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The crazy moon
W. wakes me up this morning calling me to come outside to see the lunar eclipse. I jump out of bed (cause I’m a morning person) and hustle out the front door in my underwear to see the full moon covered with the shadow of the earth. It was pretty cool to see…and cool outside.
I can’t help but wonder if the moon does weird things to people. Yesterday had a strangeness to it that I couldn’t put my finger on. Today could be the same way so I’m bracing myself.
This weekend we’ll tackle the last big project we had planned for this summer: we’re going to repaint our upstairs. When we moved into this house almost 6 years ago we painted the upstairs the same color we had painted our condo. It wasn’t bad (better than primer white) but it has a bit of a pinkish cast that we aren’t crazy about. W. spent some time pouring over dozens of paint samples and finally picked a nice dark khaki color. Almost like cappuccino. We bought a quart of it last weekend and went around painting little patches so we could be sure it is “the one.” It also means we have to paint.
I was up kind of late last night troubleshooting an issue we had at work yesterday. While we’ve targeted the problem, we don’t have an elegant solution yet. We have some things to try but the issue is going to make for an interesting day. I suppose I better get to it.
Image: I took this yesterday morning right after I got to work. This is the cornfield behind the building I’m in. The picture was taken from conference room D. In the fall and winter we see whitetail deer roaming around in this field. I can stand up in my cube and see them through the windows.
Late night baseball
There are many times when I sit down to write a blog post and I wonder to myself what I should write about. I read a blog article this past week on how to write a good blog post and one of the suggestions was to not talk about yourself too much. That advice doesn’t fit for me … seeing how this blog is about my life, up ’til now. Blogging is an interesting phenomenon.
Friday was our annual company outing where I work. The past few years they’ve rented a number of fancy tour buses and taken everybody to a Tigers baseball game. This year there were 15 buses with about 50 people on each. A lot of baseball fans. We got to the stadium ahead of some serious storm clouds. The game was delayed as the storms passed overhead soaking everything. Then it continued to rain. The game didn’t start for 4 hours. The first pitch was thrown out at 11:15 PM. The game lasted over 4 hours and went into extra innings. The Tigers won with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. It was 3:30 AM when we headed back to the buses for the return trip to the office. W. and I got home and were in bed by 5:30 AM. What a night.
Needless to say our Saturday wasn’t worth a shix.
One more week then school starts. Most of my paperwork seems to be in order. I haven’t checked to see if I need to buy any books yet or if the course materials are available online yet. I’m looking forward to classes starting but am dreading it a little at the same time.
Image: I’m trying my hand at watercolor painting. This is my first and is just an exercise from a book on watercolor painting. I didn’t take my camera to the Tigers game so didn’t have a good picture for this post.
Rain on Monday, house not crowded
I can feel that subtle shift in season, a recognition that fall is coming. No doubt there will be a few more scorching hot days between now and then but the air knows it’s coming.
It is cold and rainy out this morning. Much like it was all day yesterday. The In-Laws and a niece visited over the weekend and after they left yesterday we cleaned up a little and relaxed with the rain watching the Tigers get beat by the Yankees.
Cameras are allowed into the Michigan Theater but “no flash photography please”. The concert we caught last week was pretty good. While not a longtime fan myself, they sounded good and played well together. I had fun with W. Got this shot without permission. The light was poor, no flash, and a quick move. Got these shots of the band, zoomed way in and holding oak-tree-still.
The start of school is creeping closer. Besides student loan stuff, books, and determining which building on North Campus my Wednesday class is scheduled to be in, I’m all set. The next couple of weeks are going to go fast. Work has me entering a straight away and I’m going to open it up.
It’s “Mackinaw”, not “Mackinac”
I was informed by W. that Mackinaw with a “w” refers to the city while Mackinac with a “c” refers to the island. Apparently has to do with the British occupation of the island during the American Revolutionary War in the late 1700’s.
During this trip I took almost 800 pictures. I carried my camera around in my pocket. It rarely needs a flash and it isn’t always clear when I’m taking picture.
After four hours on the road we arrived at our favorite “bridgeview cabin“. I unloaded while W. transformed the cabin into our stocked retreat. We strolled around then setup our chairs and settled in. Soon our godson arrived and a little chippy too. The weather was mild and we all started to relax. Later that day I grilled some marinated chicken strips I’d prepared before we left. We later put a fire together and enjoyed our first s’more of the year. Lots and of ships went by out in the straights.
The next day we got up and went for a bike ride, checked out the beach and such. Later that day more friends showed up. And we went for another bike ride to the park to play with the godson. W. was having fun on the bars but didn’t think about her wedding ring she put in her pocket so it wouldn’t get scratched up. We searched for about 15 minutes until somebody found it. W. was pretty calm through this. A woman walking by that was paying attention to the drama unfolded made that comment.
The third day W’s family showed up for food, talk, and fun. This little guy was having fun. I watched him systematically tip chairs over. Nobody seemed to see him but me and I was cracking up. We partied again that night with loud music and dancing (no complaints that we knew of…but there was some concern). The next morning the storms came flowing gracefully over the bridge and soaked things while we were packing up. After we took care of packing, we caravaned out of the camp. Near the entrance was the old firetruck that goes around the camp every night giving rides. We made sure to wave at the people on board every time it passed our campsite. They rarely waved back but the driver and the woman helping in the back always smiled and waved.
The last thing we did, at the bequest (demand?) of W., was cross the bridge and do the traditional climbing of Castle Rock. It was fun and tiring but the view was worth it. After checking out the tourist shop we crossed the bridge going south and drove home.
On Tuesday night we saw Crowded House at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. It was a good concert. They have devoted fans.
Speaking of Ann Arbor and school in three weeks, I discovered yesterday that I forgot to fill out a FAFSA form to get student loans for school this year. I filled it out online the next morning. Hopefully it’s not too late.
Side note: It’s taken me days to put this post together. Granted, there are a lot of pictures and I had to take a different approach to organizing and writing it. You’ll notice after a while I stopped putting comments on the pictures. I wanted to but ran out of time.
Can we call it camping?
We are provisioned and ready to begin loading. We’re headed to a cabin in a campground just east of Mackinac City. Is staying in a cabin really camping? You be the judge later. The views are great and the weather likely to be pleasant.
Don’t have more than a moment. Chores to do before we hit the road. Wanted to try this.
Image: A vineyard on Old Mission peninsula, from an earlier trip north this summer.