Escape

Spring buds on the maple trees

This week’s photo challenge at WordPress is:  Escape.

Just wanted to let you know.  We’ve finally busted out of winter here in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula after almost seven months.

We’ve successfully escaped.

We can only hope someone hid the keys of that winter jailor…

April madness

Chickadee on six foot snow bank

The long winter continues.

Another eight inches of snow yesterday morning, give or take three inches.  (It could have been eleven inches.  We’ve ceased measuring in late April.)

I am really OK with it.  No need to offer condolences.  We escaped to Florida earlier in the month, thereby easing Endless Winter Restlessness Syndrome.

I’m not sure the other locals are faring as well.  One senses a certain madness in the flitting eyes of grocery shoppers.  Alcohol sales are up.  People tend not to make sense anymore.  Just sayin’.  The livin’ is not easy up here in Cabin Fever land.

The light of an ordinary trip through pea soup fog to Marquette

How Lake Superior looks in Marquette

Here we are in Marquette, a town 78 miles from our Little House in the Big Woods.  It’s the Big City, kids.  It even has a Starbucks!  How I love the city–just as much as the woods…

Barry has to cover the Baraga Track Meet for the L’Anse Sentinel.  He–I mean we–have been covering this track meet for more years than you have fingers and toes.

Last year he limped in  to cover aforementioned event with a walker less than two weeks after his first knee replacement.  Oh, wasn’t he cute limping around!  (I wouldn’t know–I don’t stay for the track meet anymore.)  Someone snapped his picture and posted it on Facebook.  He was a sports reporter/hero for five minutes!

Waking up to five inches of snow…

Our Little House in the Big Woods

This post is for our children who are far, far away.  May you enjoy the walk around your childhood home.

This post is for you southerners who dream of snowflakes but rarely see them.

This post is for you northerners anticipating the bright beauty of new snowfalls.

Please enjoy the scenes outside our little Upper Peninsula house in the Big Woods.

If you get cold, how about a cup of hot chocolate to get your winter started off on the right foot? (I mean boot.)

Can I come over to your house?

Best friends

A sweet thing happened recently in my blogging world.

My childhood best friend, Carol, suddenly appeared with a comment on my Neil Armstrong tribute post!  What do you know!

(The tribute talked about Carol and me sleeping out in my parent’s backyard apple orchard in 1969.  We looked up at the moon in amazement trying to imagine man walking up there on that mysterious white orb.)

Friends

Carol and I grew up together.  She lived one street over and it only took three minutes if you ran through our neighbor’s back yard.  We were both so shy.  Afraid to talk in school, scared of our own shadows sometimes.

Big 6th grade boys pointed paper guns at us as we walked to kindergarten and we ran all the way back home, petrified of imminent death.

When will he arrive?

Back when the kids were in college and they both came home to see us…

All you mamas and papas of grown children know how you feel when your young sprouts return to the childhood nest for a spell, don’t you?

You know how your heart sighs in joy, yes, a beloved son or daughter returns!  You scurry around the house, washing sheets, dusting cobwebs, thinking of favorite dishes to make.

You look at the clock.

You wonder:  where is he/she now?  What time will he/she arrive?  Or you wonder when you’ll leave for the airport.  You vacuum.  You anticipate.  Your eyes gleam.

He’ll be home soon!

Yes, dear reader, we await our eldest, a boy named Christopher (or Chris, as the rest of the world calls him).  He arrived in the fine state of Michigan last Wednesday, feeling the breezes of the Great Lakes from the Detroit airport.  His childhood buddy, Ryan, picked him up and took him Downtown and on Thursday (Mama has memorized his itinerary) they drove north, north, north all the way to the Mannistee National Forest for his very own bachelor party!

A bedroom full of trees and other ordinary musings

Quiet reflection from our deck

1.  It’s nice to be able to post blogs “whenever I feel it” after a two month experiment with once-a-week blogging.  It truly was a lovely experience.  So much time and space opened up for reflection, for walking in spring beauty, for enjoying the present moment.  However, it’s equally delightful to be able to post when one feels like it, sharing the ordinary moments of one’s day.

2.  I could post an entire blog detailing the pros and cons of weekly versus daily blogging, but will spare you.  There are positives and negatives to both, as in all of life, yes?

3.  Our crazy rutted back-country pavement has now been “modernized” back to a dirt road.  We travelers have been forced to drive 15 mph on our road for the past couple of years due to the crumbling pavement.  Our mechanic just discovered a broken rear coil spring on one of our twin Buicks this week–a legacy. Now we can scurry along at 20 mph on gravel.  A new modern world!

Please hop up in the horse-drawn carriage. Let’s tour Mackinac Island!

Bicycles for rent, blue bicycles for rent…

Ladies and gentlefolk, thank you for coming to Mackinac Island!

Please step up on the carriage, careful now, there you go, have a seat.

Let’s start our tour, shall we?

First, let me introduce you to the horses pulling this carriage today.

Our first horse is Fudge.  Say hello to Fudge, everyone!

Mackinac Island horses (I didn’t ask their names)

Upper Peninsula wildfire

I am breaking my once-a-week blogging pledge to reassure friends and family that we are completely safe from the massive wildfire which has torched at least 22,204 acres in the eastern Upper Peninsula.

We live in Baraga County, about 200 miles to the west of Luce County, a drive of almost four hours.  This weekend, when the wind blew vigorously from the east, we smelled smoke, but otherwise we are far removed from the flames which spiked 200 feet high, according to earlier news reports.

The fire, known as the Duck Lake Wildfire, has burned at least 95 structures, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  Crews are still working to contain the fire. As of 9 a.m. today, the fire was 51 percent contained.  The fire fighters are having trouble securing the fire due to the remote accessibility of the southeast section.

The fire is currently burning 14 miles north of Newberry.  Flame lengths within the fire’s perimeter are still 10 to 15 feet, and so far 21 miles of the 40-mile long perimeter is uncontained fire line, according to the DNR.

Here is a local TV 6 news YouTube video which aired this past weekend:

Just wanted to let you know we are safe and far removed from the danger of this particular wildfire.  Thanks for your emails and comments expressing concern. Love you guys!

Sad for those in the midst of this fire’s turmoil…hoping that the flames will recede soon. Blessings for all involved.

When we “escaped” to Texas and then “escaped” back to the Upper Peninsula

Chapter 4

Today we shall remember our Great Escapes.

Escape is a dramatic word, isn’t it?

I suppose you are thinking:  They didn’t really escape to Texas.  They didn’t really escape back to the Upper Peninsula.  She is using artistic license yet once again, isn’t she?

Perhaps, dear reader.

Do keep reading.  I shall let you decide.