Halloween Fun

I've done it again. It's late. I'm ready for bed and I haven't posted! I'll play catch-up tomorrow and leave you with a couple of fun Halloween Chipmunk photos. I hope everyone, who celebrates, enjoyed Halloween. 

Saturday

Our weekends are quite laid back and not a lot happened today. I got up and went for a walk. By myself. I decided to let husband have a day off (ha ha) and do what he wanted to do and not drag him with me. I had a lovely relaxing wander about out walking. Came home. Did some crafting. Listed a few more items. Watched some Miss Scarlett. That's about what my day has been. 

Tomorrow we are off out for the day. Not sure where yet. I'm going to see what the weather says and go from there. Most of the autumn colours are gone now and it's that dreary in-between time.  

Day 302  Frosty Morning

It was so peaceful here this morning. I was early. It's the weekend. It was cold. It was lovely and quiet. I didn't see a soul for a long time and I stayed there for a while, enjoying the bird song and the sunrise. 

Hopefully I'll have something different to share tomorrow!

The End of Another Week

Another week has seemingly flown by. Almost November. It doesn't seem possible. 

It wasn't a particularly productive day. I went for a walk. Stopped at the shops as son had asked me to pick up some more bandages and gauze for his burns. I was so intent on getting the right kind of bandages that I forgot the gauze. Sigh. Got home, did some wash and finished the book I had started a while ago. Messaged with sister. Quick phone call with MIL. Dinner. Washing up. Chatted with son. And that's the day done. 

Not sure what we're up to this weekend. The weather is supposed to be okay, so we shall see. 

A lovely Autumn view from behind the Beaver's lodge. We saw one today. Friend and I got to the lake early, stood in the cold morning air for a while. We were just about to leave and I turned back to take one more look and there was a beaver swimming. Always a treat to see!

Day 301 

This made me smile. It's been a while since we've seen a painted stone at the lake and they always make me smile!

Have a great weekend!

Just Another Day - and a bit of a useless moan

I'll get the little moan out of the way first. 

I understand the need for child-proof lids on certain things BUT why can't there be a non-child-proof option or an older person option? I always thought this when Mum struggled to open certain cleaning products. Today I bought a new cleaner for the bathroom, and I couldn't open the darn thing! Not to mention opening the packets of pods for the washing machine - press this, squeeze that. Yikes! 

Disclaimer - I'm not that old but I do get mild cramps in my hands sometimes. I don't have any children in the house or who come to my house. I would think that I'm not the only one who has trouble opening some of these. There has to be a market out there for older people products, right? 

Okay, that's my little moan. In the big scheme of things, it really is a little, useless moan.

Today was an okay day. It was frosty this morning while I was out for my walk, but lovely and sunny. I did an extra-long walk. I had to stop at a shop briefly - needed loo roll (whoops!) - did some housework, packed up some auction orders, cooked tea, did the washing up and then settled down to watch something on Britbox. Karen Pirie. I REALLY enjoyed the first episode. Really captured my attention. My only complaint was that the sound quality in the beginning was horrible! We had to have the television up really loud and could still barely hear what they were saying! I'm pretty sure I almost blasted husband's ears when I started watching something else after he'd gone to bed. Yikes. 

Has anyone read the books? Are they any good? Val McDermid wrote the Tony Hill books that The Wire in the Blood series (that I also loved) was based on. 

Day 300 - yikes! This is alarming as a) I've managed to take a photo-a-day and b) there are only 65 days left in this year!!!

After yesterday's rain, a beautiful morning, lots of sunshine though really chilly and I was back in my winter wear.

SON - doing okay. He went back to the doctor and they peeled off the dead skin (yikes!). He said this was more painful than the actual burn. He has to go back Monday to have it checked again. 

Midweek - books and things

Son didn't go to work today. He was a little stiff and sore. His job is quite physical, so he was worried about having to crawl around and the pain it would cause. It's quite uncomfortable with work trousers on too! He did go back to the clinic and had his burns checked. He has to go back again tomorrow. He is going back to work though and will go to the clinic late in the morning. I suppose they have to be really carefully that the burns aren't infected. Apparently, son says he has one large blister that hasn't burst yet (yuck!). 

My arm is a bit better today. I thought I was going to back to normal, but later in the afternoon I had another moment when I didn't feel well, achy, shivery. I took some more pain pills and felt better after a little while. I'm hoping that's the last of it. 

I ran some errands today. No walk. It was rainy most of the morning and overall dull. I decided to run the errands I had to do and had a little look around in a couple of shops. I gave in and bought a few books at the dollar store. 

They had quite a few, but these were the ones that caught my attention. I stopped at the bookshop and bought...nothing! I was really pleased, but there wasn't really anything I wanted.

I finished my 97th book of the year today - only 3 more to reach my goal of the year! I really enjoyed this one. I have read Pieces of Her and (I think) I've watched it on Netflix. I didn't realise that this one followed on from that book. I borrowed it from the library as I really enjoy reading her books. It took me a moment (and checking on Amazon) to realise that this book did follow on from that one and then it began to make more sense! I got through it pretty quickly as I really wanted to know what happened next! 

My Day 299 Phone Photo Things That Make Me Smile was a visitor to our garden. When I got up this morning and looked out of the window there was a mama and a young male deer outside. After I had put out some birdseed on the feeder table this guy came up to visit!

He was a little cautious of me, but didn't run away when I took several photos of him (with my phone and with my camera!)

Ugh - Spoke Too Soon

I thought I was getting away without any side effects from yesterday's vaccine. My arm was a little sore and I woke up in the night a couple of times as it was aching. I got up and went for a walk today. It was pretty tender. I was okay at first but by the end of the walk I was feeling all achy and sore. I was going to go straight home and take some pain pills but while I was out walking oldest son called and said he was going to be home (he knows I hate surprises) as he had an accident at work! He burned his thigh and had to go to the hospital. Luckily the burns are only 1st and 2nd degree. He needed me to pick up some more gauze and tape as the kind the hospital had put on were already coming off!

After picking them up I did go home. By then I had a slight fever too. I took some pills and rested for a little while until feeling a bit better. Thankfully, all seems to be well now. Son is doing okay if a little sore. He has to go back to the hospital in the morning to have the burns checked. Apparently, he was working on an industrial pipe at work and there was a leak and hot water (really, really hot water) came out. He turned quickly but got burned on his thigh. I'm sure in the morning it will be really sore! He's not sure if he'll be working tomorrow or not. He's going to see what the doctor says.

Tomorrow MIGHT be a rainy day. I'm not sure whether to believe the weather forecast or not, so we shall see. If it's raining I'll have a day to run some errands. 

I did get some housework done today once the pain pills kicked in and fever subsided. I also got some packages ready to post and listed some more items. Not a bad day for a late start!

Day 298

The sun was out this morning and there was still some colours around on my walk. I especially liked this view framed by the trees!

Monday, Monday

Another warm day in my corner of Southwest Michigan. I got up early and went for a walk. By the time my walk was done I just had time to stop in at the Post Office before my Covid/Flu vaccine appointment. The appointment was for 11.30 but it was closer to 12 by the time I was called in. When I first got there I was told that they couldn't find my flu vaccine. I could wait some more, but it would take longer. I said no, I'll just have the Covid one. Then my name was called again and I was told they had found my flu vaccine. Lol. I finally got called in and had them both. I asked the lady giving them what she recommended as far as having them in separate arms or the same one. She said she'd opt for the same then, if your arm aches for either of them, you'll only have one aching arm lol. I had them both done in the arm opposite to the side I sleep on. The last time my arm really ached afterwards and then I had trouble sleeping as I was resting on that arm.

So far, so good! My arm is a little tender if pressed, but not sore (so far, touch wood lol). 

It was actually warm enough that I had a cheese salad for tea tonight. I love salads, but we don't tend to eat as much of them in the winter as we want something warm! The guys had a salad with ham 

Day 297

Colours at the lake this morning. Really lovely. 

Sunday Adventures - Indiana Dunes National Park - A Day Out

Thanks for the well wishes on the migraine. Much better today. It's been a while since I've had one that bad. Even husband said the same. Back to normal today. 

It was another beautiful day here in Michigan today. I can't believe how warm it was! I actually opened a couple of windows today! I sat outside on the back porch after we got back from our Sunday Adventure. It was just too nice a day - and I know there will be so few on them from here until about May - so I took the time to just sit and enjoy!

We got up early this morning and decided to head out to Indiana Dunes National Park. We've never been there before. It's in another state but only about an hour and 15 mins drive from us. Believe me, in the US that isn't a far distance to travel! There is a charge to get in, but as husband is a Veteran, we discovered on our last visit to a National Park that he qualifies for a free pass! We stopped at Michigan City Lighthouse on our way. 

The park is huge - 15,000 acres - and has 15 miles of Lake Michigan Shoreline. There was absolutely no way that we could explore all the areas today. We stopped in at the Visitor's centre and talked to a lovely lady who shared lots of stories of the trails and a few maps as well. She was really very helpful. I did take some leaflets so that we could see which trails we'd like to walk another time. We walked one trail that was really nice and drove down a few other areas but it really was too big to just explore this time. 

These were at the visitor's centre. I actually forgot my phone and left it in the car for our walk! I did take photos with my camera that I will try to share another time. Here are some more phone photos from our visit. 

Not sure if you can read the above, maybe if you click on the photo, but it gives some information about the Great Lakes. 

The views were really spectacular. There was so much about today that made me smile, but one particular view just made me take a deep breath, look out, and appreciate all the beauty of nature. 

We stopped at a beach, walked through the woods and came out to almost a cliff top where the sands dropped down and the view on Lake Michigan was gorgeous. 

Day 296

Weekend

I had good intentions to post yesterday. I got up early, went for a sunrise, taking some headache pills before I left as I had a slight headache. Took some more photos. Headache got worse. By the time I got home I had a migraine, the kind that makes me just feel like being sick. It was particularly bad this time and I can't remember when I last had one like that. Thank goodness I don't have them all that often. Every little noise was intensified, and the lights hurt my eyes. I ended up in my chair the rest of the afternoon and ended up in bed early. 

I woke up this morning and most of the headache is gone except for a bit above my right eye. Bright light and noise seem to make it worse. It is a lot better than yesterday though. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be gone!

It was a lovely day today, so much warmer and brighter than it has been all week. It reached 76F/24C today! Such a big jump. I put away my hat and mittens and got out a tee shirt lol. More of the same tomorrow. We went out this morning for a little while, took a walk. This afternoon I actually sat out on the back porch for a little while before middle son came up and we watched the end of She-Hulk. It's actually quite funny!

Day 294 

Phone photo of the sunrise. Was really beautiful seeing this after the weather we've had this week!

Day 295

Playing with Chipmunks and pumpkins in the garden, trying to get some decent photos lol. They don't cooperate!

I am hoping to get back into the craft room again. I have ideas but the headache has been keeping me down! 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Wasn't a bad day today. I went for a walk. Really quite chilly and dull. Afterwards I went over and chatted with MIL for a while. I spent far too much time out this morning but I did manage to get all the housework done, but there wasn't a lot of time for anything extra. 

I told my friend I wouldn't be walking with her tomorrow. It will finally be sunny tomorrow and warmer. I decided to take a morning to myself and go out and take some Autumn photos before the leaves all fall. For a moment I felt a little bit guilty about not walking with her (I don't know why) but I stuck to my plan even when she asked where I was going. I did tell the truth - I don't really know where I'm going. I just want to wander and look. 

I had the heat turned up today. It's just been cold and the house is cold and I wasn't quite ready for it.  Once I had warmed up I turned it down again. I'm worried about the cost, but I can't stand being cold all the time. I did bundle up in clothes and blankets. 

Day 293

A collage of two photos today - new Beaver activity! I have seen them recently but quite far away. I keep waiting for them to come a little closer!

Not a phone photo and quite far away but here's a recent photo of one of the beavers

Back again tomorrow (hopefully!)

Wednesday

I survived the dentist. I was very anxious despite the anxiety meds I took. But I tried to think of Mum and hear her encouraging voice as I laid back in the chair. She was always great about helping me get through the appointments. She definitely knew how much I hated going! I took a quick walk after the appointment as the weather wasn't great and then crashed when I got home and just slept. The meds always make me feel like that.  

Today was the year anniversary of Aunt Jane's death. I've been feeling a little weepy all day. I just keep thinking about her and Mum and how things change in such a short space of time. After husband and son got home from work we went to the cemetery and put some flowers on her grave. I've been thinking about Jane quite a bit lately especially when we visit new lighthouses. We have visited six new lighthouses this year! I think I'm going to sort through some more of Jane's postcards and see if I can find postcards of the new lighthouses we've visited this year and see how they compare to my photos. 

I haven't done a lot of sorting the last few days. I have housework to catch up on tomorrow and some washing. One good thing accomplished this week - husband took two pretty big boxes to the charity shop yesterday. Still have a lot to sort through but was quite pleased with the two boxes. 

After my walk tomorrow I am really going to try to concentrate on house stuff instead of getting distracted!

Things That Make Me Smile Day 290 (Monday)

Starting a new book! It's been on my to-read list for a while. When I'm finished it will be one more to add to the donation pile! I am slowly working my way through them. 

Day 291 (Tuesday)

Reflections. Pleased that I managed to get a walk in after the dentist and between rain showers! 

Day 292 (Wednesday)

It's been so wet and dismal the last few days, quite cold too. I was debating whether to go for a walk this morning or not. It was dark and dull and cold. I did go and for just a little while - probably half an hour or so - most of the clouds cleared and there was lovely blue sky. I stood for a while and watched a Blue Heron perching on a log. So peaceful. I managed to make it home before the rain!

Couple of Crafy Cards

Beginning of a new week. Have the dreaded Dentist appointment tomorrow. Sigh. That came around way too soon. Could have done with a chat from Mum as a confidence booster. I'm sure it will go okay. 

Dull and Rainy today. No walk. I ran a couple of errands. Got them out of the way. Had a good walk yesterday at the beach. Husband was feeling particularly tired, so he took a nap in the car while I went for a long walk through the sand dunes lol. 

I did get up in the craft room this weekend. Actually did a bit more tidying and managed to create a couple of Halloween Cards. 

They lay flat when posted and then pop-up 

Day 288 Things That Make Me Smile 

Managed to catch the sunrise on Saturday. Not the greatest, but nice nontheless.

Day 289  - Sunday

We were behind this camper van on the road. The sign made me smile. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

The Legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes

It's the weekend so I thought I'd do this post with some photos of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore that we visited and the legend behind it. 

This is a beautiful area of Michigan. It's about 206 miles away from us (over 3 hours drive) so we don't go as often as I would like. The area is really beautiful and there are so many places within the area that we haven't visited. On our way back from our last camping trip up north (a few weeks ago) we stopped on our way home. I'd love to be able to visit in Autumn as I bet the colours are stunning. 

This is the legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes - a Chippewa Legend (from the National Park Service Website)

Story of Sleeping Bear Dunes - two versions of the legend. 

The Story of Sleeping Bear
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore gets its name from one dune in particular—the Mother Bear. Perched along the edge of the large dune that towers about Lake Michigan, this dune, at one time, resembled a sleeping bear. The Ashininaabek used the Mother Bear as a landmark and tell a story about how she came to be there.
Two different versions of the story are commonly told. These stories are an Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ottawa, Ojibway/Chippewa and Potawatomi) oral tradition of a sacred place within their homelands in the Great Lakes.

---

Once, long ago, in the land called Wisconsin across the great lake, there was terrible hunger and many people died. A bear and two little cubs were trying to leave that place and come around the lake where there would be more food.
They walked for many days on the beach together, but after a while the two little cubs began to whimper with hunger, and so the bear decided to swim across the rest of the lake.
They waded into the water, one cub on each side of the bear, and they swam off into the lake a long way. After a while the cubs began to get very tired, and so the bear said, “Try hard, the land is not very far.” And very soon they did come in sight of land.
But gradually the cubs got weaker, and only ten miles away, one cub sank into the water. Soon after, the other also drowned.
The bear’s heart was broken, but she could do nothing. She waded ashore and lay down, looking out on the water where her cubs had died. Eventually, both of them came to the surface as two little islands, and so the bear still lies there atop the dunes, looking after her children.

---

Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but soon the cubs tired. Mother bear reached the shore first and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. The cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the eternal vigil of mother bear.

The islands mentioned are North and South Manitou Islands 

The view from the top of the Sleeping Bear Dune is just so beautiful. The lake looks really blue. 

There is a sign warning people about the walk down to the dune. It's a little different from the last time we were here - check out the sign on the side of my blog!

While we were here we only saw two people climbing up the dune - a father and son. They walked for about a minute before resting again. It was obviously a hard slog up the dune!

Or maybe he was just enjoying the view!

End of Week

Not a productive day today. I had a lovely meandering walk, but I think I overdid it as when I got home, I just could not get warm. I ended up snuggled under a blanket and dozing most of the afternoon. I did chat/message a lot - chatted with daughter and middle son and messaged with sister. Other than that, I didn't do a lot until it was time to make dinner, do the washing up and complete the two lots of clothes that I had washed. I managed to get up into the craft room for a little bit this evening but that's about it. 

I turned on the small heater in my living room for about half an hour this morning. Sigh. I was hoping to hold off but it was chilly. I think that's part of the problem - the living room is getting cooler now but I am really trying to hold off turning on the main heat especially as I seem to be the only one affected by the cooler temperatures right now. 

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. Daughter sent me this photo this morning.

She got her first snow today! She was not happy lol. Luckily it melted away really quickly. I'm not quite ready for that yet! 

Things That Make Me Smile Day 287

It was so peaceful being out here this morning all by myself. I stood and watched the geese squawking and getting ready to fly after spending the night on the lake and listened to the Red-winged Blackbirds sitting up in the trees getting ready to fly. I can usually walk right out to the tree stump and a little past, but the lake is high, and the water is flooding the end of what we call The Point.  

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Tomorrow I am going to try to post about The Sleeping Bear Dunes that we visited earlier in September. I tried scheduling the post while I was away the other week, but Blogger was being finicky and wouldn't let me post photos from my computer. Fingers crossed it will work this time!

Thursday Already!

My days are all muddled up this week. I think it's because of us going away last weekend and coming back on Monday. It's been an up-and-down weather week this week. I went for a walk with my friend this morning and, despite there being a low percentage of rain forecast, it did rain and we were caught out in a shower. Luckily, it didn't last too long. 

I had to pop to the shops and pick up a few bits to round out the meals for this week. Came home and managed to get all planned housework done. 

I started on a couple more pop-up cards for Christmas. (Day 286)

I'll share photos once I've finished them. I like making these. I've started another one but a Halloween one. 

Tomorrow I'm taking a walk by myself and then when I come home, I'm hoping to get up in the craft room again. It is washing day tomorrow, but there shouldn't be a lot of it as I did a couple of loads on Tuesday. 

Not sure what's in the plans for the weekend. A lot of it depends on the weather! 

 Lovely weekend away! The weather was really quite sunny though it was so cold! We got up there and it was barely above freezing. The wind was blowing too. As we drove along we saw people all bundled up in their winter wear and were glad we had come prepared! I always have spare hats, scarves and gloves in the car in a basket. I was so glad of them

The colours up north were beautiful. Lots of reds, oranges and still greens. It was strange as there would be a lot of colour and then a patch where everything was still green. We did a lot of driving. It will be a while before we go anywhere again. The cost of petrol/gas is quite high again and yikes - that was where most of the money went. 

We spent some time (on our way back down to the lower part of Michigan) exploring the east side of the state. We saw two new-to-us lighthouses and made a list of a few places where we want to go back and explore some more. 

I had taken my tripod on our trip and there was a lovely sunset one night but it was so windy I couldn't keep the tripod still and it was so cold I gave up. I did manage to get out in the morning for sunrise with the tripod when the winds had died down and managed to take a few. The view never gets old and I love the way long exposures look. I just wish I could get out more and do them!

Now it's back home again. I've been quite productive today as the weather was rather wet and dreary. I sorted through my clothes - put away summer and brought out winter as I don't have a lot of wardrobe space - and threw away old things and got a pile to donate. It's a job I've been meaning to do and finally got it done! 

(The story of my life) I'm being on Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile so am catching up now. 

Day 280 (Friday October 7th)

Walking across the Cut River Bridge. The views are fantastic. This time we walked down a gazillion steps (it really felt like it!) to the bottom of the bridge and out onto the beach. We 'discovered' an easier way back than walking up the stairway and instead climbed a hill (which I found a lot easier!)

Day 281 (Saturday October 8th)

Had a fantastic day. The weather was bright and sunny. Just glorious. We walked along several beaches and saw lovely colours. The water was so clear and lovely. 

Day 282 (Sunday October 9th)

Another lovely day. This made me smile as the last time we were here it was chucking it down with rain and this day was just the opposite. 

Day 283 (October 10th)

Another lovely day. This was a one room schoolhouse at one of the new-to-us lighthouses that we stopped at. It is one of the few remaining one-room log schoolhouses in Michigan. 

Day 284 (October 11th)

Back too soon. Only a few days since we've been away, but it seems like ages! The colours are starting to change even in my part of Michigan. 

Day 285 (today!)

Despite the rain I managed to get out for a quick walk between rain showers. I saw lots of migrating birds chattering away in the trees. There are patches of red and yellow peeking through. I was so happy just to manage to get out for a bit!

Back tomorrow