What an incredible evening last night at the beach. The weather was mild, the water was smooth and clear as glass, and it was warm enough to roll up my jeans to the knees and go wading. This all made for a most perfect evening for hunting treasure. I came home with 2 pocketfuls of the little buggers, several which winked at me and are near perfect specimens. I'm still in awe that I can find treasured Petoskey in my backyard. Who'd a thunk it?

So, I'm running a silent feud with my mother over cell phones and family portraits. I need a vacation....

Construction at the Gordon's coming, possibly next week. We're replacing the patio door and jamb, along with adjoining siding and flooring. Actually, I'm not totally clear on 'the plan' for the flooring. There goes the new patio furniture.

Hoping to scoop up trays of annuals at the farmer's market on Saturday. There are oodles of clay pots on my patio, waiting to be made beautiful again.

Happy Trails to Leonard. Life was an adventure.

And they lived happily ever after.......

Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Weekend too!

Spent time with CoCo this morning. Breakfast was, as always, at Wolfgang's in Eastown where we gabbed and caught up on life in general. We then toddled across the brick streets to Eastown Antiques, where I purchased a 1909 first edition of Gene Stratton Porter's A Girl of the Limberlost. Carol invested in a wonderful bit of bling. I swear it must be an Albert Weiss brochure/earring set, although it is unmarked.

We then breezed through Moonshadow on Diamond. I drooled over a large window that had been covered in a mosaic of broken colored glass -- predominately greens and purples. Hmmmm... It's heavily discounted to boot! Then, our usual final stop at Encore Consignment on Plainfield, where I acquired 2 shirts; 1 trouser; and 1 lovely funky green vintage brooch which matches one of the shirts, perfectly. Everything 25% off except for one of the shirts which was already a rock bottom price of $3.10.

Having fun playing with my new phone. I discovered another benefit of ditching the land phone -- I have more room on my kitchen counter.

Twas another beautiful day 'round here.....

Bought myself a new cell phone today. Now, everyone has their own cell phone at our house. Thus, I plan to eliminate all home phone service tomorrow. Of course, my mother had to point out that she will now need to call long distance whenever she wants to speak with me. Oh, well. It saves me $50/month to make the change. I guess she'll just need to be brief and to the point. Yes!

Nick's office...

No less than 4 people, upon returning from lunch, announced in horror that they saw gas for $3.65/gal. Egads, I am below a half tank. How far should we be traveling these days? Scary thought as I think about vacations. Gawd, I need to go north! I mean, I NEED to go north!!

Thursday an installer will bring me a new dishwasher. After several repairs on my 4 year old, I refuse to invest another dime in the lemon. Thus, I am thankful I chose to restrain myself from purchasing the patio furniture. I may not be able to veg out on my new Bosch, but at least I won't be standing at the kitchen sink this summer.

Not to mention the fact that the gas powered trimmer bit the dust this weekend. 1.5 months out of it's 2 year warranty and the shaft breaks in two. Repair bill will be 2/3 the price of a new one. Shit! Jury is out at the moment on this. One repair/replace situation at a time, please.

On a lighter note, HUMMINGBIRD ALERT in my backyard today -- May 22 at a feeder. Not to mention 3 rambunctious chipmunks who stuffed their cheeks full with peanuts and birdseed leftovers this evening.

Another frenzy of fireworks....

Lazy Sunday. Hiked, groceries, doing laundry, cooking, resting, pacing. Too chilly and overcast to catch rays. Napped briefly. Boring...

We had our family portrait taken today on Windmill Island.


Waiting for the photographer.

I was pleasantly surprised recently to find a built in card reader in my laptop. Duh!















This afternoon, Jeannine and I were discussing avian sanctuaries in our yards. Some of us feed the birds, while some of us feed the cats.

Last count, 10 feeders & 6 houses. Cat bit a tire a couple of years ago.

I find it rather amusing that there are segments along the eastern time lakeshore where one's cell phone registers central time, picking up towers in Chicago.

And in response to Julie's comment, I introduce you to Double Zout. Yum!

Wilfred Sykes came by my house today.....

I'll leave you with that while I force myself to go buy shoes on-line.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life.

I've often wondered if anybody is out there. Turns out I have a new friend in India and Mr. Tom commented recently. It's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself.

Oh, my, what an incredibly cool day I had yesterday. It started with an early morning phone call from my pal Daisy, asking if I might be interested in joining her and her bud Arnie at the parade in the afternoon. I poked my nose outside, saw the beginnings of a perfect parade day, and enthusiastically announced 'yes'! So glad I did too. Turns out Arnie's sister Karen marked a bit of turf directly in front of the Peanut Store, front row center, downtown Holland. What a deal.












Of course we had to pop in to see the Fabiano's working diligently to serve the bazillion customers who needed a sugar fix. I was disappointed to find they were out of my favorite French Burnt Peanuts. I settled for Boston Baked Beans and Dutch Salted Licorice. Yum. This, of course, was supplemented later by a freshly shaken lemonade and a monster elephant ear, balanced precariously while winding my way through parade goers.












The best band, in my opinion, was the Benton Harbor High School Band. Rhythm, dance, good music. Behind them came Unity Christian High School. Literally and metaphorically, the difference between night and day!



































I offer a variety of parade photos, including some real cool vintage auto photos. I found the 59 BMW Isetta the most fun.
























Girls need a ciggie and a rest after winding our way through mass quantities of parade goers.















The end of a perfect day..... County Park near Pier Cove, Fennville, Michigan

Saugatuck Dunes State Park













Boring evening, nowhere to go....laundry chugging away. Bore, bore, bore.....

I should pay bills.

Nahhh.....

I'm staring at a mountain of paperwork on my desk here at home. One word comes to mind: 'yuck'. So, I revert to an immature method of dealing with the situation -- avoidance and procrastination. Thus, I offer this evening, a series of photos taken last weekend at Oval Beach. Just in case you've never seen a sunset, here you go. I had all I could do to remain still, balancing the camera on the roof of the car for stability during heavy winds. Maybe if you scroll down real fast you'll get the full effect.

Friday night was fireworks, the official kick-off for Tulip Time. Wandered down to the fire dock around 10'ish and awaited the first boom. Photographing fireworks always produces an interesting result. As good as the fireworks were, they can not be compared to Thunder Over Louisville. Thanks, Tom, for the video -- it was worth waiting for!

Saturday evening was spent at Central Wesleyan, enjoying 2 hours of Bruce Hornsby, a man alone with a piano, by request. Sat 4 pews back -- great view, great music. Gonna Be Some Changes Made..........geeze, I can only hope....