Life Around Here

Seems like it's time to share a little bit of life around here! And it all has been pretty good. A perfect autumn day will do that to you!

We've had a few! It was a perfect day when Rick and I headed to Detroit to do a "tour" of some of his ancestors' haunts with Kevin.

It was great fun to see the neighborhood of Indian Village where Rick's second great-grandfather had built his home. Next door to it, he built an exact replica for one of his daughters.

If one was to flip the house above on its side, so the doors were facing to the left, it would be a mirror image of Rick's great grandfather's house next door. You can get a bit of an idea here but the foliage is too thick to totally see it. We were fortunate enough to go inside the green home and it has much of the original woodwork and is quite lovely.

Any visit to Detroit also involves a little time with the grandlittles and in this case, it was very little as they were traveling and didn't arrive home till late. Rick and Kevin were off on a visit to Rick's mom in Dallas before they were up, but this smiling face was a delight to encounter first thing in the morning!

This one was all about Mickey Mouse. You don't interrupt Mickey Mouse!

Even the required teeth brushing was done under Mickey's gaze!

On the way home (after a terrific but expensive trip to IKEA) I stopped in Ann Arbor and had a delightful lunch with Mae of MaeFood at a restaurant called the Slurping Turtle. Her pix of the restaurant, which she enjoyed earlier in the week with her family are here.https://maefood.blogspot.com/2019/10/lunch-at-slurping-turtle.html

There have been visits to the Ditch, too. Ellie is still here -- and hungry. If you want to develop patience in stressful times, just settle in to watch an egret (or heron) fish. It's better than meditation.

And she's so darned beautiful!

The Ditch is beginning to get pretty too. Not full-fall yet, but it's on its way. There is some weird auto focusing going on here but I love the mysterious, almost impressionist, quality it gives this photo.

If you follow Vivian Swift's blog, you may know about the Stromness Rock, a rock Vivian brought back from Orkney and is sending around the country for photo shoots by her various blog followers. The Stromness Rock came to Michigan so I took it around to a few places including the cider mill...

...the Michigan State Children's Garden...

...and to the state capitol where I met these lovely people who get out with their signs every Friday and have for several years now. Good for them!

I also took it to a restaurant that was having a wine tasting. The rock photo didn't come out so well. I think I took it after too much tasting!

While I was at the gardens, I took a peek into the MSU Horticultural Gardens.

I wasn't disappointed. There are still blooms in Michigan!

I've baked a little bit -- these Happy Cakes lasted rather awhile. This is what happens when you shop for a present for someone else and end up buying yourself a cupcake pan.

And a bit of decorating was done, too -- I'm still not full-fall either but hope to share a bit more soon.

I had my last lake visit a couple of weeks ago. The weather was awful so Rick and I started practicing for our next trip to England by doing a puzzle of the tube map!

It does feel good to settle at home, though, after several months of going back and forth or staying at the cottage. Home means reliable internet and cable (though I'm beyond mad at Comcast, which took TCM off the expanded basic tier and put it on the SPORTS tier. Really? Sports? That makes NO sense at all.) Home means I can focus on getting ready for the November art sale, connect with local friends, see some good theatre, bake with a full kitchen (versus up north where I don't bother with a mixer, microwave or all the pantry of home.) It's getting into a bit of a routine, one that can be easily changed if one likes.

As for Lizzie, it means no rides in "The Box." And she likes that! So all is well.

Sharing with:           Let's Keep in Touch     /     Best of the Weekend     

Where are the Children?

"To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. 
If you let it stay there after it has got you in you may never get over it as long as you live … ” 
Frances Hodgson Burnett, "The Secret Garden"

I've been a little worried lately. The lip treatment wasn't fun (and I'm still experiencing the after effects, which aren't pleasant). Time is flying and soon we will leave for our trip but my foot still isn't up to par; I worry a bit about walking. Frances Hodgson Burnett was right about letting bad thoughts get into our minds. It's not so easy to let them fly away.

I had a little time to kill while waiting for meds the other day so it was healing to take a spin around the MSU Children's Garden.

We've visited here before. It was a little different then!

 

The first thing I noticed was "where are the children?"

The peacock was there.

And the Flamingo and the butterfly.

Mary of "The Secret Garden" was in a field of zinnias.

And the bunny was ready to greet people. But no children.

It was so beautiful, this warm, sunny, early September weekday and the only children I saw were two, coming as I was leaving. OK, school is in session, I get it. But I missed them, their squeals of happiness at the xylophone where they can walk on it and make music with their feet or their delight when running through the maze, seeing a lovely bloom or pondering the moon and star support.

No one was in the "treehouse" fort.

Looking from its elevated height, one could see much of the garden.

Monet's bridge was tranquil and quiet, no little feet scampering over it on this fine day.

There was nary a ripple on the pond, the water reflecting the blue of the sky.

And there was color.

So much color.

Bright walkways.

Cheerful hollyhocks.

Sunflowers that couldn't quit, of every variety and golden hue.

Flowers were everywhere.

Even the fences were jazzed up!

But no children.

When we last visited the sheep, he looked like this:

It felt cold, not dead, really, but not alive, and one wondered how it would ever be spring again. But then, as Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote in "The Secret Garden," "“As long as you have a garden you have a future and as long as you have a future you are alive.” Now our sheep is bathing in the sun.

Soon the pond will freeze over, the petals drop, the blooms dry and fade.

Plants will be pulled out, the ground prepared to weather another snowy winter.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden,” wrote Frances Hodgson Burnett in "The Secret Garden." 

She is so right.

I think I need to return here soon -- and I bet I know a little boy who would love being lost in the maze, making music with the xylophone and even riding atop the sheep! I'll have to work on that one! Soon!

Sharing this week with:    Let's Keep in Touch   /    Pink Saturday   /   Gardens Galore (Everyday Living)   

Memory Lane

I always love walking on the beautiful Michigan State University campus in the spring. But when you can walk the paths you walked as a student fortysomething years ago, step inside your old dorm, eat where you used to dine in the residence hall complex and do it all with one of your old college roommates, it's even better!

 

LeAnne came over for an afternoon that included all those things. And all these photos are from our walk because I didn't take pictures in the dining hall -- which now resembles a food court with lots of different stations. It wasn't like going through the line where they slapped salisbury steak and mashed potatoes on your plate and offered unlimited soft serve. (Actually, they still offer unlimited soft serve -- with toppings and dozens of other desserts!) I was thinking today's college kids don't have it nearly so tough as we did!

Brody Complex's main communal area never looked like this when we were at MSU!

 Then it was off on our walk. Over the river...

...accompanied by an array of white bud and redbud trees. The redbud is a candidate for America's national tree and I'd vote for it in a heartbeat. I'd never seen the white-bud trees before.

Past the baseball stadium, much improved since our college days!

Down the road by the stadium, where we ran into a friend who took our photo! Then over another bridge.

Then back to the Beal Garden, where flowers were beginning to bloom...

                

Trillium!

Cheery daisies, dogwood...

 

Colorful tulips...

And more redbuds!

                

Even the ducks were enjoying the warm humid day!



(And yes, I played with a few of my camera settings!)

Squirrels were everywhere but few paused long enough for a photo!

We passed a full-bloom lilac bush and LeAnne (and I) couldn't resist going in for good sniffs!

The music building looked lovely -- more redbuds! I'd never seen this before -- apparently this is what happens when you trim a red bud tree -- more buds appear!

                 

And of course the statuary on the campus is a real treat. This one is title The Three Musicians by Samuel Cashwan.

We crossed over to the older dorms. Don't you think that anyone who saw dormitories like these would want to move in today?



I stayed in one of these during a high school journalism camp. The rooms are actually pretty small. But they are so charming!

Between the lilacs, apple blossoms and some other unidentified but equally sweet fragrances, it was a multisensory experience!

After we finished walking through the older part of campus we moved on to the horticulture and children's gardens. The horticulture garden really hadn't kicked in yet, but the children's garden is always delightful.

 

There's a certain charm to it, with its pizza garden, salad garden, maze and the arched bridge inspired by the one at Giverny.

Just being on that bridge brought back some special memories of its original counterpart! Time for a  couple of mystical special camera settings!

 

Pansies are my favorites, so I couldn't leave without a few photos!

Like I said, I can't resist!

I leave you with a look at two happy friends, who shared a flood of memories -- two years in the dorm, two years off campus, weddings and football games and getting to class in the winter! And, we enjoyed a far better lunch than any we experienced decades ago.

And with an invitation to those within easy driving distance of MSU -- the trees are fabulous and the flowers looking good. It won't last forever so if the weather is good, pop on over...

And bring your camera!

This post is linked to Beverly's Pink Saturday collection! Get in the pink right HERE.