I've Been Everywhere, Man

You know that Johnny Cash song, right? The one that the hotel chain bought and uses? The last couple of weeks have felt a lot like that song.

I've been in Chicago.

That would be the backyard, and the shawl. I got to the end of the first skein of yarn and haven't moved on since then. For reasons that will become clear momentarily.

I've been to unincorporated Chocolay Township.

That's Nephew at my parent's house with a little copperbelly snake. He and Daughter are both into snakes, niece not so much. (And no, I don't mind them myself, although Son caught this one.)

I've been to Little Presque Isle.

Little Presque is usually not very busy. Naturally on the day that we went there were 3 tour busses full of people at the beach. And yes, I realize that in other places of the world this would be nothing, but it's the UP people, we don't do crowded.

I've been to Presque Isle, specifically the Black Rocks and the breakwall.

That's Daughter at the Black Rocks. It was foggy that day. Really foggy. Foggy like I don't remember ever happening in Marquette. Stephen King fans will know why this might have been concerning.

The breakwall was built to keep the waves down in the harbor so it's not so much trouble for the ore boats to go in and out. There is actually a lighthouse out at the end of the breakwall, and Daughter and I were going to walk out to it, but whatever was causing the foggy conditions was also causing ever fly in the area to congregate on the breakwall, so we only made it out to where it turns to the left in the picture.

I've been to the Dead River.

The water was low; normally those smaller rocks are underwater.


My favorite place on the planet.

I've been to Lakennenland

It's a "Junkyard Art" sculpture garden. You can drive in off the highway or ride in on the snowmobile trail.

Daughter enjoys the fact that you can play on the art. Sadly, it was very hot that day, so she would sit down, then jump up 3 seconds later yelling, "Hot metal! Hot!"

I've been in Detroit.



Visiting Brother and picking up Nephew and Niece. They're spending the week with us.

Which is why in about an hour and a half I'll be in Chicago, at the Shedd Aquarium. I'll be the one with the 3 unruly kids and looking like I've been drug all the way around Lake Michigan and back. Say, "Hi" if you see us.

L is also for...

Lace

OK, so after I finished my homework I played with my new yarn.

I might actually have gotten a little carried away and stayed up late to work on this. It will end up being a stole. I'm using the same pattern as I did for this one.

I'd stay and chat longer, but I'm falling behind on my knitting.

L is for...

Look at me, being responsible and all.

I'm working on this:


When what I really want to do is play with this:

Yankee Springs

Recently Brother purchased a 13 foot Winnebago trailer.

He's spent the last few months fixing it up and it was finally ready for its maiden voyage this past weekend. He checked out the internet and found a Michigan State Park that was about halfway between his house in Detroit and our house in Chicagoland, so we all set off on Friday and met in the middle.

Having never been to this particular campground, none of us knew which were the good sites. Luckily, when Husband, Daughter and I showed up, the man in the guard shack told us that we could take a drive through the place and pick out whatever looked good to us. There were some sites that were just pretty terrible, but there were also a nice selection of good sites as well. We were actually rather surprised at how scarce the campers were. We've been to places that were wall to wall with people by Friday night, but apparently Yankee Springs Deep Lake unit isn't one of them. We found some nice deep sites near a water pump, the outhouses, and a swingset.


Brother and his crew arrived a couple of hours after us, by which time Daughter had discovered that there were a lot of toads and tree frogs in the area.


Nephew was especially enamored of the frogs and caught 8 or 10 of them over the course of the weekend.


One of the points of interest in the area is the Devil's Soupbowl, which is advertised as a glacially carved kettle. On the map it seems to be a pretty impressive feature. After making the 2 mile hike to get there, we have all determined that it needs to be renamed the Devil's Disappointment. It's a large low place to be sure, but it is also full of mature trees, making it impossible to really see it. Even though it was slightly less than impressive, we did climb down to the bottom, just so we could say that we had.


Other than a trip to the beach (sans camera, sorry) we spent the remainder of the trip hanging out at the campfire. There was a lot of cooking,


and eating,


and children playing in the dirt.


So after a couple of good nights' sleep


it was time to wipe down the tent (because naturally it rained like heck the night before we left)


and head back to civilization. And as I stare at the pile of laundry that needs to be washed, and look at the decimated refrigerator contents, I'm wishing I was still relaxing in the woods.

K is for...

Knitting

Well, really, what else did you expect me to say?

There's sock knitting


and lace knitting


and sweater knitting


and I love them all.

J is for...

Jerseys


We're not really much of a sports house. No one watches much football or basketball. No one ever watches golf or baseball. Husband will watch tennis if it's a major tournament and someone he likes is playing.

Daughter and I, however, prefer hockey. Because her first experience with hockey was when the Red Wings won the Stanley cup last year, they are her favorite team. She's been asking for a hockey jersey for a while now, and on her birthday she finally got a Red Wings practice jersey with "Datsyuk" on the back. As far as I can figure, he's her favorite because she likes yelling his name: dot-SOOOOOOOOOK. (voice as low as you can get it on the second syllable, oo like zoo, not book.)

I like the Blackhawks because I live in Chicago. Also, they have a very good, very young team. In fact the captain of the team turned 21 on the same day I turned 41. When he attempted to grow a playoff beard, other members of the team were heard to call it "embarassing." So in honor of Johnny Towes (pronounced taves) I have a #19 jersey.

J is also for Jerseys because I couldn't think of anything else besides jeans, and though I wear them constantly during the cool and cold months, there's no way I'm taking a picture of that for the blog.

They'll Fit, Really

** Knitting Content **

I'm in the midst of making a pair of socks. I'm making them for a man, which in and of itself is a challenge. They don't really make yarn in "man" colors. I looked all over the internet to try and find something that a man would be willing to put on his feet. I finally settled on Socks that Rock in Shadow. The next hurdle is that all I know is the shoe size of the intended recipient. I don't have easy access to the feet in question, so I have to guess on number of stitches and such. Here's what I've got:


Sadly, that is my foot, and it fits me just fine. This leads me to believe that there is no way that this will be a comfortable fit for a 6 foot, 200 pound man. I may have to go back to the drawing board on these.