Hello, River, My Old Friend

  Made a stop at the Scottville Riverside Park today to see if the Pere Marquette River was beginning to look spring-like. I think so. Pretty much ice free. Blue sky = blue water.

The Red Osier Dogwood is starting to color up. That's typical for March.

And here's a nice pattern picture. This was a reflection of some trees in the river.

It's really all other news: I painted for 6 hours again today and did a little bit of editing. I'm tired, but it's all good.

See P is for Pere Marquette River

Uneven but Sunny

  Loren and I took a hike on the North Country Trail. It wasn't as difficult as the icy trail at the state park on Tuesday, but the packed trail was really uneven. It was a joint-jarring walk. But... the sun was shining and the temperature climbed above freezing. All good!

The sky became that brilliant shade of blue that just amazes me every time I see it. The gnarly oak branches are a nice contrast.

This strange linear burl seems to have all kinds of protuberances. Looks like some sort of spiny animal crawling up the tree.

I know it's not much color, but the lichen and moss mingling on this tree are at least not brown and gray.

Who made these little tracks?

Dear little Koa, of course! She's always an enthusiastic hiker.

We managed to walk outbound 2.6 miles before the trail became just postholes through an icy crust. Then it was no fun any more, and we turned around. But it was enough.

NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2021 is at 78 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Freesoil Trailhead south 2.6 miles and back. Total 5.2 miles.

In other news: I continued to work on editing.

See Icy and Windy

A Dragonfly Too Early

  The quality in today was that I worked hard. I painted for six hours. But I don't think you want to see more primed walls. And I'm too tired to scan stuff for the next post in the series I've started. So you'll have to make do with a dragonfly tree ornament. This was from an earlier day, but it made me smile again when I saw the picture. If you want real dragonflies, re-visit the linked post.

There is no other news. Oh, OK, I washed some dishes and edited a little bit. No more work this evening.

See More Dragonflies

Icy and Windy

  The thermometer said it was 37 degrees, but the wind made it feel like about 20. Nevertheless, Cathy and I got in a walk at the State Park. It was just a shorter walk than we had expected to do.

Bright sunshine made the steep hillsides dramatic.

The trails were clamshelled ice from previous walkers' tracks. Fairly treacherous, and it slowed us down. Neither of us took a fall, so that was good, and we got quite a workout despite walking only maybe 3.5 miles. We made it to Hamlin Lake, but then needed to turn around and go straight back the same way we came, so I could get to bell practice on time.

I was surprised that with the warm temperatures we've had the lake is still frozen.

Most of my time was spent watching my feet and the trail, but I did see this nice texture picture in the end of a cut log.

Of course, we stopped for a couple of pictures of Lake Michigan. It was pretty rough, with a green seafoam color. We were north of the lighthouse, and you can see it out there in this picture.

I didn't think the lake pictures were going to turn out well because the wind coming off the water made it really hard to hold the camera steady, and there was a lot of blowing sand. But I like this one!

In other news: I edited and did some errands in the morning, hike and bell choir in the afternoon.

Ludington State Park, Piney Ridge Road to Hamlin Lake and back, about 3.5 miles

See An Adventure with Cathy

In and Out of the Closet

  I have a temporary job for as long as it takes me to finish (within reason), and a very flexible timeline. I'm doing some painting. Interestingly enough, I was painting for this same person when this blog began 12+ years ago. See link below.

I wrote about that on day 5 of My Quality Day. I'm going to assume this is not a bookend phenomenon, and that there are more than five days remaining for this blog.

Today, I primed a closet.

And got the edges cut in with primer on the bedroom attached to the closet. Also got most of the ceiling primed.

As was also true twelve years ago, I'm very grateful for this job right now. The dearth of events at which to sell books has put my finances in a tailspin. This will help a lot! I don't mind working, but it's really hard to find someone who will hire you when you are 72.

And the sunset was gorgeous. I'll bet it was spectacular at the beach. Oddly enough, this appears to be the first March sunset I've ever put on the blog.

In other news: I got groceries on the way home from the job, and I hope to do a little editing yet tonight. Tomorrow, I'm busy all day, but I'll be painting again on Wednesday.

See The Bay Window