Back From a Chilly, Rainy Week in Michigan

The boys and I went back to Michigan last week to hang out with my brother while he was home on leave from Afghanistan.  It was a lot of fun, chillin out in my old hometown with the fam, cooking out and drinking.  Of course there were other activities thrown in as well - I went to work, hung out with a couple other relatives, etc.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish was moving some of my more meaningful Michigan plants from the old house to my boss/friend's yard, where they could flourish until I have a place for them.

There are a lot of plants in here, including several roses, a big mountain daisy bush in the middle, chives and mint that are a couple generations old, winter and summer savory, lemon balm, lillies that my mom planted decades ago - representing a bouquet of flowers my dad bought her when he was deployed over seas, borage, and a few more meaningful plants.

I didn't have a camera, so I used the crappy one on my phone to take some shots.

I bet this spot will be gorgeous in a few years.  *sigh*



I miss my garden!  But I'm determined to get over it and move on.  What else can you do?  

I was out digging in pouring rain in a blue and gold dress, surrounded by poppies and roses and flowering sage and irises and so much more flora that I had spent hundreds of dollars and hours coaxing out of cold Michigan mud, feeling sorry for myself, when my neighbor friend came over.  She told me I looked like a garden fairy.  We chatted and laughed in the rain, and I offered plants like I have for years.

At least my mark on Grand Rapids isn't doomed to degenerate into wildness forever, given that at least half a dozen yards in the place have blooms originating from my tangled collection.  That makes me feel a little better:)

A few last shots from my former Leonard St. garden.

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King's Mountain Military Park

Sometimes, a good stiff hike is just the thing to do... especially when boys are running around screaming so loud that you are either going to go deaf or deck someone out of self-defense.  I chose my usual favorite: burn, energy, burn!
I've been wanting to go to King's Mountain Military Park for awhile.  The park part isn't really on King's Mountain - it's more of a foothill to the mountain.  I knew I could take the boys and not end up carrying them most of the time. 

This weekend presented the perfect opportunity.  It is Memorial Day weekend, so they had an event where re-enactors dressed up as soldiers from time periods from the French & Indian War and Revolutionary War (whose King's Mountain Battle the park commemorates) all the way to the current Iraqi & Afghanistan wars.

The best part?  The weapons demonstrations.  Watching how cumbersome Revolutionary War weapons were to load and unload was very interesting.  So was seeing the evolution of weapons over the years.  Quinn, however, had a near panic attatck from the noise of the weapons (especially the cannon) so he and I ended up taking a hike by ourselves towards the end.  1.5 miles up a minor minor mountain and down again?  My back is still a little sore from the parts when I had to carry him! 

Also very fun was the fact that the re-enactor the boys hit it off with - the hunter from the Revolutionary War period - was a teacher from Rockford!  Talk about a small world!

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My Street Cred in Photos

Like most Michigan kids, I've been digging in the dirt since I was kid.

But when we moved to a 3 acre place in the midst of a bunch of fields and swamps, we suddenly had lots of land. And no money. We were so broke that oftentimes we could only shop the second hand stores when they had sales.  In an effort to alleviate the grocery bills, my mother (who had been an urban girl her entire life) decided to start gardening.

And typical of my mother, once she decided to do something, she did it with a fervor, scale, and energy that make most normal people jealous.

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