O is for...

Optimism

Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow at 3 Daughter and I will be driving to Indiana and one of the items on the agenda is to give a new mom a sweater for her new baby.


Yesterday, before I had the second sleeve started, I was a little concerned that this wasn't going to happen in time. Today I'm feeling fine, and even planning on putting on the optional hood. This is the Wonderful Wallaby made using Bernat Camoflage yarn. It's supposed to have a pocket on the front, but really, what newborn needs a pocket in her sweater?

After I finish the sweater this evening I can start to feel optimistic about having the house in some semblance of order before Mom and Dad get here on Saturday. Have I ever mentioned that the guest room is also the yarn storage room? And when it's been a while since we've had guests it starts to get a little... cluttered? And we haven't had guests since Christmas?

N is for...

New Shoes

This year I'll be running in the Morton Arboretum 5K run again. I'm hoping to do at least as well as I did last year. I got a late start on training, so we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

When I filled out the registration form, I asked Daughter if she wanted to run in the kids dash, which for her age group is a half mile. To my surprise, she said she'd like to. Since then she has been training, sort of. Every few days she goes out and runs around our block, which is close to a half mile. She's also mentioned that she would like to keep running so that she can run the whole 5K with me next year. After I regained consciousness, I figured that she should probably have some actual running shoes, rather than her super-cute school gym shoes.

We went to Dick Pond and the sales guy measured her foot, had her walk around in her socks so he could see how her foot hit the ground, then he earned my loyalty by first checking in the "Last year's model" bin. He found some nice ones that fit her well and were comfortable. I told her that it was OK that they weren't a color she really loved, and I managed to convince her that running shoes don't have to look nice. We got her shoes and as soon as we got home she put them on and went out to run around the block.

I figured if she had new shoes, it would also be sensible for me to get a pair to replace my old, beat up shoes. I went back and picked up a pair from another very helpful salesman who also started in the "Last year's model" bin. Mine ended up being one of this year's models, but they were still very reasonable. Both hers and mine are the same size. Daughter finds this terribly exciting, as it means it will be no time at all before she can steal my shoes.



Here's the irony of the situation. My shoes are the ones on the left. The purple ones. Daughter's favorite color.

M is for...

Mantis on My Mailbox





This is the second praying mantis I've ever seen in real life. The other one was on our front porch last year. Maybe it's the same one?

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.