YooPee Vacation days

No, this is not a blank shot. Read on. We spent a lovely several days revisiting childhood haunts in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Yes, Michigan consists of two peninsulas for those of you who've never been here or thought about how we are situated. The water in which the two peninsulas are situated are divided into three of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and Lake Huron. We visited all three. On the first night, we stayed in St. Ignace, on the Upper Peninsula's Lower border at the Straits of Mackinaw. That night (Sept. 8) about 9:20, we watched the Space Shuttle Discovery (those two specks on black) begin her reentry in beautiful starry skies. It had a "ghost" accompany it, and was illuminated by the already set sun. In the following picture, you'll see both the shuttle and the "ghost." Since we couldn't get that information, we assume the double vision may have been an illusion created by the sun. We went on to Tahquamenon Falls, the largest Falls in Michigan. The photo shows the upper falls, a shot of Pearly Everlasting wildflowers and a Wild Roberto sighting. At Kitch iti kipi springs, we rode the self-pulled raft into the pond to view the unbelievably turquoise water as it bubbled up from the spring at the bottom while lake trout swam in abundance. We saw six Bald Eagles during our stay, though we didn't get photos, and we saw a loon at the Seney Wildlife Refuge, in which we traveled very slowly on a cowpath type road for seven miles in the wilds. Just breathtaking. Of course we traveled over the Mackinaw Bridge (five mile expansion bridge) twice, going and coming home. The sunset shot above is from the east over Lake Michigan as gulls flew overhead. One lake shot is of Lake Huron, swans and a barge and tugs probably being towed toward the Soo Locks (Sault St. Marie). Upon on the Keeweenaw Peninsula (Michigan's northernmost land) we got one shot of a roadside falls (and none of Lake Superior because my camera ran out of battery juice and we were off the peninsula before I could reload). Big disappointment, as we visited the fort at the tippy top of the peninsula where foreign soldiers kept peace during mining operations (copper and iron) in the mid-1800s. We just had a lovely time, and are glad to be home sleeping in our own bed, using our own bathroom, once again.

What makes us happy

We've had a wet and dry and cool and hot summer. I understand crops aren't happy with the cool, but our hostas love it. They have put out more blooms then ever, and the heliposis is at least 8 feet tall. The garden is an absolute riot of blooms.

Yesterday evening a daughter and two grandsons came over to use our grill to grill shish-ka-bobs. Then to our great pleasure, they asked if they could eat at our house and would we join them. They were delicious, as was the grilled corn on the cob.

Soap

We have soap (saponata). Take a look. 14 scents and free of non-natural stuff. I'm quirky and have used bar soap for shampoo for years (of course I use a conditioner). Now that I use our soap, my hair is fluffier and curlier and full of body, and I love the creamy texture of the soap lent by olive oil. My favorite scents are juniper and lavender. My daughter, Bella, is a rose freek. Check out her Etsy store at vintagebella.etsy.com. I'm introducing two new scents very soon--cedar and jasmine. We also have four citrus fragrances (orange, lime, lemon and tangerine), and rose, wintergreen, almond, spearmint and clove. They can be sold in sets and singularly. Check out my Etsy store at sophiassaponata.etsy.com. Oh, and when you do, check out the note cards designed after our fragrances.

Bergamots

I have three bergamot varieties this year. Red...

Purple ... (the red and purple varieties are domestic.)

And pale pink, a wild variety I found out at the back rim of our 30 acres many years ago and transplanted. Note the bumble bee.

Mowed

The yard finally got mowed today. We had weeks of sunshine, then a week of rain, and that week just set every weed and blade of grass to growing. But today, it's beautiful. So this is how we live on a good week. Out in the country, we deal with every critter known to man and the moles are just one. Then come the ground hogs. My husband and friends shortened the skirts on the blue spruce some time back. That first evening, one ground hog, who'd been living under one tree, popped his head up and seemed confused for some time. I believe he's vacated for a more prime location not quite so out there.

Friday gathering

Had the family over for spaghetti this evening. 10 kids, 8 adults. Campfire. Big mess. Who cares? We love the life and the living inspired by noisy kids and laughing adults. Life is very, very good.

Today is Sunday. My husband's favorite place to eat on Sunday (if I'm not cooking) is an Asian restaurant some 20 plus miles from our home. Near the Asian restaurant is a favorite discount department store. After lunch, we visited the store and made purchases of two cheap outdoor rattan-type chairs and a small grossly inexpensive mosaic table. When we arrived back out at our vehicle, I apparently set it down in his blind spot (I want it to be his fault, so I'll just say that apparently men have blind spots that women don't have). When we arrived home we were without small table. I called the store and they had our table, which we then set out to retrieve, happy that someone had the honesty to take it inside. On arriving back home, I noticed that five mosaic square tiles were missing. They weren't in the SUV, nor were they dribbled along the driveway into the house. We have decided to leave it that way and call it a lesson learned (whatever the lesson might be, and we might not know that until a later date), rather than turn what should have been a 40 mile adventure into a 120 mile adventure (the second trip made it an 80 mile adventure). In all of this we concluded one thing, not having given anything much deep thought: My husband observed that when gas prices go up they go up in sizeable increments. When gas prices go down, they dribble down in pennies, and never is it more evident than when you're inanely running up and down the freeway.

This early morning view was outside my kitchen window. This is my new husband's first spring at this place (I've been here 27 years). He's in awe. He would hear me rambling on about my life outside the four walls of my house and just couldn't connect with my uncurtailed enthusiasm. However, he's now begun to wander aimlessly throughout the interior and comes through the door regularly with, "My word, my word, my word," charges across the room and hugs me. He's overwhelmed by the "life" going on around us, and I think a bit in wonderment about the fact that he hadn't really noticed such things in the former part of his life.

The kids are back

I live on 28 acres. We have trees and ponds and wildlife, including coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, deer, etc. They wander around the periphery of our home with abandon, just as these three Canada goslings. One day, their mother left them in the pond to the west of the house and flew away. They couldn't fly, so they did the next best thing. They bolted out of the pond and followed her, they came charging through the yard, past our bedroom windows, down our driveway and crossed over to the property next to us, peeping frantically all the while. My husband said, "Should we go after them?" and I asked, "And do what with them?" An hour later I looked toward the pond. There were the three young geese with their mother. The mood around here lightened considerably, as we'd watched these youngsters for weeks.