Saturday wanderings....................

It seems like it was last week but it was yesterday, we had Reina till 7.30 pm while Laura worked, Gerry took us for a drive so we had something to do. There was a beach that I wanted to find and explore. Further along from Otter Creek but not much. The Platte River flows into Lake Michigan and has shallow water for kids to play in. I have not been there before so that's where we headed. We stopped in Empire for snacks as I didn't pack lunch. So much to the delight of the kids and probably Gerry we got some real junk food. A bag of choice of snack each and a snickers bar. That kept them quiet and very happy, its not often they get junk food from me.That and Bug Juice they were in heaven.
So off we headed for the Platte plains, River Dunes and Beaches. Found that very easy first turn before the bridge over the river. No problem.

The first thing we saw was a whole bunch of cars along the road and about everyone and his brother with inner tubes and canoes and kayaks.


Naturally they had to get wet. We didn't stay because that was where everyone was getting out of the river. We could not park down by the beach, too many people. We decided it would be a great place to go during the week or off season, even better.

We continued on and checked out Loon Lake. That was incredible. Where the river runs into it, apparently its a real big sandbar. People were out in the middle of the lake playing with frisbies and stuff. I mean lots of people, inner tubes and stuff. Plenty just getting in too.


Look close, you will see them all out in the middle of the lake in the distance. Don't get wet I said. Right said Tristen (I had his suit on) as he walked down the ramp and slipped on his back.Yes, he's wet.

They would have loved to get in there but alas it was not a day for swimming, we were just scoping out a few new places to go play in. Look at that sky



We headed for Frankfort next, again we were going to check the beach and park, but there was some kind of festival going on. So no luck there. This is why we don't go out on the weekends haha. We did go down to the beach and found a place to park. Gerry stayed in the car as it was not really legal hehe............I just wanted to get some pictures. I have never seen the water so calm there. I found out its shallow, what do you know. A great place for the kids to play. We normally avoid the popular beaches. This is what its like on a Saturday in July.

As usual everyone was crowded right at the first part of the beach. What? No one like to walk? I got my pictures and then we left.



Not my sort of beach, we like our beaches empty of people. I suppose if you are just sunbathing then thats the place to be. Had a nice chat with a guy in his boat parked way at the other end, all on his own reading a book. Then went back to the car.
We left Frankfort and headed for River Road. I have always wanted to check out the path that leads to the river that has some seats, so we did that.

The bike trail goes right through there, I guess Dan had taken Tristen there once because he remembered. I couldn't get if he was on a bike or boat.



I saw some beautiful Dragon fly but could not get a picture. Lots of lovely berries for the winter birds. I was surprised at no water birds but the river was very busy.


It is a lovely vacation river for sure and very active. So crowded though. Off season would be good.


Lots if wildflowers




Signs in the grasses and fields that Fall is on the way



Nice that there was a good path to walk there on.


So reluctantly leaving there we headed for the Alpaca's
We wanted to see if the babies were growing and they had what looked like a new one. Kids loved that. The owners had a huge fan outside the barn doors. They were congregated there with a little wagon of hay.


They are so dang cute



One was rolling in the dirt and these two had to go check her out, the white one is like "what the hell are you doing woman"


The kids just had to feed them grass and clover. They did not mind that one bit.


Then there was this cutie, quite small yet. No idea how old.


One more thing, I never noticed their feet before. I knew they were unique but I never looked close.


I did not risk going in the shop. The wool is just sooooo soft. So many pretty things to buy but alas, no money.
We did have enough for ice cream though and I knew just the place. In Benzonia is a place that make their own ice cream and it is yummy. It must be doing well because they have made the ice cream section bigger. So we headed home and ordered Pizza as we were all tired and I was not about to cook. The kids were happy they still had four hours to play before Laura was to pick up Reina. Seemed like ages to me I wanted a nap.

Jason's Move.....................

My son Jason has moved to a new condo. It seemed to happen rather quickly. It has been a long time since we moved but it always seemed such a lengthy process. I suppose it was for him too but looking from a distance it seemed that he was concidering it and then he was moving. In any case we went down last weekend to help with the heavy stuff. He has spent time back and forth packing and moving bit by bit. Now he has to get the old place cleaned up, painted and ready to either sell or get renters in. I think it is a great investment opportunity as he already has his mortgage.
We took Bodi with us because we were unsure of her staying here at home without us. She has a growth on her leg and we were worried about her. Gabby stayed at the house to handle everyone and the garden. We went to the old place first and Gerry helped move the bigger stuff while I moved the smaller stuff.

Tristen came too and was very good. Gerry and Jason moved everything Friday night. Saturday we started with the set up. Here is Tristen sleeping he had no problem.

So the outside of the house (condo)


The road it is on.Between the houses on the other side is a pond and seats so you can walk around there.

A two car garage. They keep up the outside maintenance of lawns and hedges so that's less for him to do.
The back view. There is a horse barn and a field back there beyond the pines.


And a neighbour

The entrance. It is so bright and cheery, he was able to put his plant there. This thing grew from a pit when he was very young and I gave it to him when he got his first apartment. Its still thriving.


The entrance leads to the living room, but on the right would be the laundry room and back door that goes into the garage.Then the basement stairs.

On the right is the 2nd bedroom that he will use as a computer room. The guest bath is also there but not in the bedroom. Right now in this picture he has yet to sort and set up

The guest bath before and after. Gerry was able to install all the curtain rods and towel bars etc

You cant really see the subtle colours of sage and grey, we found some hand towels that were navy blue and with the white towels looks nice

I put his cat quilt over the 1/2 wall that goes down stairs. The basement is unfinished at this point but has large windows and will some day be a lovely addition.

The kitchen is nice, the cupboards and appliances modern. He has been busy gathering new bits and pieces for that.He had yet to put stuff away.

Then the dining room leads off of the kitchen and living room.


It has a fireplace

He is using existing furniture.It was coming together even though we had a matress on the floor still.

Cat alley behind the sofa

The dining area leads to the back deck, that is nice and spacious

Setting up, best we could


Master bedroom and bath. Nice size room with a very large walk in closet and linen closet.Lovely bay window that looks out onto the street.


That was not finished when we left he was still unpacking stuff and setting up

He says Cole likes the seat in the walk in shower

Well I think thats it for now. It will be interesting to see what he does with it as time goes on. There is a lot of decorating potential with the high shelves and places to put collections.
Cole finally came upstairs to see us, he and his brothers Dexter and Tinsel were hanging out in the basement. I didn't blame them.

I am very proud that Jason is so self sufficient and can make his own way. He did most of the move with no help from anyone. We were glad to go down to help finish up. He has a good life there, I may wish he was closer to home but know he is well able to take care of himself.

My Fish................

I have not talked about my fish in awhile. They are still alive. All four of them. The "baby" is still black. My cousin Robin said they start off as black, it seemed last year that he was starting to change colour but is basically still black.
The pond seems to be doing well at keeping itself now. I seldom top it up but when I do then we put the anti chloride stuff in it. Occassionally I will put some anti bacteria stuff for slime but it's seldom needed unless we disturb it when the pump needs cleaning.

I never named the fish because I lost all my others after a couple of years, a Raccoon I think.
Boots and Bessie both check them out but they are smarter now and have plenty of hiding places.

I know if I give them names I will doom them.

I love how the ivy trails over the edge and the rocks give some shade too. They hide under the filter and in the plant roots. They like toys

I have two glass balls on stems that float around. One was stuck and the orange fish was nudging it so I set it out. That fish kept leaping out of the water like a whale doing a back flip. Never seen it do that before. It does like to jump through the water jet. They push the glass balls around the pond and seem very playful.

I thought that (above) was a good picture. I have not seen the black guy with them he is shy, besides its hard to get a good picture, he does not show up well.
Anyway, here they are, all happy and healthy for now. I think this is maybe their 4th year. Or is it five? I don't remember.

Poets and Poetry..................

I am by no means a poet but I do like to rhyme. I have a blog of poems I have written, not good but recorded in hope of getting them printed for myself to keep. I am not having any luck with that at the moment. I need to find someone who will print them as is rather than scrambled up.
I do not normally care for poetry but there have been some in my life that has just grabbed me. The first I recall was "The Ballad of Hiawatha" by Longfellow. I found I liked a lot of his work as time went on. I have a few favourite Poets, ones I seem to enjoy. William Blake, he writes less complicated poetry but in school we had to learn "The Tyger" and that got my imagination going. I loved his description so keen and so insightful and then "The Lamb" both learned in school. Then again I have said all that before.
I have a couple of books that were my mums, one was "Shelley" and one "Wordsworth" except the inside of that book is about Colleridge, not Wordsworth. I don't understand.

My Mum had signed the inside of both books, and I tried to copy her. We learned cursive in school back then. I was practicing here, I could not even spell my address so could not have been very old when I wrote in the book.

There were some nice pictures in Shelley's book.

His life was certainly colourful as were his friends. His poetry was ok too. Well some of it is.
I prefer the poems about nature. I love the old fashioned ones of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow like "The Village Blacksmith" in many ways I am grateful for my English schooling. We learned or read a great variety of things from "The Illiad" to Shakespeare. The general knowledge comes in handy sometimes. We went to a farm that had demonstrations of things like broom making and Farrier work. In fact at the "Smithy" the man asked if anyone knew what the name of the tree was outside the Blacksmiths barn. Well his clue was what is it standing outside of? Well naturally "Under the spreading CHESTNUT tree, the village smithy stands" I knew that, no one else did.

The above book is one I enjoy because it has a good selection of my favourites. Knowing a little about a lot of things makes a person able to talk with almost anyone and sound somewhat intelligent. At least to have an idea of what they are talking about. Another one I like is "The Wreck of the Hesperas" by Longfellow. Some poems just have such an atmosphere that you can not help but remember them. At least parts of them and naturally those are the parts everyone remembers.
My dad sort of like poetry, he kept clippings of some of his favourites and I have those now. He liked things like "The Rubayat of Omar Kayam", I think he was fascinated by India after he made a stop there during the war so the East was something he was curious about, he was in Malaya for a time as well. Naturally he grew up when India was still a part of the Empire, and children who were English were often born in India and came to England for schooling. Same thing with Africa. Back in his day Egypt, Aden and that part of the world was highly influenced by the British Empire. In fact when I was working for NAAFI we were still heavily involved out there. Friends who worked with me at NAAFI transfered to Aden and Libya. They saw some of the world while I went home to have a baby.
George Gordon, Lord Byron.......She walks in Beauty, like the night. Always makes me think of Alex. I love the beauty of his words. Some people have that knack. Some people love words. Know how to use them effectively how to get across an idea or feeling while most of us just gabble on. They can paint pictures with words, it is a gift. For Byron and Shelley and his group it was a way of life, they were crazy, they used drugs, anything to enhance the image they were trying to create.
My Uncle Harold wrote poems, like me he was not that great but because HE wrote them I have kept them safe. Mine are written in a blog called "My Poems" my words as (not) unique as the title.