Sunday - and Thanks!

Thank you for all the comments yesterday. I can feel a bit of the ache still today but it's nowhere near as bad as yesterday. I think the headache was resulting from a bunch of factors. I had been out for a walk and then had a volunteer thing that was very social (I'm not). I didn't take water with me so no drink, and I didn't have breakfast, and I had to do a lot of interacting with people and I think all of it combined just gave me a headache. It was the kind that I don't get often, but when I do nothing seems to help - I just have to go to bed and sleep it off.  Needless to say, I was not productive yesterday, but I did do the volunteer thing, and I won't feel so guilty about being away for the big volunteer event at the beginning of next month. 

Today, for our Sunday Adventure, we had been thinking about going to a favourite nature park further away from us but with the rising petrol/gas prices and entrance fee, we decided not to go and opted for somewhere closer that was free. Well, it's not free but we pay $15 a year for a pass that gives us entrance to 103 State Parks of which we visit quite a few of throughout the year - a bargain, I think! I'm a little sad not to go, but I can't justify spending the money when we are going to visit daughter in a couple of weeks which we're really looking forward to. I feel we really have to choose our activities a lot more carefully when prices are high. 

We did have a lovely walk. There were a few Spring flowers about. The Trillium was just starting to bloom. In a few weeks they will carpet the woodland floor. 

There were also quite a few Dutchman's Britches around too

There were lots of birds singing as we walked through the woods too. It was quite lovely. Surprisingly, it wasn't that busy. Our weather was summer-like today! The high was 80f/27C!!! Can you believe it? And lovely sunshine. The temperatures are dropping a bit tomorrow and then maybe several days of showers. At least today was lovely!

How was your weekend? 

Sunday Adventure

It was lovely and sunny today and ended up fairly warm. Husband and I went for a walk at Warren Dunes State Park. There is a lovely trail through a marshy bog bit and along through the woods. It's a fairly easy trail, something that husband could do to build up the walking stamina again. As we walked through the bog bit we could hear lots of birds singing and chirping. We watched as an Eastern Towhee sat atop a branch and sang out his heart. I did get some photos but yes - you've guessed it - I've not got to them yet! We also saw lots of little Golden-crowned Kinglets flitting through the trees. 

It was lovely and quiet out. We saw two other couples and a maybe two joggers but that was it. I think that's why we like to go early on a Sunday morning.  

I did take quite a few phone photos

There are lots of daffodils in the woods. These dot the landscape where the old building of the New First Church Camp used to stand for many years. It's always interesting to see them pop up year after year without any human intervention. 

After our walk through the woods, we headed further into the state park and down along the shores of Lake Michigan. 

My favourite tree by the beach

The snow fences are still up but I'm sure they will come down soon

We had some fun looking along the shoreline for VPS (Very Pretty Stones). There are lots of people who walk the shores looking for all kinds of rocks (as they are called here). We have no clue what we are looking for so just look for the ones we think are unique or different. 

All-in-all a nice fun day, topped off with a video chat with Baby A. 

How was your weekend? 

Ug Monday

Snowy roads again this morning so a day in. Glad of it actually. My back has been hurting in the  mornings and it wasn't good at all this morning. We bought a new bed and mattress set last year and it has hurt my back from the beginning and has steadily got worse. It's bad enough now that I am tossing and turning half the night and in the morning I can barely get out of bed. Usually once I'm out, have sat with a heating pad on my back it loosens up and I'm okay for the rest of the day. I'm a stomach sleeper but I can't do that anymore as the pain is worse so I've tried sleeping on my side and back and it all hurts. If my back feels a little better then my neck feels worse. Sigh. Not sure what to do except maybe buy another mattress but will that be any better?

Anyway that's my moan for the day. On my last post I shared some photos of our Sunday out. I wanted to share a couple more.

This is at Warren Dunes where the wind was whipping up the sand and snow at the lake edge. Phew that wind was strong!

So strong hubby was trying to hide from the wind while I took photos! He managed to find this to shelter in lol.

At home today I did manage to stamp out a few images ready to go for cards that you might (or might not) see later in the week.

I also made up a quick card for daughter for Valentine's Day. 

Now I've got to remember to get it in the post!

Sunday Walk - Warren Dunes State Park

Another dry, sunny but chilly Sunday morning so we pottered off on another walk. We took a drive about an hour away to Warren Dunes State Park for a walk along the beach. Luckily I had bundled up in my long undies - they were needed! The wind was quite brisk. There weren't many people out and about.

I took photos with my camera - practising what I've learned - and with my phone. The one above is from my phone. It 'created' a panoramic view which I thought was quite nice.

The seagulls were out in force. Luckily these ones aren't the vicious kind. I almost got my sandwich pinched out of my hands last summer on my trip to England! These were a lot calmer - scared of people as they tended to fly away as soon as I got close.

Still some ice around though not as much as there was the last time we were there. 

You can see where it had chipped away at the sand.

A big piece of wood uncovered - made me giggle.

Look at those waves!

All in all a beautiful, yet chilly walk. From there we drove down to another lighthouse - I'll share those photos tomorrow. 

Beauty in Winter - Sunday Walk

Instead of sitting on our bums again - and with the weather a little better - we decided to go take a walk somewhere. We're still intent on visiting several state parks this year so we thought we'd take a trip to one not too far away - Warren Dunes State Park. There are several hiking trails so we thought we might check them out.

However when we got there we parked near to Lake Michigan and decided to check out the beach. We were wrapped up nice and warm complete with long undies and hats.

There wasn't any more snow on the ground but there was lots of ice especially where the lake meets the shore.

We could see the ice breaking and hear it creaking even when it looked completely solid.

There were only one or two big chunks of ice out further.

We managed to get close enough to take a peek in a couple of the holes. We made sure the ice was really, really solid before stepping on it!

It was a lovely walk and such unexpected beauty to be seen.