Storm Tree

I spent many hours resting beneath the shelter of this great tree, near Proud Lake State Park. Imagine my shock when I saw it after an absence of several years. Even in death it retains its majesty.

Click here for a larger view.

Mother's Day Bouquet

My parents are still very much in love. My father regularly tells my mother, "The day I met you was the luckiest day of my life." My mother replies, "You made me laugh." She laughed and kissed him when she received these roses from him on Mother's Day.

Eat Here Get Gas

I had a good laugh when I saw this sign along an Indiana highway yesterday. For one mad moment I considered stopping there for lunch. It was no surprise that they were out of business.

Wandering Indiana

I'm back on the road again, this time wandering Indiana. Van was in need of a check-up so I took him to see the friendly Sportsmobile dealer in Huntington. He had a defective propane gas detector which I swear was possessed. The detector would go off intermittently, but only during the middle of the night when I was sound asleep. I put up with it for several months until one night I couldn't take it any longer. In a crazed stupor, I took a pair of wire cutters and crawled on my belly under my bed in an attempt to stop the incessant beeping. The detector was mounted high enough, in the tiny space under my bed, that my bifocals were useless. I managed to stop the flashing light, but the evil alarm kept on beeping. It wasn't until morning and after I'd had my first cup of coffee, that I realized I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I'd just pulled its fuse out.

Van now has a new detector and the propane system was checked out and given the ok, so I hope to sleep soundly tonight. The day has been cold, windy and gray, but I'm staying in a state park with electricity, so the night should be warm and cozy...and quiet.

As I drove over the Salamonie Dam this afternoon I stopped to take a few pictures of the view--- a study in shades of brown.

420 Characters # 4---The temperatures were in the twenties

The temperatures were in the twenties, but the sun was warm. If it hadn't been February, I would have said that spring had arrived. I was out for a ramble at one of my favorite parks: Proud Lake Recreation Area, in Commerce Township, Michigan. My family and I camped here when I was a kid and as a 6th grader, I spent a snowy week here at science camp. Today, when I searched for signs of spring, I found pussy willows.

420 Characters #3---The Sweetest Valentine

The Sweetest Valentine, I Want To Be Your Cutie---She stuck the tiny stickers on endless mandarins, the same stickers she'd once cursed while sifting garden compost in the summer. Summer seemed far away from the refrigerated warehouse where she packaged produce twelve hours a day. Fresh fruit wasn't in her budget, but the kids didn't mind the canned seconds from Krogers. $7.20 an hour wasn't much but it beat welfare.

420 Characters #2---Rebecca Kneeled

Rebecca kneeled on the dusty floor of the storefront window, tightly rolling the cotton batting into a giant, snowy jellyroll that reminded her of the breakfast she'd skipped that morning. As she jammed it into the black storage bag, she hoped she'd be in Saskatchewan by next winter---she was sick of fake snow. She vacuumed the remaining cotton fuzz off of the floor and wondered if Tim Hortons still sold maple bars.