We took a stroller walk in the morning and went past the neighborhood eagle nest. This is literally a Dallas neighborhood, but the eagle doesn't seem to be bothered by all the people living on the ground floor. The nest is actually visible from JoJo's house although this picture is taken closer to the nest.

Many different ornamental plants in the south. I believe this is an artichoke. I saw several as lawn plantings.

This is the sunset from their backyard. They have a corner lot where the ground slopes off to the west, so there is an open view without obstructing houses.

This picture is just for fun. Sport has this pet duck. He thinks this is the best toy.

It rained, so except for a short morning walk, and a fast stroller walk where Charlie took Cullen to watch the trash truck, we were playing inside all day. You know it was mostly about the toddler, which is fine, but we think tomorrow will include some other adult activities.

JoJo put together a meal of lasagne, salad, garlic bread, and cappucino ice cream cake. We did not go hungry!

See Stop Five- JoJo

Liquid Air

Cathy and I took an evening walk. We went out to Buttersville on the south side of the Ludington Channel and walked out to the marker light. From there, you can look across the channel to the Ludington Lighthouse. You might note that it's just a bit hazy. Like seriously hazy. Like liquid air hazy.

On the way, we passed the Pere Marquette Shrine. I hadn't really been there since the base was rebuilt. It looks good. This is supposedly the place where Marquette died, although there are several places which claim that fact.

The carferries, both the Badger and the Spartan are at their docks. Remember, the Badger had to end its season early. The Spartan just sits there anyway.

Coming back on the pier the light was hitting the rip-rap. Just rocks, right? But photos are always about the lighting.

The haze made for interesting lighting as the sun got lower.

The day was oppresive with heat and humidity. I managed to do a few things this morning, and then just petered out. How did I ever walk in this stuff last summer? It was about all I could do to breathe today. Tomorrow I need to be functional, that's for sure.

See 2011 Trip to the South Channel

Stale Cornbread?

  There was just a serving of cornbread left, and it was getting stiff. I started inventing and found a delicious way to eat it. I almost forgot to take a picture. This is the last bit.

Crumble the cornbread into a bowl. Dot with butter and sprinkle on some walnuts. Microwave until hot and butter is melted. Drizzle with pancake syrup to taste. This is so good it makes me want more stale cornbread!

The SUN shone today. That is extraordinary this time of year. Blue sky and all that.

And a little while ago, a real sunset. The picture was taken at 5:45. That's SO much better than 5:00.

The bulk of the day was spent finishing the book I was reading. It was tough going, and I probably wouldn't have finished if I hadn't been reading it for possible research value even though it was very well written. Let me explain.

First of all, it had several elements I just don't care for. It was written in present tense and it is borderline horror although it's also a mystery. Each character's feelings and thoughts are agonizingly covered blow by blow (which makes me nuts).

Let me also say that this is a book for young adults. I would also call it a coming of age story, so I get it that young people are going to identify with all the angst and trying to be "real."

The features that are borderline for me are that each chapter is from a different point of view. They are well-labeled, but I had to keep looking back to see who was narrating. One character is a trans boy, one is a trans girl. One girl is autistic. The two other kids are neurotypical, but have few friends. Two of them have minor physical disabilities as well. They all had names and role-playing game names, so there were ten names to keep track of plus a few nicknames. One of the characters uses non-gender pronouns (they, them). I was forever thinking some character was talking about the group when they only meant Ever. I was also constantly confused because I know two boys named Ever, but in the book, it was a girl.

I'm glad I stuck it out because the book does a really good job of helping the reader get inside the heads of teenagers who are social misfits and band together to support each other, but they don't know much about it or life yet. The author herself is autistic.

If you care, it's Even If We Break by Marieka Nijkamp.

Other than that, I puttered at some other small tasks.

See The Ordinary Things