Heating up Again

It has been fairly nice the last couple of days. When it comes to weather I'm a bit like Goldilocks. I don't like it too hot or too cold but just right. I like it about 19/20C in the 70F - warm enough to have my windows open with some fresh air coming in but not warm enough where I need the air conditioner or risk feeling sticky. It's back to that stickiness again. I went for a walk this morning and was quite sticky when I was done. Not pleasant lol. The air conditioner is back on. It's humid out. We did get some rain last night - storms maybe thought I didn't hear them. Middle son said his electricity went out for a couple of hours early morning.

Today I spent far too long running errands, trying to find something to give to a friend for her birthday. I did get chocolate but was looking for something a little more. I feel funny getting her wine as her job is as a wine specialist and she knows far more about wine than I ever could. I settled on a fun mug and a book I thought she might like as well as a mix of chocolate - British and European. We're going out for a late lunch tomorrow. Should be fun!

I've been trying to improve my flower pics the past couple days. If anyone knows anything about flowers could you please let me know if you recognise these ones?

There are some wonderful ones growing down by the lakeside. I wish I knew a little more about them!

Good Intentions/Walk Today

Last night when everyone had gone to bed and the house was quiet I had good intentions to get up in the morning, write a list and get some extras done.

I slept in. Woke up when hubby when to work and the next thing I know I turn and look at the clock and it is almost half past eight! That's an hour later than I usually get up. I try to get out for a walk by half past eight so it's still nice and quiet out and a little cool. I hopped out of bed, had some caffeine and was out of the door in less than half an hour. That tells you how much fussing I do in the morning - not a lot. My hair goes up, teeth brushed, quick wipe over and that's it lol. No make-up, no hair styling.

I ran an errand first and made it to my walk before there were too many people about. I never did write a list. Sigh. All my good intentions went out the window. I spent too much time looking at this beautiful bird, watching it glide across the water. Such elegant creations! I ended up daydreaming too much and not getting anything but essentials done.

Ah well there is always tomorrow! Maybe I'll write that list tonight while the good intention is there is my head.

Lake of the Clouds

One of my favourite views on our recent camping trip was Lake of the Clouds, up in the Porcupine Mountains of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a truly beautiful place. There is a lovely viewing area high above the trees and looking down into the forests below. There are walking trails down there too that we hope to do next year when we visit. It's a touristy area and was quite busy during the day but we went back at night and we were the only ones there! Beautiful!

I LOVED this place! When we were there by ourselves it felt like we were on top of the world and all alone. 

This was our sunset view. The trees in the distance looked almost yellow but it was only the sun as it was beginning to set. I can imagine this would be a gorgeous view in the autumn with all the wonderful colours to see.

Son and I couldn't resist getting up early one morning to see the sunrise - again we were all alone. We sat for a couple of hours and just enjoyed the view. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy first thing so not too much colour.

 I really need to get moving now - back into the daily business - and stop looking through photos.  Got a house to tidy up and dusting to be done. Happy Monday!

Saturday Doings

There isn't really a lot of 'doing' to report. I have put some of the washing in the machine. There is a pile of it to do - lots of muddy trousers and sweaty tops from our trip. It sounds strange (and I admit I never thought I'd enjoy it) but a vacation filled with walking and being sweaty and muddy was a lot of fun. I was so glad of my hiking sticks as they helped me across some of the muddiest areas while walking.

Highlight in hiking - we did the walk between the Lower and Upper Falls at Tahquamenon! We actually walked there and back. They have a shuttle that you can ride if you end up walking one way and don't want to walk back BUT we decided to do the whole thing!! It is supposedly 8 miles from one sign to the next but in reality from car park to actual falls and back again hubby clocked 10.88miles. WOW! There were lots of tree roots, hills and mosquitoes!

It was interesting to see this along the banks of the river. Such a colourful delight!

And (admittedly) a little more creepy quite a few of these

Lots of beautiful trees

It was a truly beautiful walk. I'm so glad we did it. We started out fairly early and didn't see many people around but on our way back there were quite a few people heading up from the lower falls. We saw a group of four who actually ended up turning back. It was well worth the tightness in the back of my legs the next day to accomplish our goal!

Hubby was tired out but later that evening son and I went back to see if we could catch anything of the sunset over the falls. The sun was in the wrong place (silly sun) but there was some colour.

More of our adventure tomorrow!

Back Home

Had a terrific time away. I'm having a little of post-holiday blues. I loved being away. I loved being in the fresh air. The scenery was fantastic. I LOVED the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. If I could I would plant a little cabin in the woods and stay there. Sigh. Lots of unpacking and sorting to do.

I'll be back later with more photos - sorting through them. Here is a highlight - a wonderful bald eagle keeping watch over the waterfalls at Tahquamenon.

Off Camping!

I'm packing my bags and heading off for a week's worth of camping. No phones. No internet. Just us and the (hopefully) blue sky and lots of great scenery.

We're heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to uncharted (for us) territory. We're walking between Tahquamenon Falls and then heading further up to the Porcupine Mountains and the Lake of the Clouds. Don't it sound like a really beautiful place??!! Hopefully when we come back I'll have lots of photos to share.

I hope everyone has a really good week. A week without internet!! How will I manage?  I'll leave with a photo I took the other day.

WOYWW - A hot one!

It's Wednesday again and I've finally taken a (bad) phone photo of my desk to join in with the gang over at Stamping Ground for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. It's a hot one here in Michigan. It's been hot the last few days. Really need a break from it. It's been up in the 30s (90s) in the daytime and only down in the 20s (70s) at night. I could handle the day if the night was cooler. It was so muggy last night I kept waking up looking at the clock. Ug. We're camping up north next week so it will definitely be cooler.

Here's the bad phone photo of my desk. My craft room is upstairs and it's been so hot I haven't spent a lot of time up there. Please forgive the mess!

It's a long view of the desk and you can see the mess in all its glory. Usually I only take a pic of the bit in the middle where I'm working but there isn't a lot going on right now. I'm stamping out some sentiments and images from some kits I bought from Unity Stamps. I am going to clean up - I am.

I've been taking walks early in the morning (look at previous posts if interested). There is lots going on at the lake right now. So many different animals and things growing. Yesterday I saw these two bucks and a doe. They were weary of  me but not outright scared. I managed to take this of one of the bucks. Such a magnificent creature!

I've been posting some of my nature photos on my instagram account too. https://www.instagram.com/sharonkoole/  

I'm going to get some things done early before the heat sets in and then I'll pop around desks. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to!

Hot days yesterday and today. Yesterday we took a walk at a state park near the lakeshore so at least it was cooler. It was actually really nice walking along there - the temperature was certainly a lot more bearable. The air conditioner has been running for days now (do turn off at night) so I dread to think what the electric bill will look like! Another reason to enjoy the end of April and May - too warm to need heat, too cool for the air conditioner!

I walked early today. Good thing too. It would have been too hot later. My poor plants are looking rather dry - doesn't matter if I do water them. Of course it looks like it's going to rain when we go camping next week but who knows, they may have changed the forecast by then. If not, we make the best of things.

Here's an image from today. A deer with a little attitude. I imagine it was wondering why I was taking photos of it.

Lazy Saturday

It's going to be a hot one today - looks like it's going to be a hot week in general. Temperatures are supposed to be above 30C most of the week and even the lows are going to around 20C. It sounds really good but can be stifling after a few days. It means early morning housework and walks before gets too hot. I'll have to work out cooler meals - lots of salads, veggies and maybe a slow cooker recipe or two. Hubby grills food but I'm not that good at it.

Even though it's getting hot I'm still doing some knitting. Sounds weird, right? I haven't been learning too long and I'm afraid I'll forget it all so I'm keeping my hand in, so to speak. I've just finished this scarf. It has a pattern which includes yarn overs and knitting together. I'm finally getting the hang of following a pattern ha ha.

There are more scarves in my future. Not sure what I'm going to do with them all but they seem a good way to work on patterns. This one is nice and thick. I'm sure it will work good in the winter.

Flowers from my walk this morning. I've been trying to improve my flower photography. I have trouble making the colours pop, but this worked out okay. Daughter says I should start marking my photography somehow (now that I'm improving lol) but haven't figured out how to do it. Sigh.

I'm off to Skype my Mum. Hope everyone has a lovely Saturday.

Thank Goodness That's Over!

This is a rant. Well, a little bit of one. I hate the dentist. Really hate the dentist. I knew my cleaning/check-up appointment was coming up and have literally been dreading about it. I've been thinking about it for weeks. I even thought about cancelling. I had nightmares that my usual hygienist had left and I'd been seeing someone strange. I got that one from my friend whose knew person ended up scraping some sealant off her teeth and giving her a tooth ache!

I went. I admit I rang in for some anxiety meds and while I was on the phone confirmed that my usual woman was there. That helped a little. Only a little. I work myself up so much. I think I'm my own worst enemy. Once I'm there I'm okay.  It didn't help that on Monday I knocked something hard I was eating against my tooth, felt a pain and when I poked around there was a really sharp pain between a tooth and my bridge (goes away immediately, no pain flossing or sensitivity).

I can happily report that all went well! I don't have to go back for six months! Yippeee! Dentist checked out the spot that was bothering me and says it just looks like the gum. She put some stuff on it and it should feel better. Keeping my fingers crossed! My purse is a lot lighter, but so is my mood!

Monday Morning

Ug it's Monday again. The weekend was SO hot. We still haven't got our window air conditioners in and apparently hubby didn't feel like putting them in so we suffered through heat. It was horribly hot and stuffy. Despite leaving the windows open last night it is still hot and stuffy in the house. He says he's putting them in tonight when he gets home from work. It is supposed to be cooler today but the air conditioner will help with the humidity too. I don't put them on all the time as I don't like it too cold, but a little relief would be nice!

It must be egg laying season for the turtles other at the lake. I've come across several of them on the path laying eggs.

These two I saw today. They were in different spots along the path and stayed still while I took their photos. There were a lot of broken eggs where I saw the second one. I hope they were broken because they hatched and not because someone had uncovered and damaged.

Even a chipmunk sat still (or rather froze trying not to attract attention) while I took its photo. I've been seeing deer too (finally). I think now that things are growing in the woods they are out eating. This is one I saw the other day. I think we startled one another and just stood staring. I managed to snap a few photos and then go on my way leaving the doe where she was.

Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Creative Cards

It seems lately I haven't been doing so much crafting or posting photos of anything I have created. I participated in an ATC (Artist's Trading Card) swap for the WOYWW 8th Anniversary party. I join in at least every other week so it was fun to create some ATCs and send them out to people in the group. They are on their way now so I thought I'd share. This year I chose a theme of fun sayings.

Hopefully I'll get up in the craft room again soon creating some cards. When the weather has been cool enough I've been doing some knitting too - keeping up on what I've learned.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I Should Be Doing Housework (Five on Friday)

I should be doing housework...but I'm not. To be fair, I am doing the wash and there is a lot of it. It was such a beautiful morning though so I got out and went for a walk. Now I'm sitting enjoying the breeze coming in the windows while listening to a Radio Suffolk listen again episode from The Suffolk Show.

I went for an early walk this morning - a little before nine. That's early for me these days. For years I was up before the birds so it feels nice to be able to get up at a 'normal' time. I decided to go a little earlier as there are more people about now that the weather is nicer. Yesterday there were people fishing, others walking and they weren't always quiet! Noisy means all the animals hide.

I was so happy to see the baby birds again! They are growing quite big.

They are getting the hang of dunking under the water for those goodies!

I took a walk down to the small (really small) stream that has a little running water. We're going to some waterfalls on our trip up north and I wanted to practise different shutter speeds and see the different results. 

I rather like how it looks. Well, housework is calling now so I'd better get to it. I want to be able to tell hubby that I did something productive today and that I didn't walk around taking photos for a long time.

I'm joining this up with Tricky and Carly over at Family Attempting to Survive the Times. I wasn't going to join in but this post has five photos in it so I think it might count!

Camping

Before last year it had been years since I'd been camping. We took the kids a few times when they were younger but we had a pop-up camper. Before that I was a teenager when I last went. Camping is something hubby was interested in doing. When we made the decision two years ago for me to finish work it was one of the things he really wanted to do. I had always worked Sundays and it was quite difficult to get the day off. It meant weekends were mostly tied up especially as I had to be at work (for the first few years) at 3.15am and (the last two years) 5.15am.

It wasn't something I was really passionate about doing but I was willing to give it a go. To my surprise I found out that I really enjoyed it! Tents have come a long way from the old days. There is no trying to work out which pole goes where. We sleep on an air mattress and my sleeping bag is quite comfy. I do admit to liking 'modern' (real toilets) campsites better than 'rustic' (vault toilets). I have to work myself up to those.

I love the walks. I've always enjoyed walking. I'm not in the best shape - fluffy - but I can walk for a while and there is nothing better than wandering through the woods - as you might be able to tell from some of my posts.

I love walking along the beach in the evening.

There is something really comforting about sitting around a firepit watching the flames of a freshly lit fire dance in the moonlight. It makes me appreciate things more yet a part of me loves getting back to the basics.

I've decided - well into my forties mind you - that this is the type of holiday I prefer. I love getting out into nature. I love waking up in the morning and hearing the water against the beach. I love being able to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down. I love sitting in front of a roaring fire reading a good book. Only two weeks before our week long trip and I'm counting down the days!