Catching Up

Yes, catching up, yet again. For the past three weeks I've been running around like crazy. After a sudden heatwave, we now have fall temps and the leaves on the trees are starting to change color. My favorite time of year.

So I will start with three weeks ago when I went up north with my friend Kristi and her friend Abbie who is probably my new friend. We started out at Spicer's Cider Mill. Got cider, fresh donuts, apple pie, and wine. Did I mention that this was a ladies getaway? Yeah... Then we went to Ossineke and saw the roadside attraction Jurassic Jesus, the one who protects the dinosaur park.

That's me in the green. And the next pic is of a postcard from the dinosaur park. We also got fudge from Joann's Fudge. Actually, I got truffles.

We then went to a small waterfall and onto Posen. We took a nice walk on the property and got pizza at the town's party store.

The next day we went to Mackinac City. We visited Fort Michilimackinac.

And this poor guy waiting for visitors to come around so he could talk to them. In the back you can see the Mighty Mac aka Mackinac Bridge over the Straights of Mackinac.

There were several large gardens (at the end of their days) that had to feed everyone in the fort.

My new new friend I met. We talked about costumes and costume books.

We left there and I went to Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. It was around closing time and I was part of the last group to go up into the lighthouse. 51 narrow steps and an 11-rung, eight-foot ladder through a narrow hatchway. I did it, I went all the way to the tower. So glad there were only 3 of us. Really got a chance to talk to the guide.

The original Fresnel lens is on display in the light keepers area. I also got a quick look at the Shipwreck Museum. Very interesting and continued my talk with the same guide. He was pleased when I started talking about Michigan shipwrecks and U-boats of WWII. It's really nice to talk to people who love and appreciate history and they don't make you feel bad if you don't know everything they know. I wish I had time to buy him a beer and just talk. So if you're ever up north in the lower peninsula of Michigan, go see the fort and lighthouse. The Mighty Mac and the Straights of Mackinac. The best time is off season. No crowds. A little on the chilly side but still very cool. The last thing we did before heading south was to have pasties for dinner. Yum. Pass-tees. Until next time.

Happy New Year!

Day 1, page 1.

2018. A new book in my life. Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. I got on the scale this morning and was back down to the weight I had before Halloween. Last year I wanted to lose 10 pounds. Well, I lost 12. That's a way to get a new year started. The beginning and end of last year threw me down a hole of dead fish and I struggled to make sense of things. But there were some nice points last year. Yes, I shall start to write down the nice times and events and personal progress. Last year I:

• Challenged myself to read 39 books and succeeded. I read for fun. My goal for this year is 45 books and include more non-fiction.
• Visited South Haven with a friend. I really like that town and saw a great lighthouse and went sailing on a sloop.
• Got in touch with two young ladies I used to take care of. It was a great reunion. This year we plan on seeing more of each other.
• Reconnected with a costume pal from university. My new partner-in-crime.
• Discovered the town's wonderful library.
• Designed new dolls that I will start creating this year.
• Got into an upcoming doll show in the spring.
• Got a part-time job.
• Went up north with new partner-in-crime, saw more lighthouses and finally visited Mackinac Island. That was fun.
• Made some new friends.
• Saw an old friend from high school.
• Bought myself a new light box for myself for Christmas.
• Wrote 4 new short stories that will be edited this year so I can find an e-zine for publication.
• Got new glasses. I can see!
• Finished NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) with 50,411 words. I will be participating again this year.
• Made my Halloween costume and wore it to a party. Got 4th place. 
• Went to Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween art show with partner-in-crime.
• Went to a teddy bear show with another friend.
• Went to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts) with a college friend who is one of my biggest cheerleaders. We sat in the Atrium and drank wine.

I'm sure there were a few other nice things, good things that happened but this year, I will write them down. Let's make that a thing to do in 2018. Let's remember the good things that happen to us and not give the bad things so much space in our heads. 

Have a great first day.

Mini Trip- South Haven

My friend Kellie wanted to go on a sailboat but she didn't want to go by herself so she invited me. It was very nice. I'd been to South Haven before on a lighthouse hunt but never stopped long enough to do anything. Year round population of about 4,000, it's a nice little town on the Black River which leads right out into Lake Michigan. The sand on the beaches is so fine, almost like powder. We went to the Maritime Museum, The Cultural Arts Center, of course the lighthouse, several shops, and restaurant. We took along food to eat for lunch and a dinner. We had one lunch in a local park. The weather was great. So here's a look at South Haven, Michigan.

This is the sloop Friendship Goodwill we went on. I had good sea legs considering the wind died down and we only got up to about 6 knots. But it was beautiful out on the lake. It is a working ship through the Maritime Museum and anyone can sign up to work on it.

This is the second pier out into the lake. We were sitting on the pier with the lighthouse watching the sunset. It's a beautiful little town and I'm sure I'll go back. There were so many things going on; The Blueberry Festival was this weekend. We tried Blueberry Soda and it was actually blue and quite good. Their farmer's market is on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was crowded on Wednesday.

Grateful

I'm so grateful I live in an area that boasts many things to do. I went to a free gelli print demo at Enchanted Cottage yesterday. Very cool. But I had to hold back. I can't do everything, even though I'd like to. I really like the Copic markers and will save up for more of those. I will be going to the local art museum soon to see an Ansel Adams exhibit. There's a small fee for that one but that's okay. I'm planning on not missing that.

My quilt guild's guest quilter was Judy Lilly. Oh my! What a wonderful lady and quilter. She does landscape quilts that look like paintings. Some of her pieces were painted and then stitched. Truly amazing. I didn't attend her workshop but I was able to ask her questions and she was kind enough to answer them. She said that she could see the wheels turning in my head. I had to laugh. These are the best pics.

Close up of pic below.

This one, the flowers were painted and then stitched around. Judy told me what paint she used, Pro Fab fabric paint from Pro Chemical Company. I will have to check them out.

I liked her story. She started out as a painter and also was a quilter. She was looking at a painting she had begun, then all the fabric that she had and wondered why she didn't make a painting with the fabric. She said she never finished that painting. Wow! And she's very prolific. She said it can take from one month up to three to do a quilt. And they are wall hanging size.  http://www.judylillyartquilts.com/

#artquilt #landscapequilt #judylilly