Off the couch.................................

I have been complaining that I believe I am growing roots from my arse. I have been stuck to the couch for days. Or at least it seems that way. I can not believe how long this spell of hot and humid weather has been. SO, with that in mind we blew fate to the wind and took off for a drive. The usual places. Well, having decided upon Leland to begin with and a visit to Van's beach in search of Blue Stones, we left in disgust because of the limitations and the crowd of people.

Leland authorities have in their infinite wisdom put up signs blocking off the beaches to the public. Well. I know that the property owners have rights and need to be respected but..............they may want to think about the fact that many of us visit Leland, spend money in Leland just because we go to those beaches to look for Blue Stones. After all they are the ones who have promoted what is actually slag, to be made into jewelry. To be collected and sought after............why else would I go? I would not!!! I am not one to just sit on the beach. It's not that I sell the stones, it's the fun of the hunt. So now when one makes the trek down to the beach everyone is crowded on a small piece of sand, all the kids and families all crowded together. I will wait until the Fall or Winter to go back so I can be alone on the beach and I will walk the water line as is my right. Just because I can........



I show the long stretch of beach we are not allowed on, if you face the other way it is crowded with people.
So we left Leland and headed to Port Oneida. We stopped at my favourite lake on the way. This is basically a wild life preserve, it's not somewhere people would swim. Although boats are allowed I have yet to see one. I am sure the fishing must be good because look who we saw.


He/she was not doing a thing, I was hoping to see him spread his wings as they do. Cormorants are apparently not very welcome around here either. They eat fish. I don't understand people. I honestly do not. We have them in town down on the river and apparently the are not welcome. Well I love them and was thrilled to see him.
Another elusive critter I saw that day. A Loon. I was thrilled. Two rare,( for me) birds in one day.


I started this writing the wrong way around because we started off by going through Suttons Bay on the way via Lake Leelanau to Leland. I had to stop to see the Sunflowers first.



The sky this day was not our usual brilliant blue, it was grey, milky white. It was smoke from the California wildfires travelled this way to give us that haze. It did not shelter us from heat or humidity though. Back to the lake. When I first stepped onto the bridge I saw a very unique pattern on a dead birch tree.

Then I saw the artist

He flew off after awhile, fed up with being watched but when I left he was back working on making more pattern on the tree.
In the water I saw the tiny turtles. Painted turtles. So pretty, tiny ones on leaves of the Waterlily and larger on logs. This day we saw some frogs too.



The white lilies are the most pleasing to me. So pretty.


There are yellow ones too but very different shapes to the White ones. By this time it was getting too hot for me, I felt yukky weak and had to get out of the sun. We walked a bit on the trail, Gerry went to look at the old School house while I walked.




I walked down through the trees to the small boat launch but nothing much to see there

Rows of planted Pines that they use for logging, no more though, now it's park land and preserved

Some wild flowers along the trail


There had been a festival at Port Oneida over the weekend. We drove through the woods. I remember when we could go through those woods and never see a soul, not so anymore. Cars parked in the middle of nowhere so they can traipse through the woods instead of following the trails to Pyramid Point. People walking. The tourist industry in full swing, promoting our area, our food joints and all the beautiful places. I hate it. It is forever spoiled now. We have become one of the most popular summer destinations. Great for summer trade but in the process what they come to see is forever changed. No chance seeing wildlife with all the chaos. We did see a lovely buck earlier but I did not get a picture. He was wanting to cross the road and we could see a car coming. So we stopped and he decided to abandon the idea, phew.....off into the woods to live another day.
The Sandhill Cranes and young ones were there at Port Oneida, right where we saw them last time haha.


A small Hawk watching over them. I could not get a clear shot

We went down to Glen Haven on the way back but it was so crowded we just left. So no rock collecting for us. Roll on cold weather. The best days for the lakes.

We went past the Dunes, people like flies. I stopped to see the Swans on the small lake/pond there. Mum was napping I think.


So tired by the heat and hungry we headed back. We stopped at Shimeks farm and got some new potatoes and corn on the cob. We had that for supper and that was the best corn I ever tasted. I don't need butter or anything on it. Super yum..............so now to prepare for the yard sale this week. No more adventures this week. Today we take the poodles for hair cuts and then to sorting, don't need to worry about sitting on the couch today. Lots to do. Maybe next trip we will head north and find us some new spots to explore.

Old ways and olden days..................

I am watching a series called The Village. It takes place in early 1900s. It seems that not a lot changed in village life until way into the 1960s. I know my village didn't. I was born in 1946 but it may just as well have been 1926 because life was much the same. It's strange that I know the ways and reasons the people in that village do the things they do. I wonder if the knowledge will ever be of use to me now haha.
watching how things were done back in those days were the same as how my Grandmother did things. I remember watching her do laundry in the sink and running sheets through the "mangle" onto a large oak table out in the conservatory. She would then hang them up either outside in the garden or in the conservatory. Then iron them on that oak table. Sometimes they had to hang by the fire.
My Granddad worked at Commer Cars during the war, he lost an eye due to a piece of metal that got into it. That reminds me of my friend Dawn when we were visiting, he came home from work and after emptying his pockets out he proceed to take out and polish his eye. No one had thought to mention it to poor Dawn who ran screaming from the room.
The movie show life for women back then. Subservient to their husbands, working fingers to the bone and expected to have supper on the table when they came in from work. It was tough, more than we can imagine because food was rationed or not available. Women had to be creative, it was not a lot different during the 2nd war. Or after into the 1960s. I remember when rationing stopped. I got the coupons to play with. I would go to the corner shop with my Nan and get what she could with her ration book until that day came. She had a "safe" in the kitchen to keep meat in back then and a "copper" to heat the water for washing. Was no different for my mum when we moved into Bidwell Hill.
I don't remember how or why I learned such things. Do you remember the "milk train" one could catch that if lucky very early in the mornings. The Milk churns waited at the station. My Nan's brother worked at Stanbridge Ford station and my Mum lived and grew up in Stanbridge near the station. I was a quiet child and would sit under the table while the adults played cards and talked so maybe that was a part of it. Ray, Mum's youngest brother was in the air force at one point and they seemed to be a close family, the brothers getting together and getting up to mischief, my Dad fit right in.
These movies make me nostalgic. We saw so many changes. Electricity. Coal fires. inside plumbing to name a few. Our kids and grandkids and great grandkids have no clue.
England was not just a country it was an Empire.
Farming was done by hand, back in the 1900a, with scythes and rakes. Loaded onto wagons and made into hay ricks. Later in my day they had the combine harvester, in school I remember seeing pictures of harvesting in the USA with several of them in rows harvesting the fields. Our little farms had one if they were lucky. Us kids would help with the baling and it was just so much fun.
My dad probably taught me a lot but I think I learned most from my friends farm and living when I did. I suppose that and having a deep love of animals helped. How do I know that a sheep can not get up if it falls on it's back, it will die. A cow that is bloated needs to be deflated with a cut into the stomach a straw helps. A new born calf needs to be rubbed down with straw and its nose cleaned out blow in it if you need to. If you get stung with a nettle use a Dock leaf to neutralize it.
I learned to milk a cow but found it takes a different skill to milk a goat.
I think that village life after the war, the first war stayed much the same as before. Many did not come home but the people in English villages stuck together. The second war saw many children come down from London to share the country life, some of the older ones loved it so much they stayed. I found some books written by some of them. I found a lady who I came to love who was a Land Girl who worked on Green's farm down Bidwell. She ended up in Australia. Many from my generation grew up in Australia and South Africa and India.
I am a romantic I think, maybe a dreamer. I believe that as wrong as colonization is, back then the world was different. I think the remnants of Empire turned out to be a good thing in a way. We grew up not having an issue with race unlike it has been in the USA. The biggest thing was the snobbery of social classes but that didn't come into my life at all. We had no association with upper classes haha. Country yokels was us. My Dad did have a run in once with the Duchess of Bedford. He almost got run over by her car, and she got out to see if he was OK. I guess they took him home and came back a couple of times to check on him. I am sure my Grandmother was shaken to the core haha. I bet she kept Burt out of sight.
I am sure I look on things of the past with rose coloured glasses. I know I was naive I always look on the bright side and do not see the shadows. Why would I? I had an idyllic childhood.
Holding new born lambs on our laps by the fire and feeding them bottles. Little hard hoofs and wagging tails.
We complain today about the cattle being vaccinated and then we eat the meat.........I don't know about all that. I do remember though, in my time Anthrax in Scotland or the North and Foot and Mouth at least twice I recall and before my time too, because on Margarets farm was a kind of hill and under it a herd (?) of cows. Next came Fowl pest. I remember walking on and off farms through trenches of disinfectants. Was that better or worse? When farmers lost their livelihoods. I think maybe they just went too far and started to use growth hormones and all that, that is more the problem I think. They have made farming easier in a lot of ways, but at what cost?
In the movie we are watching, they show a man with an injury to his head. It becomes putrid, gangrene I suppose. Well, we know what to do with that don't we?????? Maggots, they eat the dead flesh and clean the would. No antibiotics back then. The old remedies, some of them actually worked. Leaches. Letting blood. All had a purpose in early medicine. We can not afford to forget these things. Vinegar and brown paper. Onions in a poultice. Maybe there are books somewhere with them all written down but that won't help if we don't keep it in our heads and pass it on.

Kids Creek with Gabby....................

The week started out busy, with visitors and a funeral to get through. The visitors were fun and we enjoyed seeing Justin and Carrie. Lots of eating though and no exercise. We ate at Ricco's out in Grawn after the Viewing on Monday. Oh my, I had the Planked Whitefish

I have to go back and get that again soon, when Edna gets back from Italy.......maybe. Anyway to continue.
After they all left I felt the need for exercise before it was too late.My doctor was happy with my weight loss so I do not want to pack it back on. Have not been a good girl. The Whitefish was safe though and I could eat that again right now. Moving on.........Gerry didn't want to go for a walk so Gabby came with me.
The Wildflowers were so pretty.This is a close up of a plant that seems prolific down there by the creek




You can tell summer is coming to an end, the evenings are drawing in and the Fall flowers are starting. The trees and shrubs are full of berries.







I was hoping to see my deer again, and I did. She saw me first this time and silently slid into the bushes. Still I did see her and now I know for sure that in the early evening she is grazing. There were some little kids around and so I am sure she was alert to the people around her. Next time.

The animals will have lots to eat this Fall

She has picked a nice place for herself.


The pond was calm and I tried to get some pictures of the ducks but they were busy avoiding the little kids who were having a great time with Mum and Dad,


I found out what the little shed was all about. I am really surprised they have not fixed it up.

The evening had a nice breeze and the sun still being out it started to get a bit to warm for me and I needed to get back before dusk set in. Love those short and pretty walks. I thank the powers that be who set them up and the people who donate the land. This used to be full of Buffalo when Oleson's had it. Sigh.........but they made it awesome to grow flowers haha.

So, a nice evening walk..................I think Gerry and I will go out tomorrow if it's OK. Hope it's cool, but maybe the beach will be nice.