Quirky Observations

As my regular Followers/readers know, I do some series now and then amongst all my photography blogposts. I sometimes do Local Police Reports, sometimes I do Useless Facts and Trivia and other times, I do Dumb State Laws.

I don't do them on specific days of the week, I just mix those "regulars" in now and then so that those people who do not like all photographs will get some relief now and then.

So, laying in bed the other night, unable to sleep, I thought of another regular series I might be able to do. Some other bloggers call theirs "Random Thoughts".

Me?

I thought of calling my similar series: Quirky Observations.

I love the word "quirky". (Because that's how I roll).

Webster's Dictionary defines quirk as:

" quick turn or twist. Oddity of character. Having sudden turns, tricky, difficult. (Origin unknown.)"

That is it!

My random thoughts are definitely going to be quirky to others.

So, lucky you...here is the first in my series of "Quirky Observations".

What was I thinking of in bed when I couldn't sleep that was quirky?:

(Slow drum roll..please....................pa dum ta dum dum):

Liverwurst!

"WHAT??", you say???

You heard me! (Don't pretend you didn't, I KNOW you did!).

Yep.

Liverwurst.

What in the hell IS it?

Well, Webster defines it as:

"a sausage containing ground pork liver".

My next quirky thoughts were: Who on earth EATS LIVERWURST??

From what I remember, it is this grey mystery meat wrapped in a casing. It is soft and is an oozy spread inside the casing, that has the consistency of toejams and smells about as awful.

Well, I remember my mom eating some. With MUSTARD on bread. Quite frequently.

Are you gagging yet??

I'll wait.

There.

Are you SURE you are done gagging yet?

Ok, I will wait some more....

But to tell you the truth, I have not seen anyone else eat it in my entire life except my mom (and I think my Dad did too).

Ever.

Nor have I seen any in a store lately.

(Not that I have looked.)

I could have walked right by it in the supermarket and subliminally avoided it altogether.

Because my parents ate it and it totally grossed me out.

Did I mention that my parents ate it yet?

Maybe they kissed me goodnight and accidently burped and a little of the mustardy liverwurst smell escaped at the wrong moment, scarring me forever. I don't know.

But I have decided, that It HAS to be THE reason why I need therapy and haven't pursued it yet....

Yup. Liverwurst is the culprit.

Now, what do you think the Therapist will make of THAT one???

Perhaps they will chart: "Patient reveals traumatic event related to quirky liverwurst incident in childhood." "This one is going to be a challenge." "Note to self: schedule frequent sessions with this one."

If you don't return to my blog, EVER..after reading this first of my series of my personal quirky thoughts, I would understand perfectly.

Really I would.

But if you DO return. Just don't say the "L" word.

I haven't had enough sessions yet.....

Hawks and Hares and Oh My!...

Over the last month, we have been very lucky spotting ducks, eagles and other birds on our lake and around the U.P.

This weekend, we spied our first hawk, right on the side of the highway. I didn't think he would stay long enough for me to get a photo, but he just stood in the tree:

Here is a close up of him!

Isn't he pretty?

The sun was shining very bright on him, so the picture quality isn't too great with it reflecting it off all of his white chest:

In addition to seeing my first hawk to photograph,

about a month ago, when we were in the middle of the woods, we rounded a corner with the truck, and there was a rabbit nibbling on some grass.

He didn't seem to notice us at first:

But then the "lightbulb" went off.

He seemed to notice quickly that he wasn't alone:

But he played coy. He just slowwwwwly turned around

so that his body was facing me and my camera.

As soon as this photo was taken he quickly jumped off into the woods:

I couldn' t believe I caught him on camera.

Because rabbits in the woods are not tame like in neighborhoods where they nibble on people's gardens. They are pretty shy, and rarely seen. Many people up here hunt them with dogs to track their scent. I always feel bad for the rabbits when this occurs.


And then besides Hawks and Hares, I got another surprise this past weekend.

We went up to Lake Medora, near Copper Harbor to my brother's cabin.

He took us for a great boat ride on his beautiful lake (I will post those pictures on a future date) and while out on the water, we saw THIS:

I was so thrilled to see ANOTHER loon.

If you remember my posts on Arflin Lake about a week ago, you know that it was my hope to catch a loon someday on camera and finally got the chance there.

Now, to see another LOON within such a short timeframe on Medora Lake??

Let's just say...it MADE my day!

Here is another shot of the beautiful loon:

We didn't want to bother him very long while he was diving for fish.

He was the only lone loon we saw while out there.

My brother said he has seen a few this summer while out fishing on his lake.

Bet you can't guess where I will be revisiting again soon????

Because I am feeling a little looney.

Portage Entry!

Back in late August, we had the pleasure of taking a trip towards the tip of the Upper Peninsula and on our way, we stopped at a place called Portage Entry.

It is a long strip of dredged out water so that large boats can find shelter during bad weather on Lake Superior.

I don't believe I have posted these photos of Portage Entry for you before now, so before I REALLY get behind on my blog post photos, I decided to post them today for you.

Hopefully, your computer sceen is large enough to see the entire other side

of Portage
Entry and the lighthouse to the right of this photo:

There were tons of water wild flowers that I was not familiar with along the sides of the Portage.

Here is a little purple cone shaped one I really liked:

And another deep purple wildflower which I don't know the name of.

If there are any experts out there that want to tell us its name, that would be great!:

This sailboat was across from us on the Portage. I thought the whole shoreline was so picturesque!:

I probably posted this one already on another post, but I loved these spiked wildflowers that were there. There were bees everywhere on them!:

I just loved this lighthouse way on the end

of the opposite shore from us:

Another shot of those purple cone shaped water flowers:

Right when we got to the Portage, there was this old, antique boat at the first

boat tieup spot.

I loved it!:

All along the walkway were these huge bright orange tie up spots for the large boats to tie up to. I loved the rusty chains on one of them:

I could just imagine that old boat on the big roller waves on Lake Superior, water splashing over the top of the boat!:

We have lived in the U.P. for years and have never stopped to look at Portage Entry and we really enjoyed looking at the lighthouse, boat, and the many wildflowers growing in the bushes and along the waterway.

I hope you got a glimpse of its beauty from my post today.

You are Such a Turkey!!

When we took our trip to Kenosha to see our grandchildren, we saw a few things on the highway which of course, I had to take pictures of.

We hadn't gone 30 miles and we saw a group of wild turkeys on the highway.

I had my husband turn the car around to see if I could get pictures.

There was a large group of them along the roadway, and I was sure by the time I got there, the traffic would have scared them away.

So I slipped out of the car and they were indeed heading away from us, but I caught this:

They quickly scurried to the woods, without turning around.

Oh well, I thought...at least I got their behinds in a picture!

So we drove about 40 more miles, and low and behold, there was another grouping of them!

This time I tried to walk from further away from the car.

I finally got a close up of one:

Although it is a little less crisp, I have made it a bit bigger for you to see it:

It quickly ran into the woods.

See it on the right side of this picture?:

But its partner was still curious.

She was looking at ME, thinking: "I wonder what SHE would taste like with stuffing?":


She added: "Probably tastes like chicken!:

"I think I will go find my Julia Child's gourmet cookbook!":

"Oh, and maybe pick some flowers, for the centerpiece!?":

Don't quote me...

but I think she found the section

on turkey recipes, instead.

That explains why I didn't see them again.....

It IS only a few months from Thanksgiving, you know..............

Ten Things NOT to do if you are a Woman and it is your Fifty-Something Birthday!!

Yay! Its my (ahem) fifty-seventh something birthday today.

So of course, like all old , wise women, I decided to share some birthday insights with all of you.

I know you can't wait.

All my Followers that have read me for a while, know that I love to make "TOP TEN" lists, and since I haven't done one in a long time, I decided to bore you to death with do it today.

TOP TEN THINGS NOT TO DO ON YOUR BIRTHDAY
IF YOU ARE A WOMAN
OVER 50

1. Do not have a mirror in your bedroom. Anywhere. If you can still see, it will ruin your happiness so much that you want to commit suicide self esteem. If you can't see, it will scare the bejeesus out of you when you get up those many, many times to have your one thousandth hot flash and scratch that itch that won't go away go pee.

2. Do not wear short socks at any time. Not only does it make you look like you should be wearing a poodle skirt and loafers and playing hopscotch if you were still able to physically hop , but you can't bend over (no matter how hard you try!!) to put them on, and it will depress you even more.

3. Are you still wearing pantyhose??? Get WITH it, Granny....it is out of fashion. Burn them!! (Or dust with them, they work fantastic cleaning window blinds and fans!) (and if they are white pantyhose, you are BEYOND help, just go fill out your application for THE HOME).

4. Do NOT get a drastic haircut. Or a perm. All old ladies get Kate Plus 8 haircuts and think it makes them younger. Nope. Just makes you look like a wrinkled Kate. And the perms? Only if you want to be a stinky poodle. But DO color your hair. I am so sick of women who think it looks "natural". It does not. It looks old and gray and makes you look older than your ancient self. If you insist on keeping it gray...then wear that pantyhose over your head. (Just don't go into any banks).

5. For God's sake, if you are 50+, do NOT wear low I-see-your-butt-crack- in -whatever position -you-are-in cut jeans or any clothing that exposes your ancient belly. That includes your swimsuit. I don't care if you are anorexic or work out 10 hours a day and you can bounce basketballs off your abs....your belly's had its heyday and wants clothing on it. Less is NOT more in clothing for you. And stop buying those ridiculous clothes in the Junior's section, for the Love of GOD.

6. Buy an industrial strength bra. Run, do not walk and get one NOW. I don't care if you have pancakes for breasts...the frying pan was on an uneven stovetop and baby, they have shifted. And please do not shove them into those pushup hooker bras and have a shelf of flesh wobbling on top of the lace. Those wobbling cleavages have hairline wrinkles that look worse than elephant skin. Oh, and another thing: put on a camisole under those V-necks so we don't have to look at it.

7. And panties? Ok. Don't wear old lady bloomers. But for everyone else's sake, PLEASE do not wear thongs. You are gonna get back spasms from pulling out that baby from the Grand Tetons of your ass, and how are you going to explain THAT to the cute 30-something E.R. Doc?

8. If you are eating the same thing for breakfast like oatmeal or bran cereal: I know who you are! everyday and getting up before 8 a.m. when you don't have to, and then get upset that other people in your life like to sleep in, congratulations, you are officially OLD and cranky . Face it, you have become your mother.

9. If you have calloused heels and bunions the size of golf balls, not to mention yellowish, brittle toenails, oh please oh please do NOT wear sandals or open toe shoes! Do not expose us to that horror. And forget about wearing high heels. People will be holding their breath as you wobble past them. You are one step away from breaking your hip if you wear those babies.

10. Please, I beg of you....do not tell others about what it was like when you were a kid. Do not send them e-mails that talk about being born before microwaves and cellphones and that list the old sitcoms and movies that you remember like I LOVE LUCY and Rawhide. Most others that are ancient old like you probably got 50 of the same emails and the ones that are younger than you don't give a shit and won't know what in the hell you are talking about, and laugh behind your back confirm that you are indeed: OLD!!

******************************************************************************************
I have more than 10 of these lectures wisdoms, but let's save them for NEXT year, if I live that long, because DAMN! I am old say right around Sept. 5th, shall we????

Autumn Carp River Gardens: Part Two

As promised, I am posting today the second half of some of the photos I took this week at the Carp River Botanical Gardens. The grounds are breathtaking, set in a valley of pines. The Master Gardener has set up three waterfalls and several flower beds which bloom continually from May to October.

Here is one of the lovely waterfalls you can see at the Gardens:

Loved this peach colored Dahlia!:

And, there isn't a Lily yet that I don't love:

Isn't this color the epitomy of Autumn?:

I have never seen this variety before..see the light pink outside and dark pink folded in the petals? It was amazing!:

Foxglove!: (Can't wait to plant the seeds I got from fellow blogger Tatyana to see if they come up in my garden next year!):

What a rose!:

More shots of his freckled lilies.... I took several of them!:

I just missed a bee in these!:

I thought of fireworks everytime I saw one of his two-toned dahlias!:

I had to end the post with this super closeup of the freckled lily!

Can you smell it???

It was heavenly!:

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone!!

Enjoy and savor one of the last wonderful weekends of summer

and

celebrate the beginning of Autumn!

Autumn visit to Carp River Gardens: Part One

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted much this week. We went out of the town for the weekend to visit the grandkids, so I prepublished some blog posts for you, but then I got back and got really busy.

We had some company the last few days, so today I decided I better get busy and at least post a few blogposts for you before the weekend comes, as we have plans for then, too.

My regular Followers/readers will remember that last spring I took a perennial gardening class from the Master Gardener at Carp River Gardens, and that I posted some pictures of his beautiful spring garden.

I didn't get back out there to take summer flower pictures, but I did go out yesterday to visit his autumn garden. As expected, it was spectacular and full of fall blooms. Since I am new at this, I don't know the names of all the flowers that I took photos of, but have them below for your enjoyment. He had quite a variety of Zinnias, roses, dahlias, bee balm and cosmos still blooming in his garden. We have had a very cold summer here this summer, so he mentioned that some flowers that are blooming now are late due to this.

I took so many pictures, that I will group them into two blogposts for you, the first one being this one.

If you have a blog and haven't gotten comments from me, it is because I haven't had a chance to catch up on my reading over the last 5 days...but I will stop by your blogs soon to catch up with you.

And Tatyana, I received your flower seeds yesterday..thanks SOOOO much!

On to the flower show!!:

This trellis is on your left as soon as you enter the gardens.

It has clematis and roses on it:

This bright pink really jumps out at you, especially this time of year:

I loved this white lily with the pink freckles!:

This grouping was so bright in the sun:

He said the hummingbirds and butterflies loved this red bee balm, but when we were there, the bees liked them more!:

I loved how the sun was striking this one:

Nice to see this white dahlia amongst the colored flowers:

I love Tiger Lilies!:

Dark pink Foxglove!:

I loved how the edgesof these look like they were dipped in orange:

Hope you enjoyed the flower show!

I will post the second set of flower photographs

during my next posting.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

I have missed reading everyone else's blogs every day

during this busy time.

But, I will be back to routine before we know it.

Here, we are having wonderful warm autumn weather,

so we are outside going here and there and trying

to take in as much as we can of the wonderful outdoors.