CHRISTMAS 2020

 

 

This has been an unusual Christmas season. With the pandemic, following the safety rules as much as possible,  prevented us from having the usual family activities. No large Christmas Dinner together, no tree cutting trip together, no real tree in the house, no family gift exchange together all seemed a bit surreal.

However, there were some small miracles and magic along the way. We ended up with more lights than usual. Even placed a tree on the deck. We added lights inside the house also. Pat prepared her Apple pies for everyone and we delivered them as well as gifts. She also prepared the Sauerbraten and me the Sauerkraut soup for each family. This is usually our Big Christmas meal celebrated together. We Skyped with everyone including the Germans on the 26. It snowed Christmas Eve giving us a white Christmas Day. We found a doll for the our german granddaughter, her Christmas wish after searching for months.We enjoyed the time on Christmas Eve as we Skyped with my sisters and my brother. 

So even though the pandemic has changed this holiday season we manged and survived. We will remember this Christmas for years and I am sure we will discuss it every Christmas to come in the future.

Our  mantle decorated for the holiday season.

The warmth of the season.

Santa arrived as usual.

Early Fall Walk

 

Yesterday we decided to take a walk along the north side of the Muskegon Channel. We took the eastern turn and then went into the closed Channel Campground. We gathered a few pictures of the early fall changes. We have not had a killing frost yet or even a light frost. Our trees offer us protection. The nights have been cooler in the 50"s and this has triggered the trees to begin to prepare for winter. 

We have a good variety of trees by our home, red and white oaks, maples in various varieties, sassafras, wild cherry, an assortment of pines and some spruces. A beautiful and varied forest. We enjoy it as it brings a tapestry of various critters and birds. Every season is a pleasure for the eyes. We have had deer so close to our house they we can almost count them as pets. We have a red squirrel that has taken a fancy to our cherry tomato plant; he stops to let us know he has another when we sit with our coffee. The plethora of birds is an ever changing scene of color and size. Recently we have been blessed with the visit of a female Northern Harrier. A marvelous creature with a four foot wing span. She forages for the multitude of small critters that peruse the forest floor. Though this is the cruel cycle of life here in the woods it is an ever unfolding wonder of nature in her marvelous complexity.

I hope you enjoy the few photos I am posting here. Enjoy!

I had to include this photo of a Northern Harrier so you could see it's beauty. However, I did not take it but found a copyright free image.

 

As we walked the channel we came upon one of our favorite sights, a heron. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muskegon Landmarks Slide Show

 

A short slide show of all completed drawings.

Another Drawing Completed

 Since the beginning of this pandemic, and the closing of normal life as we used to know it, i have been working on a series of drawings of buildings in the downtown area of Muskegon.

Many of these buildings are prime examples of American architecture at various periods in history. I have tried to capture the beauty and detail of these buildings. My drawings ar not exact to today's vision of these structures but rather my interpretation of their key features.

Today I am posting the final in the series for now. I may add more at a later date. There are still a magnificent collection of homes in the area as well as many more buildings. 

This is the Hackley Public Library entrance. If you have never been inside you need to make a trip to see it when in the area. The children's library on the top floor houses a wonderful mural of characters and scenes from classic children's literature. The library is adjacent to the Art Museum. The other buildings in the series are all within walking distance of these two splendid examples of Muskegon's offerings.

Hackley Public Library

A Walk in the Park - Birds and Boaters

   We decided it was about time we got ourselves out and about. We had in the past been walking on a regular basis in the the channel campground and along the channel. When the stay safe decisions began we stopped our activity in the areas where we would encounter persons we didn't know. So now we feel safe again walking in the channel park and avoiding contact with others. Earlier when the parks reopened we had made an attempt to walk in the park but way too many persons had the same idea. 

Here are a few photographs from our most recent walk. We had seen only a few dog walkers on our stroll through the campgrounds. They are still closed to camping due to the high water flooding and new bathhouse construction. Water levels here are still rising after each rain storm. 

The heron is sitting on the dead tree in the new pond area on the north side of the campground entrance road. You can just barely pick it out as it appears to be part of the dead tree. Frogs are jumping in the pond as we passed by. I am sure he eats well!

 a closer view of the Heron

center of picture on dead tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bittern, a small variety in the heron family.

The pond area south of the entrance drive where we saw a Bittern.

High water in park campsite area

Ducks on the Channel

Swans on the Muskegon Lake at Snug Harbor Picnic area

Boaters at the Snug Harbor ramp access.

Busy day at the Snug Harbor ramp access. We counted over 40 empty trailers.

Turkey Run

I am attaching the following video of turkey's in our back wood.

I am not sure what spook them but suddenly they were off on a run. Note the little ones and mom at the end.

Here's one I took through the screen door. I didn't slide the door open because I didn't want to scare the little ones. (so please tolerate the screen) They come on a regular basis to eat the birdseed under the feeder.

Hackley Public Library

I had meant to take a photo of the black ink work before I added color. However, I got excited about choosing colors and matching. I completely forgot to snap the photo so here ir is with just a bit of color added. Don't know how long it will be before it is finally finished but this gives you a sneak peek.

Hackley Public Library inked.

Had to add this short video. Ma Turkey and the kids move through our yard each morning and late afternoon. They stop at the bird feeding area and clean the ground and then move on. Occasionally they stop enjoy the frog pond. They have grown to about twice the size from our first glimpse of them. Hope you enjoy watching them scurry about. They freeze at the end because of some danger they sensed. We do have hawks and owls in the woods.

Turkeys Come Visiting

For the past few days we have had a regular visit from Mrs. Turkey and her kids. They seem to enjoy the ground findings from both bird feeders (much to the chagrin of the local chipmunks). To day I managed to get a little film clip of them as they were leaving the feeder.

Last night we took a ride out to the shoreline to watch the lightning as the thunderstorms were moving across the lake. They were, for us, the best fireworks for this time of the year. We left at 12:30 am. The storm didn't hit here until after 3:30 am but it brought 1.5 inches of rain to our rain gauge. A much needed rain for all the gardens and outdoor potted plants.

Today, as we sat and drank or morning coffee, we were also treated to the reoccuring flight of the bluebird. The oak trees are dropping those little worms on there silk threads. As they fall they glisten in the sunlight allowing the Bluebird and the House Wrens to zoom in and snatch them up.

The storm besides refreshing everything also brought cooler temperatures making the day pleasurable.  Hope you also had a great day.

Oh as post script here. Made Sourdough Whole Wheat Bagels for snacking at coffee time.

Everything and sesame seed bagels. yumm!

Celebrating the Fourth of July Weekend

We spent this Fourth of July quietly at home this year avoiding crowded spaces. We Celebrated by contacting friends and relatives with FaceTime or Skype. It was nice to see the Hollyhock Parade in Ottawa Hills, an 80 year old tradition in photos and video. A thank you to our son-in-law for making the photos attached possible. Our granddaughter Ruby and her friends reenacted the Spirit of "76. What was great is that all wore masks and socially distanced to make this possible. There was no bike parade section or band this year but plenty of encouraged family floats and a few large exhibits from the City of Grand Rapids. You can check it out on M-Live. https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2020/07/grand-rapids-neighborhood-celebrates-july-4th-with-annual-hollyhock-lane-parade.html

The girls portray the SPIRIT OF '76

Leading the Parade

Our remarkable grand daughter.

We enjoyed our evening by watching "Hamilton"  We enjoyed this as much as had when we saw the performance at the DeVos before the quarantine began. That was fun with the fam damnily of Fritz's.

This time it was just a quiet but very enjoyable private viewing. A shout out to other son-in-law for the Disney+ gift.

If you haven't seen it and get the opportunity to do so - DON'T MISS!

Sitting out in the garden and watching birds, critters and clouds pass by is always a great enjoyment for us. Some of our garden flowers provided the fireworks displays we missed this year.

On my creative side I managed to complete the drawing on the YMCA. This makes a total of seven historical buildings in the series. Next on the list is the Hackley Public Library / a real challenge this time.

YMCA

Also was busy making bread. Here is my Artisan Sourdough Loaf.

Artisan Sourdough Bread

So on the whole a very good Fourth of July weekend 2020.

Waiting for the Potential Thunderstorm

Sitting here in the woods waiting for a potential thunderstorm tonight. Have already got a warning from the electric company to be prepared for outages and the heating and cooling system has notified us of increasing humidity. So I thought I would post a little bit of information on the current views in the garden.

The pond life is doing well, counted 12 frogs again today. The fun of counting frogs is trying to find them as they camouflage themselves among the rocks and plants. With the water lilies beginning to open and bloom they often find it great to hide beneath the lily pads. Some prefer sitting directly on them, better to catch the errant flying bug. Jumping to grab it, sometimes a foot or more. Then there is the one frog that has claimed the Fiber Optic grass as his frog king throne.

The water lilies are beautiful in their various colors. They bloom for a few days and gently close themselves up at night.

Living in the woods, as we do, means we appreciate the sun loving flowers. Our Stella D'oro day lilies are beautiful this year.

So as we wait for a storm to bring more rain and replenish the gardens we will enjoy the fact that the breeze has picked up; reducing the amount of evening mosquitoes.

King Frog waiting to jump onto his grassy throne

Sunny lilies

Water lilies in bloom

Pink water lilies

Collection of potted plants by pond.

Garden Glimpses

We have recently spent time mulching the gardens and removing the few weeds we get. Enjoying the new experiences of gardening with less sunlight. Previously we always had an abundance of sunlight so our plant choices were quite expansive.

Living in the woods has created a bit of a challenge for us. New plants are being tried every year. Slowly we are building a garden palette that is changing through out the growing seasons. Every year we see more variety in our garden and a development of favorite successes.

Here are a few photographs and clips from this year 's mid June blooms and changes.

Dianthus and Spiderwort

This variety of allium with it's blue stars is striking. We have ordered more for future planting in the fall.

This little side garden has accepted the dianthus well and Spiderwort has found its own way in. We will be moving the spiderwort away from the front edge in late August early September.

 

Just a short video of the garden pond and one of the many frogs who enjoy life there.