It's a Duck's Life

I am at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando attending a conference. It is a lovely accommodation. Its cache is the famous Peabody ducks. The duck logo can be found everywhere including on the toilet paper. There is duck shaped soap and duck shaped butter. And, there are real ducks that reside here. It goes back to a tradition at the first hotel in Memphis. Anyway, there are 6 mallard ducks that spend the day in a marble fountain in one of the marble lobbies and then spend the night in their "duck castle" (a big cage) located on one of the hotel's verandas. They live a very safe and pampered life. No stress, no troubles but they never get to fly. All they do is waddle from the fountain in the morning and then back to the castle in the evening where food awaits. They never fly, they never migrate, they never live fully as ducks.

So the question becomes for each of us - do we waddle in safety or do we fly in freedom?

Pirate Robie

Yesterday, my daughter Lisa decided to get a Halloween costume for her cat, Robie. Hence, Pirate Robie. We had a bet that she couldn't get the hat on the cat.  I lost the bet, but got some amusing photos. Oh, the joy of win-win situations!

Clouds in Paradise

Admittedly, it was not the best weather this past weekend at Glen Lake in northern Michigan, but the fresh air, blustery wind and spectacular beauty always brings joy to my heart. Here are a few shots of clouds looming over the lake.

The Candle Connection

As my Faithful Readers are aware, I am a supporter of HIS Home for Children, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. My father, Doug Hill, also supports HIS Home by making birch candles. He cuts the branches of a birch tree (no live trees are harmed) into 2 to 6 inches lengths. He then drills a hole into one end and inserts a tea light. I then sell them at bazaars and the proceeds go to HIS Home. The other day Jerry Solem, woodwooker extraordinaire of Empire, Michigan, offered some of his birch logs to The Cause. The first 2 photos are of Jerry cutting the logs into mini-van transportable size. The third photo is of Dad with some of his works in progress. Then there are a couple of finished candles for your viewing pleasure.

I love the human connectivity of this process, where trees grow Up North in Michigan, the wood is gathered, Dad spends time in his shop crafting them, I drive them to Chicagoland and get them sold, and then the money is sent to the US HIS Home headquarters in Lima, Ohio where it then is transferred to meet the needs of over 100 children in the Carribean.  Ultimately, the glow of these candles touch hundreds and hundreds of people.  This is joy in action.

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

This evening my parents (Helen and Doug Hill) and I took a drive on the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes scenic drive. It's the easy way to get to the top of the dunes (rather than climbing up on foot). It was a pleasant evening with pure air and lovely views of Glen Lake and Lake Michigan.

I've heard that a week or so ago that Good Morning America named the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore the most beautiful spot in America. Of course, we've known this all along.

Chuck also has a birthday

Chuck, an avid reader of this blog, has the same birthday (August 20th) as my mother. I would not be so forward as to mention his age, but he was born exactly 31 years after my mom. The folks in his unit decided to commemorate this special birthday with some thoughtful, creative and ever so empathetic decorating.  Happy Birthday, Chuck!

The Big Chill - July 2011

During the last week in July, my husband Mike and I flew to northern New Jersey for our annual Big Chill weekend with our high school buddies - woo hoo, George Washington High School Class of '73! Here are some photos from the weekend - no names will be mentioned to protect the guilty. We took a 90 minute NYC water taxi ride (great deal for $25), we saw a matinee of Jersey Boys (excellent show), did people watching at Times Square and ended the evening at Marie's Crisis, a piano bar  that specializes in Broadway showtunes - in the Village (I think).  The next day I was out walking amidst the New Jersey countryside and made the acquaitance of a goat. Thank you, Debbie and Bill, for hosting a wonderful weekend! What joy it is indeed to be able to spend time with such dear friends!

Birthday Blueberries

Today is my mother's birthday. I, of course, will not mention her age but we did have a fantastic surprise 80th birthday for her last year.  We started off the day by going blueberry picking near Honor, Michigan. Together we were able to pick 5 1/2 quarts in a little over a half hour. This particular blueberry patch was planted in 1953 by Cracker Baatz. I was amazed at the longevity of these plants. I snapped a few photos. The last one is of my mother, Helen Hill, holding our blueberry bounty. It's been a great day Up North.

Compassion

I've been reading "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown. Excellent reading.  Here's just one passage out of many from this book worth reflecting upon:

"The heart of compassion is really acceptance. The better we are at accepting ourselves and others, the more compassionate we become."

It does make a ton of sense When we are able to forgive and accept our own flawed but marvelous selves, then it becomes so much easier to forgive and accept the shortcomings of other. Why not? Life is just too short not to.

Wishing everyone a more compassionate day!

Zebra Mussels - Finding the Joy

I've been up with my parents at Glen Lake for the past three days. The weather has been warm and the lake has been fairly calm so I spent some time waging my ongoing war with zebra mussels. Zebra mussels are originally salt water inhabitants that hitched rides on ocean vessels up the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes. They are Nature's Perfect Filtration System and suck up algae and whatnot. They also like to clog up water intake pipes - both municipal water works and boat engines. About a dozen years ago some enterprising mussels found a way into Glen Lake - probably via a boat.

I have heard that each zebra mussel is capable of reproducing 80,000 little mussels. Given the exponental growth of these guys - there is hardly a rock or fresh water clam in the lake that does not already have at least one mussel attached to it. Each one with dreams of creating a mega colony or reef.

Basically, they irritate me. I'm having a hard time embracing the joy of these stupid mussels. I've made it one of my missions in life to keep a path from our beach through the shallow water out to the deep water ( about 300 feet) as clear of these mussels as possible. A zebra mussel-less channel for swimmers and boaters. The neighbors consider me a bit strange as I wade in the water pulling out rocks covered with mussels and dumping them on shore. People have pointed out to me that I will never be able to get totally rid of them. (Actually, it's fun to be the neighborhood eccentric.) It's probably inevitable that this invasion will cause a shift in the lake's eco-system. I have no idea what will happen, but I will continue to clear my aquatic path. I'm thinking that sometimes joy can be found in quixotic campaigns. Instead of tilting at windmills, we can tilt at zebra mussels.

Here's a photo of these varmints that I pulled out of the lake - I've included a fresh water clam shell to provide scale.

Beauty

When one is Up North in the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes area, one is just engulfed in natural beauty. As we rode our bikes this afternoon, we stopped by the Crystal River just north of Glen Arbor. We also rode over the bridge and saw all of the boats anchored by the drop off on the Big Glen side of the bridge with folks enjoying a beautiful afternoon on the water. We also said hello to a raccoon that was attempting to cross the road and hadn't gotten the memo that raccoons are supposed to be nocturnal creatures.

As I later surveyed the gardens at our cottage, I also was reflecting on the nature of beauty. With gardening, I like to spend the winter months strategizing garden designs - we'll call this planned beauty. However, sometimes Nature has other ideas and we get unplanned beauty. The planned beauty is very gratifying - see the photos of the lovely yellow evening primrose and the flower bed. But then there's the viola (johnny jump-up) that reseeded outside of the lake stone border. This was a beautiful surprise.

Bicycling Views

You know, it is true that once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget. So I have recently taken up bike riding again after a 25 year hiatus. I've been on a couple of 5 plus mile rides which have been great and I know that one of these days, my legs are no longer going to feel like jelly. Up here in Leelanau County the main drag - M22 - has bike lanes which makes the going a lot safer. Today Mike and I rode over to Glen Arbor and enjoyed the Lake Michigan views - toward Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, directly west toward N Manitou Island and north toward the Homestead. We also stopped at the narrows bridge at Glen Lake and admired the view of Sleeping Bear from across Little Glen Lake. What a wonderful day!

June Flowers

On the first Saturday in June, Mike and I spent a few hours photographing flowers around Joliet. The peonies are in the garden of Al and Kay Ray. We then drove over to Pilcher Park. These shots are taken on the grounds and within the conservatory.