Two Guys Talkin'

B-Hoowhee, it's nasty out there!

J-You're the one who wanted to go out-hey-dude, DUDE-go shake yourself off by the fireplace will you? Geez.

J-All's well on the perimeter? Not a creature stirring...?

B-Not really. Aww man, that fire feels good.

J-Run into anyone we know? Snowing
 

B-Yeah, saw Mean White. I was convivial, he was not, the old sour puss. It is snowing but it's mixed with rain and there's a lot of wind. Filthy night.

B-Is everyone asleep?

J-Yep.

B-Mom ok?

J-Mom's gonna be ok.

B-We're worried.

J-I know, buddy. (scritching an ear). Been one helluva year.

B-Next year will be better.

J-I hope so. I'm tired Bin. Tired.

B-It's gonna be fine. You'll find work.

J-I got to deal with people and I am tired of dealing with people and all the dysfunction.

B-There will always be dysfunction-in varying degrees. You just have to work past it. It's how you apes are.

J-Yeah, I know.

B-Maybe you will be surprised. You cannot rule out the chance. Otherwise, you won't get out of bed. And you still are getting out of bed everyday.

J-I have things that need to be done.

B-This is just another. And, not to sound too Obiwan, it will be what you make of it.

J-Yeah.

B-Good supper tonight. Thanks for the bits. Mmmm cow.

J-It turned out-I was pretty happy and of course, so was Mom. She is very easy to please. I am so lucky.

B-We all are. She's the best!

B-It will be a good New Year. You'll get a cool job, Mom will have new boobs. It's all gravy!

J-Wow.

B-C'mon now, it's all good! Have been getting enough ketsup? Has the shrink mentioned anti-depressants? A bit less of the vino might be helpful-it's a depressant you know.

J-Are you looking for a billable hour here? Double time because it's Christmas Eve? Sheesh, dude.

B-Just sayin'. Hey, there's a package for you on top of the stocking.

J-And here is one for you-thank you.

B-Oh yummers-it's fishy, I can smell it through the wrap. Oh, oh so good.

J-Mmmm as are the Mozarts.

B-How's that sherry (despite what I just said)

J-Tasty. And, no offense taken. I need to address it.

B-A bit of confidence and you will be just fine. I heard you hollered at the radio station, you old crackpot, lol.

J-Well, it's just annoying, these “Jesus is the reason for the season” people. Hello! It's Chanukah too! Not to mention the very old practices that the Christians ripped off. And to state it in a public broadcast without at least putting it into a form of expressing a personal belief...just too ignorant and too blatant to not address.

B-Well, I wonder if the station manager had a word with the lad?

J-Sigh, I hope so and I hope it didn't cost him his job although I suspect he is one of the volunteer hosts. Nevertheless, he needs to be mindful of his audience.

B-I'm sure you will be written off as a Social Justice Warrior.

J-Probably. Shrug-F'em. The religious folk are getting on my nerves. Oh, god is great so I will explode myself in the market.

B-Now that is quite a leap from some immature kid running his mouth on the radio.

J-There's only a few steps between them on a very slippery slope, man.

B-Ok, Ok.

B-Put another log on, will you?

J-Sure. I'll be right back with a refill.

B-Ahhh (stretching on his side) How did the kolache turn out?

J-Not too shabby considering the amount of changes to the recipe. Could be better though.

B-You're funny, always want things to be better. That causes you to suffer but I guess that's just an apetrait.

I read your blog-your mother is in a bad way, eh?

J-Yeah, it's just sad, she had such a good mind. I miss talking to her-to Dad as well.

B-Well, you know we don't have relationships with our fathers and only a short one with our Mums. But we do bond so I have some understanding of your sorrow. If we are taken too soon from Mum, we tend to have this need to relive our kittenhood. Look at the Grey Meat Loaf and her needy behavior with Mom.

Strange brew, that one. She can be so cranky and judgmental, lording over the Calico and me that she is a Queen but then revert to a kneading, mewing kitten requiring a bunch of lap time. Oi.

J-Well, we all are what we are.

B-Yep. (yawning) Oh, it's time for a long winter's nap. You staying up?

J-Yeah for a bit-boy it's really coming down. Hey, what's that?

B-(ears moving forward) on the roof?

J-Yeah. I hear bells too.

B-I thought I heard them awhile ago across the street but just figured something had carried on the wind.

J-Shhh! Footsteps? No, it can't be.

B-(whispering) Yesssssssssssss. You better scoot. Did you leave a snack for him?

J-(whispering) Yeah, kolache and a snort of sherry.

B-Good man!  Go on, now.

J-Ok, Happy Christmas, buddy. Give my regards to the old gent. And tell me all about it in the morning.

B-J...

J-Yeah

B-You've been a good lad. Wishes come true to those who deserve. And he delivers. Happy Christmas.

The Darkest Night of the Year

Happy Solstice all! Let us lift a glass by the fireside and toast the return of the Sun!

 

 

From 1969, by Sunforest featured on A Clockwork Orange soundtrack,

 "Overture to the Sun". 

 

 

 From Richard Thompson and friends in a taxi, a cover of a song from the 1611 hit parade "Remember, O Thou Man" by Thomas Ravencroft. Typically dour of those times, Ravencroft is just a sunny ball of finger wagging, admonishing all wretched sinners to repent. Happy Holidays all! Thompson and crew wisely lighten the atmosphere by segueing into a wonderful and hilarious juxtapose: Fats Waller's "My Very Good Friend the Milkman".

 

 

 

C with a reindeer at the downtown East Lansing Winterglow.

 

Making Kolache 

 

My mother was a very good cook and she especially shone during the Winter holidays. One particular thing we looked forward to was the kolache, a Slovak pastry that she learned to make from Dad's mother. It is a buttery, sweet dough with a nut filling. I attempted with mixed results to make a vegan version. Vegan baking can be a challenge and one thing you must reconcile is that whatever recipe you adapt will taste different. Nothing tastes like butter except butter regardless of what marketing tells you. For the dough, I replaced the butter with Earth Balance vegan butter and the cream cheese with marzipan. For the nut filling, C is allergic to walnuts so I went with hazelnuts. Instead of egg white as a binder, I used ground flaxseeds. The dough, which is refrigerated overnight was a nightmare and very hard to deal with. In the end, the kolache were quite large but tasty. The almond/hazelnut flavors co-existed nicely and while the dough was not as flaky, it had a nice tooth. I expect these kolache will be as good as their original version with the morning coffee. Yum.

 



 

One of my favorite pictures of my mother, Bette, taken in the garden Fall 1973 wearing her "Sopwith Camel" coat. As she approaches her 90th year, her mind has been lost to the ravages of Alzheimer's and dementia. While C gently asserts that she is not suffering, it's hard not to believe that some part of her realizes the nature of her being and I find this grievous beyond words. From the poet Billy Collins, an elegant articulation of such a state although for my mother, I am afraid she is very much past "Forgetfulness".

 

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

 

Ut quiescat, primum venire.

 





Two Guys Talkin'

B-Well, fancy-smancy header. Hey, that's not me!

J-It's your own fault-I tried to take a picture of you but Mr. Squirmypants wouldn't sit still.

B-Did you ask? Had you asked I might have considered it.

J-Look, I didn't have a bunch of time for Senor Suave to decide which was his best side, whether he should be combed first, oh and of course, was it interrupting naptime.

B-Aren't you a bowl of angst. That really is a problem with you apes. Always in a hurry.

J-You're right, if all I had to worry about was eating and sleeping I wouldn't be in a hurry. Of course, no pate would be magically appearing in the cupboard. No siree bob. Nada.

B-We try and try and teach you guys how to hunt but all you do is scream and yell and runaround like crazy apes whenever we bring in something for you to practice with. Pretty ungrateful.

J-Here's a box of Kleenex. We don't need to hunt, that's why we have stores and we don't we certainly don't eat shrews, mice, chippers, small birds. You know Mom doesn't eat meat.

B-You just don't want to develop a taste for these things. If your stores went away, I guarantee you would be whipping up a casserole with them in no time.

J-Whateva. Do you like the header or not?

B-It's fine-are we radioactive?

J-Oh for crying out loud-are you purposely being obtuse?

B-What? I'm just asking.

J-Sigh, it's the glow from the laptop, you know, I'm typing as we chat.

B-Ooohhhhhhhhh, clever lad.

J-Really? You didn't figure this out?

B-(chuckle) Just messin' with you, man. You are tense.

J-Sorry.

B-Is Mom going to be ok?

J-What do you mean ok?

B-I can read remember? The papers on the library desk from the hospital?

J-Yeah, I think she will be ok.

B-We all knew. She smelled different.

J-She smelled different?

B-Yes, the cancer changes her scent.

J-You're kidding.

B-Nope. Molls caught on first. You know how needy she is with the laptime.

J-How is everyone taking it?

B-Well, with you not working, we all freaked at first. Who would buy the pate? But, things have settled down. You guys don't seem too upset so we figured it was going to be ok.

J-I'm glad everyone is ok with this and yeah, it's been caught early and the doctors have high confidence. Her reaction surprised me but then it made sense when she explained that compared with going blind, this was a lot less scary.

B-Yes, the girls told me about that v strange stuff with the eyes. So, the op is this week.

J-Yep, Wednesday then the radiation therapy. I wonder how that will change her scent.

B-No idea-I have had no experience with it.

J-Really? After all the humans you have been with-no radiation therapy? No cancer?

B-Cancer yes. But that was a long time ago before the technology was developed. People just died of it. They died of a lot of things they don't die of now.

J-Have you been feeling ok? I've been worried about that growth on your back.

B-Naaa. I'm good. Not to worry, ok? (headbutt)

B-So, the winter holidays again. Glad to see that early snow and cold has gone away. That was nutty. I thought, oh man, not another year like last year.

J-Oh, I hear ya-I thought the same. Yeah, it's going to be a bit more quiet this year. Mom will be taking it easy and healing up. We don't have a lot of cash but we won't be going without some celebration.

B-Well, we have been enjoying the fires. Your Calico girl is v happy when things warm up. The Loaf-not so much with her fat and fur.

J-She's not fat, she is just big boned.

B-Sure. Right. And we're eating the expensive low carb kibble that you're whining about because....

J-Hey, the vet said everyone was getting a little pudgy.

B-Gawd, don't let the Calico hear that. She's nutty enough already without developing a obsession over a couple of ozs.

J-Well, Mom will be fine. You guys need to cut her some slack over the next couple of weeks and not be so needy.

B-Sure. But I'm feeling a bit needy right now. A tad peckish, indeed.

J-I just fed you. You have a hollow tail or what?

B-I'll leave you alone. No hollering and banging at your door.

J-Sigh, blackmailed by a cat. C'mon.

B-You're the best! Oh and BTW, congrats to all you apes for putting some mechanical thing on another, uninhabitable chunk of rock. Another monumental achievement for your species!

J-Thanks now here's your Mariner's catch, wiseass.

B-Just sayin' LOL,

Some silly songs for a snowy (yes) Halloween

A light-hearted murder ballad, island style, mon.

 

 

A classic from my childhood-who can beat the group name

of The Crypt Kicker Five?

 

 

Finally, Tim Burton's wonderful fusion of the creepy and a Harry Belafonte hit:

 

 

Saturday Night Music-right on, brother!

John Fullbright-"Fat Man"

Critter Problems or Happy Hunting Mom and Dad!

The darn cats are bringing in live critters left and right. I was walking through the kitchen and Tomi was staring at her food dish. Nothing unusual about that, she is a glutton and never misses a chance to lobby for a meal. Then I looked closer and I'll be damned: there was a small mouse sitting upright, his butt in the middle of Tomi's dish, happily nibbling away at a morsel of cat food. I looked at Tomi who seemed perplexed, perhaps stunned at the chutzpah of the rodent and said "Girl, are you going to sit there and let that mouse eat your lunch?" Since this brought no reaction, I ducked back around the corner to the pantry and got a clear plastic bin to capture the little guy. Tomi, seeing that I had the situation in hand, wandered off into the living room. "Really? You're not going to do a thing, you lazy house cat?" The mouse, evidently in gourmet seventh heaven with his tidbit of Friskies Seafood Platter, never flinched as I swooped down with the bin and trapped him. I lifted up Tomi's dish and away we went to the back 40, Mr. Mouse still nibbling away. How was the wine sir? Perhaps some dessert and a disgestif? 

 

Twenty minutes later, I am heading out the door to pick up C from work and I notice Molls staring intently at the sofa. Oh, never a good sign but at least, Molls is a reliable pointer. I lift up the couch and sure enough, out scrambles a chipper. I open the slider and rush off to close all the doors to the rest of the house and return to no sign of him. C and I arrive home and now Bin is staring at the couch. It takes us a good 15 minutes to trap the critter and he is delivered to the back 40. Chippers are incredibly quick and I am sweating like a pig. C gives her evening workout a pass and collapses in the bath with a glass of wine. 

 

I don't know what it is but spring and fall, the crew does this stuff. C's theory is that they feel sorry for us: they never see us hunt and bring stuff in, so in their eyes, we obviously are pathetic, incompetent hunters and cannot fend for ourselves. They haven't figured out how we manage to bring home the Little Friskies or my recent weight gain. I  suppose felines have something similar to the Catholics: things in life that cannot be explained are mysterium fidei-the Mysteries.

On Turning 60

Well friends, this is a landmark. Officially an old guy yet not quite a senior citizen. No matter. I am happy to still be here. I've outlived so many from the old days-Michele, Moksha, Lowell, Gail, Johnny Angel. Yet, I am fortunate enough to be with another from those same times-C. I am so very blessed to have such a thoughtful and loving mate by my side. And our katters, who are our children/companions/roommates, full of quirks like all other creatures. Yeah, the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket but it always has. There's always been crap, sometimes it's worse than usual. But it's all crap.

In the end, we live on a gorgeous planet-it is indeed, a sweet old world. For my beloved:

 

The Gershwin's: A Foggy Day with Ella and Louis

Birthday Selfie

Well, these 2 geezers gave it a try-Mr. SquirmyPants wouldn't hold still..

Great pose there, bud-thinking of a snack no doubt.

 

 

 

 

Two Guys Talkin'

J-Hey, man!

B-Hey, what's shakin'?

J-Not much-how you be?

B-Cool, man-Happy Birthday from me, Chunk and Crazy.

J-LOL, thanks-Chunk and Crazy-sounds like one of those awful buddy cop shows from the 70's.

B-Well, that genre has been revived-look at True Crime.

J-Yeah, Woody Harrelson-there's crazy.

B-60 dude,whew, that is getting up there!

J-A little respect here and watch the claws.

B-Shrug-60 is old to a cat. About 3 times longer than our normal shelf life. And, of course you have my respect.

J-Hmm, you got your claws crossed?

B-Really? You think I can do that?

J-Metaphorically, then.

B-Of course not! Are you getting sensitive all of a sudden about your age? Sheesh, we're both a couple of geezers.

J-Indeed.

B-You're not all morose are you? Be thankful your feet are still hitting the floor.

J-I am and no, I'm not morose. Just that Fall has come too soon.

B-I hear you there, but this is just a taste. 70's this weekend. Besides, we're liking those fires you've been burning in the fireplace. Nice and toasty!

J-True that. Just not ready for the cold stuff not after last winter.

B-Will you get over it, already? Stop whining. Anyway-did you enjoy your birthday dinner with your pals?

J-Yes, I did and I'm glad you and Molls mingled. Even the Calico stayed upstairs for most of the evening-that's a record for her.

B-Well, I like a good mingle. I like your friend Sue.

J-We noticed, lol. I think she was a bit surprised.

B-Whattaya expect with cats around? Of course, it's gonna be laptime! She recovered very nicely and gave me some nice scritches.

J-Well, good-and thank you for not jumping on the table.

B-I didn't want to embarrass you-besides, there wasn't much up there.

J-That's never stopped you in the past!

B-Here's to you pal.

J-Oh, I'm number one? How nice.

J-What is up with the Calico today? Running all over the place-is she ill?

B-Yes, I believe she is but not in the way you think. Her moniker is no mistake.

J-Aren't you being unkind?

B-After what she has done to me over the years? No slack for her! And just because she gets all purry-furry around you with her daddy's girl routine. Wise up, man!

J-You're sounding a tad jealous there laddie.

B-Nooooo. It's just disgusting the way you fold under her charms-a little purring and tailing and you turn gooey. You have this problem with all the ladies?

J-Ahhhhh. No. Generally, I have not attracted that kind of attention.

B-Women don't flirt with you, eh?

J-Not really.

B-I don't think you are paying attention.

J-Now, just how the hell would you know? You've only known me with C, we rarely entertain and I don't take you around like some folks do with their dogs.

B-Just saying.

J-Are you saying I don't pay attention to things?

B-Well, that's an issue plaguing your entire species.

J-Now where is THIS going?

B-Never mind. Sorry I brought it up.

J-Sometimes, you are just a pain in the ass.

B-Poor apes just can't handle the truth of their inadequacies.

J-Oh, give me a break.

B-What are you people gonna do when ebola mutates and goes airborne? I can see it now: Ebolapocolapse in all the rags. Any little threat and the apes immediately default to the end of the world.

J-What a bizarre segue. You're the one who sounds like they're freaking.

B-I'm freaking because you apes will be freaking. And no one is taking care of business out there. Hell, that thing whips into the mega-cities in central Africa-well, let's just say those country's worries about population control will be over. Why is the UN dragging their feet? They sure as hell wouldn't if a bunch of German white folk were dropping like flies.

J-Good grief you are ALL worked up about this. You've been hanging around with me too long, lol.

J- Seriously, I don't know what to tell you, man. Yep, dark folk dying does not inspire a sense of urgency. Gawd, look at the mess still in Haiti. Hell, even in the Katrina areas. What has brought all this on-you been listening to NPR?

B-

J-Yeah, I heard the same interview with the head of WHO. It IS scary. This on top of Putin,ISIS, the upcoming election season and Scottish Independence (just joking!). And, you have a point-the media turns any threat into MAJOR DRAMA OMG. People are freaked to begin with and the media feeds it. Sells newspapers ya know.

B-Don't get me started on ISIS. COME ON NOW-this is how warfare has been conducted for centuries-figure out things that drive the enemy crazy and do it. Rape the women, kill the children and wounded. They know how to push the West's buttons and beheadings fit the bill. But what I am not hearing is a discussion along these lines: is ISIS simply conducting a traditional form of warfare that the West has distanced itself from for years or was it done purposely to set up the West to get into very nasty conflict? Is there some weird prophesy trying to be matched up here? Like the Christian fanatics in Congress who were trying to manipulate events to correspond with Biblical prophesies about the End of Days and the Rapture?

J-Yeah, it really does seem like ISIS is sticking their chin out. I keep hearing from the “experts” who describe ISIS as being filled with psychopaths. Propaganda or truth? Indeed, if they are nutjobs, well, then it makes sense that in their minds-yeah, let's do this shit and really fuck with the Americans. I dunno.

B-Well I say “Send In The Drones” (apologies to A Little Night Music). Kill them all. But of course not-we conduct “Civilized War”, one of the ape's most atrocious oxymorons.

B-Anyway, sorry to get all worked up. It doesn't look like the virus can jump to felines...for now. I just don't care to think about the chaos if things go south. I've experienced plagues in the past and it ain't pretty.

J-Bubonic?

B-Yep and periodic cholera. I'd be nice and cozy then my human would die.

J-(scratching behind an ear) I'm sorry, buddy. If things go badly, we'll all be together-Mom and I, you and the girls.

B-I know. Just worries me sometimes.

J-Are you getting enough ketchup?

B-LOL ok, ok-Garrison. Thank you for not spelling it the other way.

J-Oh, you mean like the old 60's commercial with some chef taking a mallet to try and pound 20 tomatoes into every bottle....and if it were “CATsup”-20 cats into every bottle???

B-Some people are very cruel to us.

J-That's just wrong, lol. Like the famous Python sketch with the guy making music by pounding mice tails.

B-Oh, well now-THAT'S funny!

J-Speaking of rodents, can you guys stop bringing them in alive??? For crying out loud-you KNOW we don't eat them!! Will you talk to the others??

B-I do apologize but it's an instinct thing and we want to honor you guys.

J-We realize this and appreciate the sentiment.... but....

B-Ok. But it's gonna be a tough sell to our own grey, chunky ISIS member.

J-Sigh-give it a try-she is quite the hunter, isn't she?

B-She IS awesome.

Breaking the Fourth Wall...

Now, gentle reader and fans...this is a good and proper example for the use of the word AWESOME. Grey Molly IS an awesome hunter, not only for the variety of species she is known to bring down but for the dedicated ferocity she displays while in the act. If I were some critter out there, seeing her in action would definitely fill me with AWE (and shock) and I would probably run for my life or simply tremble into heart failure.

Consider this as opposed to the following examples featuring poor and generally ridiculous overuse of the word:

-Dude-check out this AWESOME video.

-this is an AWESOME pizza.

-you had a good day? AWESOME

-AWESOME pair of sneakers you have on.

Thank you for your attention and we now return back to the conversation already in progress....

J-As you have observed, one tough broad in an alley fight, lol.

B-She heard about that BTW.

J-Uh oh.

B-No, she was quite touched and smiled before she unleashed a swift left jab into my jaw.

J-LOL What's with her tail sniffing? Is she losing it and thinking you're her son?

B-Well, you've asked before and I don't know. She's never called me by his name. I'm thinking a mommy habit.

J-So she feels maternal even though you're nearly the same age.

B-Yeah, I'll buy that. Yawn. I need a nap-happy 60^th. Many more I hope. (headbutt)

J-Nothing says affection like cat drool. Thanks buddy! How about a snack before you turn in?

B-You're the best, EVER!

J-AWESOME!

Strange Stuff on Saturn

Whoa!

 

 

First spotted by Voyager in 1979. When Cassini arrived in 2006, it was still there.

Kudos to the team on Earth that replicated the hexagonal motion. Pretty cool.

 

High Summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since it is fair season, a song from Richard Thompson covering a traditional Irish tune and rebuffing a drunken yob:

 

 

Who Knew Weird Al Was An EM?

Fabulous new video from Weird Al Yankovic parodying Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines".

My English Major wife is a fan with reservations, wincing at the political incorrectness and rather mean-spirited tone (she would never call someone a moron even when their essays are filled with homophone errors. And they do it "alot"). 

 

 

 

 

Grey Molly, however, feels people should just suck it up, get with the program and for Christssakes, learn the right way to use it's and its. Guilty as charged Molls, mea culpa.

Your Imam Don't Dance and Your Ayatollah Don't Rock n' Roll

Apparently, we seem to have more in common with one of our Axis of Evil enemies, Iran, than we thought:

May 21, 2014--Six young people who were arrested in Iran for dancing in a YouTube video to Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" have been freed according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The director of the video, however, has not been freed.

According to the Iranian Students' News Agency, Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia ordered the arrests of the three men and three women for helping to make an "obscene video clip that offended the public morals and was released in cyberspace". Authorities forced the young people to repent on State TV.

Yep, that's obscene all right. Boys and girls together. Girls not properly chaperoned by a male relative. Girls with their heads uncovered. And they're dancing. Together. Such sexual innuendo in those hip shakes. AND THEY ARE HAVING FUN!!!

Sounding pretty familiar isn't it?

 

 



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reaction echoes that of the Dianne Wiest character in the this film:

"Happiness is our people's right. We shouldn't be too hard on behaviors caused by joy".

Up North, C has a Birthday and Weird Happenings

  

F un stuff-we were invited to our friends Ken and Karen's cottage on Black Lake which is south of Cheboygan and north of Onaway. Karen and I worked together many years ago at the Lansing Art Gallery and have remained pals. Curiously, we share the same birthday-how often does that happen?

I got up early and went out on the dock with coffee and a camera.




42 degrees with morning fog.



  



C and I kayaking, which I had never done before.
We saw a bald eagle-the first time either of us had seen one.


Karen and Ken had a wedding in Detroit so we had the place to ourselves for a couple of days. We went up to Cheboygan for some groceries and I noticed that we were only 15 miles from the Straits. Neither of us had seen the Mackinaw Bridge in years so away we went to Mackinaw City. Despite its given name, the sign as you enter states that it is only a village. Yep, 2010 census had only 806 souls living there but over the course of a summer, nearly 1.5 million visitors stop by. The place is packed with hotels (brief home to the Mackinaw Island daytrippers), fudge shoppes, and other touristy places. The historical park includes a light house and the reconstructed early 18th century Fort Michilimackinac, both overlooking the Mackinaw Bridge.

The Mackinaw Bridge

The Mackinaw Point lighthouse-in service 1892-1957.



Mackinaw Island

We had driven in from the east via Rogers City after visiting C's aunt and uncle in Tawas. About 11 miles west, I saw a sign for Ocqueoc Falls. Hmm, never heard of them. They seemed close to the cottage so one afternoon, C and I checked them out. Turns out they were only 12 miles from the cottage. The falls are the largest in the Lower Peninsula and are quite easy to find thanks to adequate road signs. There was, however, a ton of people, kids, dogs, babies (who brings infants to these things?). Now, the drop of the falls probably isn't more than 5 feet so kids as young as 5 or 6 were flinging themselves over the top. Both C and I noticed that unlike so many other public places where anxieties over lawsuits are acute-not so here. No notice that you jump, swim, frolic or be stupid at your own risk. Neither of us knew that the falls were so small and the river so shallow-we didn't bring swimming gear. The next morning, C's birthday celebration, C says "Let's go to the falls-it's early, maybe we will beat the crowd. It looks like rain, maybe people will stay home." She was right-just 2 couples with very small children and no one in the water. C went in while I, in my beach shoes, stayed in the river taking photos. You could get quite close to the falls-how often does one get such an opportunity?

Looking up river from the main falls. There are a series of smaller cascades both
above and below the falls.

The main falls.

Directly above looking over the edge of the right side of the falls.

The Water Girl in her element. As you can see, the water is not very deep. She had a blast body surfing. She described the experience as rejuvenating-much more than a hot tub.

Downstream looking back at the main falls.

Happy 55, sweetie!

Our friends catching the final rays of the day.

Weird happenings in the North Country

One night we were checking out the full moon when we saw a bright object flash streaking across the sky. It was big, close, low to the horizon and silent. What the hell was it?

-Meteor (fireball)- Most of the witnesses were dubious-too big and close. No arc in its flight path. Just seemed artificial. It appeared, streaked then went out.

-Failed firework rocket that didn't explode-None of us heard it launch nor did we see it fade out as it dropped.

-Space junk-This didn't occur to me until I searched online for postings from other witnesses. Turns out a huge piece of junk came down that night...in Australia.

Artist's Depiction

We're driving down US 23 between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City and I notice these odd plumes veering off the tips of the trees that border the road. I also see what appears to be an elongated funnel directly in front of me. C is conked out taking a cat nap so I just ignore it-getting on in the day. Probably just seeing some refraction through the windshield.

Well, I keep seeing them and wondered if at some lonely point in the road, all the power in the car was going to quit. Damn-no aerosol paint can in the trunk to X the spot. I check my watch and it hasn't stopped so when traffic let up, I slow and took a good look at the nearest plume. It's made up of tiny dots! These things are made up of zillions of little insects!!! C has awoken by this point and I ask her to verify. Yep, they're there. So who knows-gnats or "no-seeums"-why they were hanging around the trees like that and what explains the funnel shape over the road: It's a mystery.

Artist's Depiction

A pretty good vacation! Good friends, nice cottage, a chance to get out on the water, a birthday to celebrate, a natural water park and a couple of mysterious happenings.

Oh yes and a rainy evening, imbibing adult beverages and making up new rules for Pictionary. Good times! Many thanks to Ken and Karen for the invitation, their good company and tasty cooking.