Seasonal

Apparently it’s that time of year again…

Saturday 21st November.

As is always the day after the storm passes through, there is blue sky and sunshine to enjoy and complement the brilliant white snow.  Sadly after a very mild November which saw a lot of trees holding on to their leaves, this turned out to be a very destructive storm as the snow was very heavy and wet.  The leaves then allow a lot more of the snow to accumulate, putting a lot of extra stress on to the trees and a lot came down taking the power with them.  We were fortunate in that regard, but 40,000 folks in metro Detroit were not.

Our giant Smokebush on the side of our house succumbed unfortunately.  I took the first and last photos above standing right underneath it yesterday, this morning two thirds of it was on the ground.

We can’t clean it up until later this week, when the warmer temps will melt the snow again, so we took ourselves off to our local State Park and strapped the bits of plastic to our feet again for the first time this season.  Conditions were less than perfect, what with wet snow and warm ground, but it was nice to be out enjoying the fresh air and getting some exercise.

Despite two little falls I managed ok… which is more than can be said about Andrew!  In fairness he’s trying to get the compacted snow off the base of his ski’s, but it would make a great photo for a caption contest!

Stuck In Spring-ter!

The calendar tells me it’s the first week of Spring but it’s actually been colder here than the first week of Winter was back in December!  We’re feeling a bit trapped between that no-mans land between Winter and Spring, hence the “Spring-ter” in the post title if you haven’t figured it out yet.

Whilst the weather makes up its mind which way to go I thought I’d show you a few photos of the last days of Winter, a bit late as they’re from the first two weekends in March, but I’ve had strep throat and my step-father is in hospital in England after suffering a nasty fall.  No broken bones, amazingly, but he’s pretty banged up and needed stitches on his face, he’s being kept in for a few days for observation and to make sure that he’s able to get about under his own steam again.

These first few are from our skiing trip to Petoskey.  We forgot the camera on the first day, which is a shame as it was beautiful and sunny and just so pretty.  These are from the Sunday when it was grey and show showery all day, it wasn’t very cold though, not much below freezing and the snow conditions were perfect.  And as Andrew always says, it doesn’t matter how dull the day, or how many people are on the slopes, he can spot me a mile off!

 

And as you can see, on Sunday we practically had the place to ourselves.  Anyone who had come up for the weekend was leaving by Sunday lunchtime for the drive home, but as we weren’t leaving until the Monday it worked out perfectly.

And on the Monday, before leaving, we walked along the harbour in Petoskey as it was a stunning day.  Actually, let me rephrase that, we walked ON the harbour in Petoskey!  Little Traverse Bay was completely frozen over, there were tire tracks on it from trucks heading out to do some ice fishing, and snow-mobile tracks too plus lots of footprints!

Back at home a weekend later and the weather couldn’t have been more different, highs of 21C soon put paid to all of our remaining snow.

Since then we’ve been back down to -8C, mostly after the official start of Spring, but at least that’s given us plenty of indoor time to continue ripping out the bathroom, which is now a big empty space, warts and all.  And we have a lot of work ahead of us!  But more on that another time.

But I’ve Changed My Mind!!!!………

 

 

What are you up to this weekend?

Randomly On My Camera

I take quite a lot of photos over the course of a week or two, most never make it on to this blog, but I thought perhaps I might show you a few once in a while.  Right now there’s a lot of photos of Winter and snow and I could fill up post after post with them but that would get old very quickly!

Trails at our local State Park.

Some Sock Love.

Fingerless Mitts – they match a cowl I made 18 months ago.

Christmas Cactus – Flowering for the second time

Back To The Park For Cross Country Skiing

Andrew had a birthday at the end of February.  Naturally there were Giraffe themed birthday cards and Giraffe themed socks!

And rather randomly taking up space in my dining room right now…

Yes, we’re getting ready for a bathroom remodel!  Looking forward to it but not looking forward to it if you know what I mean!

We’re heading up north again this weekend for more downhill skiing and our camping friends are coming with us for a break although they don’t ski.  We have a little condo booked right beside the State Park in Petoskey that we all love to go to in the Summer months and we’ve all taken Monday off too so we’re making a longer weekend of it.  I’m hoping for lots of knitting time in between bouts of vigorous exercise!

Just Chillin’

Cross country skiing in Mayberry Park on Saturday, waiting for Andrew who decided to add an extra loop, whereas I knew how I’d be feeling the next day if I added even one extra foot to my normal circuit!

Perching my derriere on a picnic bench in the sunshine.

The temperature we woke up to on Sunday morning…

Ice on the inside of the bathroom windows on Sunday morning.  We had ice on practically all of the windows, it was a bit of an overwhelming kind of cold…

The forecast for Sunday and also for Monday…

But my feet are toasty warm in my new furry slipper booties….

The only problem is, Andrew now wants a pair too!

Skeletons Out Of The Closet

Every year in the run up to Halloween my local town sponsors an event called Skeletons on Main.  As well as decorating the pretty, Victorian town with Autumn touches, think flowers, corn stalks and pumpkins), they also work with a local landscape company to install over 50 life size skeletons in various poses around the town.  The result is really quite hilarious.

Last Saturday Andrew and I walked around taking some photos before they were removed to make way for the Christmas decorations.  We had been downtown the night before, on Halloween, but it was wet, windy, snowy, icy and freezing cold so we didn’t spend long.  It was still really cold on the Saturday morning but at least the sun was back out and the blue sky made for some super pictures.

I’m not post all the ones I snapped as you’d be here forever, but you can see some more here.

 

You can always count on Superman…

 

Delinquent skeletons??

 

I hope the Northville High School cheer team are not that anorexic!

 

Spiders! This was lit up at night, they all have orange eyes!

 

..And where you find Spiders, you find Spiderman

 

Outside the “make you own pottery” shop… the iconic scene from Ghost!

 

In the frame?

 

Dinner awaits you… if you dare.

 

The proposal.. outside the jewelers store of course.

 

How about a nice cuppa? As long as you don’t die waiting!

 

Even skeletons hobbies! They have to have something to do for the rest of the year!

 

Taking exercise to extremes?

 

Some don’t have time to play, there’s work to be done.

 

Ghostly music?

 

Sing along now… “And I had the time of my life and I owe it all to you”!

 

Family day out.

 

Getting a bit squiffy?

 

Obviously that cat’s been up that tree for a while!

 

Fabulous dahhhling!

 

No wonder this little town always look so neat and clean.

 

But I was framed! Can you see the Police Dept sign?

Sunny Sunday

After a few days of greyness and showers it was wonderful to finally wake up to a sunny day.  It was even more wonderful that the sunny day happened to be on a Sunday, so I could enjoy it with Andrew and not have to look at it from the window at work.  It was cold again though 0C/32F but as we haven’t had that many cold days this Autumn so far I really can’t grumble about that.

We decided on a stroll through some local woods after breakfast as it was too pretty not to do something with the morning.  And everywhere did look glorious.  There’s something about Autumn that makes my heart sing and it’s not just the colours.  I love the earthy, slightly sweet smell of it, the low slanting sunlight through the leaves, the glorious blue sky, the crunchy leaves underfoot after a frost, the warmth of the sun on my face and the briskness of the air.  I think I really love Autumn and Winter more than I do Spring and Summer in so many respects.

 

 

 

 

 

Back home we prepared a little treat to go with our morning coffee.  We have a specialty food store near us called Trader Joe’s, it’s a national chain but there aren’t that many of them around, they have a lot of seasonal products and at this time of year it’s all about the pumpkin.  We missed out on this last year so as soon as the products were in Andrew hot-footed it down to our local one and came back with these magical little beauties, Pumpkin Croissants!  Found in the frozen section in packs of four you let them prove and defrost overnight and then bake them for 20 minutes when you want them.  They do need to cool a bit before eating as they have a soft pumpkinny filling that will probably burn if eaten too hot, but oh my, I can see why these sold out in a matter of days at our local store last year.  We need to get some more of these and stash them for when the snow is flying.

Absolutely perfect with a cup of coffee.

 

For those of you with a Trader Joe’s within a 100 mile radius of your home I suggest a little road trip might be in order… but for those of you in countries without one, I’m sorry.  I’d pack my bags and move to America if I were you.  They really are that good!  Chin, chin.

 

An Autumnal Weekend

Just up the road from us is Seven Lakes State Park, we’ve been looking at it for a while and finally booked it up last Tuesday as the weekend weather forecast changed from rain to sun.  And by “just up the road” I mean only 44 miles, so just over an hour after leaving home on Friday afternoon we were sitting in our camp spot all set up drinking hot tea, knitting (well, I was knitting!) and watching two beautiful and colourful balloons ascend into the cool of the early evening.

* Friday 5:45pm 9C/48F ~ Sand Lake Campground *

* Saturday 8am 0C/32F  ~ Mist Rising on Sand Lake*

*Saturday 11am 10C/50F ~ Preparing to launch on Big Seven Lake *

* Big Seven Lake *

* Big Seven Lake  has its own Loch Ness Monster! *

* 12 Noon 14C/57F ~ Goosebumps on legs on Big Seven Lake *

* Big Seven Lake *

* Big Seven Lake *

* Saturday 3pm 15C/59F ~ Hiking Trail to Dickinson Lake *

* Saturday 3pm 15C/59F ~ Campground and Sand Lake from trail *

* Sunday 8am -2C/28F ~ Mist Rising on Dickinson Lake *

 * Sunday 8am -2C/28F ~ Mist Rising on Dickinson Lake *

* Sunday 8am -2C/28F ~ Mist Rising on Dickinson Lake *

 * Sunday 8am -2C/28F ~ Mist Rising on Dickinson Lake *

* Sunday 11am 15C/59F ~ A fungi tree on a hike round Big Seven Lake *

 

* Sunday 12:30 pm 17C/62F ~ Big Seven Lake from the trail*

I’m hoping for more weekends like this before we lose the leaves completely, there may even be another camping trip if we can squeeze it in too.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ~ The Surprise Edition

And it was me who got the surprise!

Hello again desk hoppers, Wednesday once more, thanks for popping in.  So how did I get a surprise?  Well, you may recall I was in Mexico at the end of May, when the crop and the atc swap was going on and didn’t take part.  So imagine my surprise when I got back from the weekend on Sunday (June 29th) to find an envelope from Julia in my mailbox which was full of beautiful atc’s, along with a lovely note!  So they’re gracing my desk this week.

 

 

Poor Julia must have been wondering why I hadn’t mentioned them before, or thanked her for them, but they must have traveled the long way round as they were posted on May 27th and arrived here on either the 27th or 28th of June!  I can’t believe it took 31 or 32 days for a small envelope with correct postage and address on to reach me.  But I had a fantastic time looking at each one and putting names to blogs.

So Julia, thank you so much for taking the trouble to include me in the WOYWW ATC swap.  And you truly surprised me too!

So, it was the last weekend in June and I had the Friday off work as we headed down to Mid-Ohio racing track for the annual Vintage Grand Prix that they hold there, and this time we were able to take the little Ginetta G15 with us too.  They have a featured marque at Mid-O every year, along with a special race for the featured marque and this year it was the classic mini that got its turn in the limelight.  They came from all over the US and Canada too, 54 of them to be precise.  I love mini’s, we had three at different times when I was growing up, I learnt to drive in one too, I think most of us probably have a mini story somewhere in our past.

I’ll leave you with this photo from Turn 1 of lap 1 of their race, 49 of them started, 48 finished (no mean feat in itself!).  It was impossible to get them all in one shot, they just kept coming and coming and coming around turn 1!  Wonderful to see, absolutely fantastic actually.  It was the most minis in one place that both Andrew and I had ever seen, or are ever likely to see again.

So that’s me this week.  Head off to Julia if you have no idea why I’m showing you a desk, and while you’re there make sure you

wish her a Very Happy Birthday too!  

And at the other end of the birthday celebrations scale, Happy Birthday America, 238 on the 4th.  And while I think about it, today (2nd July) is also the 20 yr anniversary of Andrew and I arriving in America!!  Plus it’s Darnell’s birthday!  Wow, lots going on this week!

A (Nut) Cracking Weekend!

Yes it was, but possibly not the kind you have in mind!  I was thinking more the Tchaikovsky kind.  You know, ballet, famous classical pieces, toys that come alive at midnight kind.

I can’t believe that I’ve never seen this performance before, or any ballet for that matter.  It was very good and a lot of fun too.

Winter Storm Electra popped in to town too at the weekend, snowing for most of Saturday and leaving us with about 7″ or so.  I had to drive to Ann Arbor in it in order to see the ballet.  I work in AA, so I know it only takes 30 minutes to get there normally, however, because of the snow we left very early for the 2pm performance.  It took us an hour and 10 minutes to get there and we had a quick packed lunch sandwich in the car before heading in to the venue.  The plan had been to get dinner in AA after the show but we decided against that and drove slowly and carefully home instead.  It just wasn’t worth the hassle to be honest.

Sunday morning it was still snowing gently, but after breakfast we went out and cleared the driveway.

We were wet and cold by the time it was done as it was quite windy out and the snow kept getting blown back into our faces!  We got another couple of inches on Sunday and we’re supposed to get 1 – 3″ tonight too, so I think we can safely say that Winter has arrived!  We stayed inside the rest of the day, I got the rest of the house decorated, dusted and tidied, finished my nephew’s birthday card and then made a nice roast chicken dinner before settling in front of the fire with some knitting.

I’m very tired this morning, the snow blower is heavy to push around and my shoulders are aching, so I apologise if this post is a bit disjointed but I haven’t had any wake up coffee yet!  I’ll be back in a day or two to show you the card I made.  Til then, chin chin, and keep warm!