Thank You!

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes.  The day ended with a lovely chat with Aurora. Certainly made my day. 

I got back on the housework bandwagon yesterday and got caught up with housey stuff yesterday and today. The house is as tidy as it's going to get - at least until after the weekend. We're off camping tomorrow morning. I say camping, it's at a State Park campground, but we're staying in a mini cabin. It basically is one room with two bunkbeds, a small counter and a small fridge. It's not a far walk to the bathrooms. Certainly a lot more comfortable than a tent. It does have electricity, so if it's a little chilly, we can turn on the small heater we bring with us to take the chill off. Outside there is a picnic table and place for a fire. We will take our camping chairs. It's about four and a half hours away, just over the bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so a bit of a drive. It will be colder up there too. 

I have packed my bag, my new camera, my older camera and a tripod. I'm hoping to be able to try out the new camera and see if I can work the timer and such. We shall see! I've also packed a sketch book in hopes that I can try out some nature journalling while we're outside and a couple of books as well as my kindle. It should - hopefully - be relaxing. There are no plans and no expectations, hopefully just a relaxing weekend away. 

I enjoy going away, but for some reason the getting ready to go away leaves me a bit anxious. I worry about stupid stuff I shouldn't even worry about. The thing is, once we've left the house, it all seems to disappear, and I enjoy the time away. Do you get anxious when you go away or do you prefer just to stay home? 

I think I'm a creature of habit and like the routine - or rather I'm stuck in the routine, and everything feels off when the routine is broken or changed. I always intend to take time away as a chance to break the routine for good, but I always seem to end up sliding right back into it again. Something to think about. 

I do hope everyone has a good weekend. It's a bank holiday for both US and England (though for different reasons) so I hope everyone has a nice long weekend. 

Some spring visitors to the garden - on the left a Baltimore Oriole and the other two are Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. 

Back From the Weekend

The weekend away was...okay. It was a bit strange going away with this other couple. I felt a bit like the odd one out as my husband and the two of them know one another quite well. The lady L likes photography, but we approach it quite differently. She's more of a hop out of the car, take a couple of photos and get back in. I'm more of a get out of the car, wander around a while, enjoy the place, take some photos, sit a while, enjoy and then get back in the car. I felt a bit awkward, definitely as though I was holding people up. I don't understand the need to hurry. Husband used to be like that, but he's learned to enjoy the moment and take time to just sit for a while. 

I did enjoy the scenery, and I saw a sunset and a sunrise. The first day we got there the weather was alright, then it rained and rained and rained. It was good that we were able to see things before the rain came! The other husband wanted to do a bit of shopping, so we walked around the tourist-y shops for a while. The area is well-known for cherries and there was a whole shop of cherry things (and bits to try). We also went to a local cheese shop and tried some different cheese. 

I did enjoy being away though. It was nice to have a break. The hotel was good, nice and clean and quiet. It wasn't too far from the beach, so I was able to drive myself to a small park and have a walk along the beach. 

Back to Normal - and Yurt Weekend

Had a great weekend away. It was really nice; the weather wasn't too bad, and I took lots of photos. We stayed in a Yurt. It had electricity, but no bathroom - we had to use the one in the campground (not far away). It was a lovely place to stay in. There were doors at the front and the back, the back doors went out onto a deck and some grass that backed up onto a small lake. Our firepit and picnic table was back there. It was lovely to be able to see and look out across the water and not at the other campers lol. 

Every morning a lovely Orchard Oriole would sit up in the trees and sing, it would be there at nighttime too!

The lighthouse was only a five-minute walk down a path from our yurt

Got to experience a wonderful sunset

I didn't see a sunrise, one morning was rain and to be honest, the other two mornings I didn't get up and moving in time to see a sunrise! 

Husband and oldest son had a good weekend too. They spent most of the weekend just relaxing. I spent most of mine walking and enjoying the scenery and the birds. 

Now it's back to normal service, lol. At least for a few weeks! Our next away trip will be for a week long adventure to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

Start of the Week - no, it's Tuesday!

Ugh, the last couple of days that we've been back have been so hot. I'm not ready for it yet. I'm sweltering when I go to bed at night and sweltering in the morning. It certainly doesn't help that I'm of that menopausal age. It also doesn't help that we don't have the window air conditioners in yet. We don't have central air conditioning, just two window air conditioners - one for the downstairs and one for the upstairs. They aren't huge units, so it never gets really chilly, just even to stave off being truly unbearable. However, we take them out in winter and don't usually put them in until the beginning of June. We are supposed to get storms tonight and maybe, just maybe, the humidity will break, and things will be a bit more tolerable tomorrow. 

For now, most of the windows are open, but I don't like leaving them all open at night or when I'm away in the daytime. 

Our trip last weekend was to Ludington State Park. It's a beautiful state park set on the shores of Lake Michigan. It's a really popular place to camp. There are 355 camping sites at park - in three separate camping areas (including just 3 mini cabins). It's booked pretty solid during the summertime. There are lots of trails to walk including one to Big Sable Lighthouse. 

My favourite trail there to walk is the Lost Lake Trail. Perhaps it's just because of the name, but the scenery is really beautiful. Parts of it are quite deserted. 

These are all phone photos because - as usual - I'm behind with the camera pics lol. It was a great walk, between 4.5 and 5 miles all-in-all. We didn't rush around though. There is a shelter and seats to sit on along the trail. 

Today, I tried getting back in the swing of things. I cleaned out some bits that had been languishing on the top of the fridge. Baking items that I had good intentions of using. Sigh. They are cleaned and in the donate boxes. Three boxes ready to go again! Tomorrow I'm going to work on the coat closet again. I'm pretty sure there are things in there that were the 'kids' and they haven't used in years. I'm not even going to bother asking about them. I am just donating. We do still have one that lives with us but the other two haven't lived here for years. It's time for those things to go! 

Is anyone still decluttering? Do you find it an ongoing process? 

Thank You - Good Weekend

Thanks for the birthday wishes. We had a nice weekend away. It was nice and sunny and not too hot or too cold. If I was Goldilocks, I would say it was just right lol. We did a nice hike on Saturday and another one on Sunday. I think I wore husband out a little bit. He isn't used to walking as much. 

I'm still quite sleepy tonight so I'm going to have an early night. I will catch up with blogs tomorrow and share some more photos of the trip tomorrow. 

For tonight, I'll just catch up with my Things That Make Me Smile photos

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The little mini-cabin we stayed in. It was nice. It backed up to a little wood that our firepit looked out on so as we sat around the campfire I could watch the birds - or at least try to spot them in the trees lol

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Love this view on the Lost Lake Trail. There is some really lovely scenery

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Big Sable Lighthouse. It's almost a 4 mile round walk to the lighthouse along a sandy/dirt track. The view at the end is worth the walk!

Back tomorrow. 

Oopps... where did time go.

Yup that was another unintended break. I meant to write more last week but time slipped away from me and then husband and I went away for a long weekend. We left Friday at about noon and came back later on Monday. We took a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a winter trip. We had a truly lovely time - the weather was amazing (for this time of year lol). It was sunny every day so I got to photograph 3 sunsets and 3 sunrises and the temperatures were above freezing! We got to see some amazing ice and snow. It was a lovely break and a great time.

We stayed in Mackinaw City. Most of the hotels are closed for the winter, but there are one or two are open. These are in the larger chains. I suppose they are able to deal with loses or not a big profit margin rather than some of the smaller ones. Last year when we went it wasn't very busy, but this year on the weekend we were going there a wedding party had booked into the hotel and it was completely full! Not sure who would want to get married in winter in upper Michigan as the weather rarely cooperates, but they obviously had good luck with theirs! It just so happened that we got into the lift with the groom's parents our first night there. Apparently the wedding was being held at the nearby International Dark Sky Park - a place people go to watch and photograph the night sky. The only lights permitted are red lights. Later, it got me wondering whether the couple had met there or why they decided on there to get married. It was funny they were getting married there as last month I read a murder mystery that was set at that very park - Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day.

So now it's back to the daily ins and outs for a while. We might go on a trip at the end of March. Might. I have lots of photos to sort through. It will certainly keep me busy. I'm glad we made the most of the sun as by the time we got back to Kalamazoo it was cloudy and today brings another snow storm. Ah well, it was good while it lasted!

I have lots of catching up to do. Hopefully I'll have some photos to share soon.

Today's photo - a lovely Bluebird to brighten up the winter skies.