Detroit Zoo and a Week of Vacation

I just had a week off of work and enjoyed quite a bit of that time with my family.  Charlie had to work so I took my mom to Detroit for a couple of nights.  We spent one day at IKEA (I'm in love!) and the other we went to the Detroit Zoo.  It was incredibly hot, and we were disappointed that most of the animals were not visible because they were trying to keep cool.  We did enjoy the creatures we could see though and had a good, exhausting time.

They had a butterfly garden (not as big as the one they sometimes have at Frederick Meijer Botanical Gardens)

They had a nice bird exhibit -- there were some birds there I had never heard of.

Some tired, hot animals.

They had peacocks, but we had more fun looking at the pea-hens and chicks that ran around freely.

We were really looking forward to the arctic circle exhibit.  There is a tunnel under water and the polar bear swims around so you can get a close-up view.  Well, the seals were having fun swimming, but the polar bear would have nothing to do with it.  

We were very exhausted after walking all over the place.  Probably because we spent 3 1/2 hours walking around IKEA the day before.  Did I mention that I love that place?
After the two days in Detroit, we headed home to my place and relaxed.  We went to the coffee shop and a few stores in Frankenmuth before Mom headed home.  Then, the next day I headed to her place.  I spent an afternoon with my grandma, making our favorite veggie soup (to freeze for easy lunches).  I helped her get her Super-8 projector up and running -- and was able to watch a vacation movie from 1966.  We have many more to check out in the future.
Mom and I also made a quick drive out to Spring Lake, MI to visit Lake Michigan.  It doesn't feel like summer to me if I don't visit the big lake at least once.  I didn't get my feet wet, but we walked the fisherman's pier and enjoyed the lake air.
This weekend, Charlie and I have just been chilling out and watching the olympics.  Tomorrow I head back to work.  It is always rough after a good vacation, but it'll only take me a day to get back into the swing of things.

Tetons, Yellowstone, and Little Bighorn -- the Last Batch of Vacation Photos

This is the last batch of vacation photos that I am going to post.  Enjoy...

Just east of the Grand Tetons

View of a Glacier

A view just north of the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful

The effects of fire

Wyoming was a beautiful state -- this was shot as we were leaving and entering Montana

Wide open spaces, awesome wildlife!

We took a back road -- desolate and beautiful

Buzzards - catching some rays

Finally, we visited Little Bighorn.  So full of history you can almost hear an echo of the battle.

Native American encampment area at Little Bighorn.

You can click on any of the photos to get a larger view of the details.  I know a lot of people compress their images or add watermarks to their images to prevent theft.  I don't compress mine very much.  Perhaps I should, but I tend to trust most people not to steal my photography.  If you want to use one for something, just ask me.

Anyway, we've been back from vacation for a couple of weeks now.  I'm getting used to my new position at my company.  It is VERY fast paced and the day just flies by.  Things are still new to me and I can't wait to feel comfortable with my daily tasks.  

It is almost 9:30 PM and I am thinking about going to bed.  4:30 AM comes quickly and I need to be well-rested.  I have some nice Autumn photos to post this week and I want to show you how I am putting up the harvest.  

Vacation Photos - Part 2. Some of my favorites

The day we spent exploring the Grand Tetons, smoke was thick in the air.  The smoke came from control fires that had been lit nearby.  I'm really happy with the resulting photographs though.  We kept running into photographers with their tri-pods and huge lenses that were complaining about the smoke, but you gotta roll with it -- use it to your advantage, ya know?  The mountains were breathtaking!  These photos hardly do them justice... 

Vacation Photos, Part 1

As promised, I have some photos to share from our vacation "Out West".  I'll be posting them over the next several days.  I hope you enjoy them.  This first batch is heading from East to West through Nebraska and Wyoming.

Ripe

Here is a look at what I have been pulling out of my garden lately and a bit of good news I'd like to share.  Things are finally starting to ripen.

I have a plethora of tomato varieties this year with different colors and flavors.  Green zebra, pink brandywine, white currant, etc.  They are like the jewels of the garden.
This year I haven't had success with my zucchini at all but the yellow summer squash and patty pan squash are doing great!  I've also had a few "volunteer" squash plants growing out of the compost pile.  The plants on the compost pile are going insane!  Leaves that are bigger than dinner plates on waist high stems!

This year I tried a few items I've never grown before.  Sweet corn is one of them.  I need to get the corn in the ground earlier next year, but I've been able to pick a couple of ears so far.  I also tried planting broom corn and have had incredible luck with that.  My intentions are to use it for fall decorations then feed it to the chickens (they already got one stalk that broke in a rainstorm.  They loved it!).
I had some amazing results with the okra I planted and Charlie and I ate fried okra this week.  Yum!  Soon I will post some photos of the unusual plants I grew this year and discuss some of the failures I've had as well.

I know I have been neglecting this blog lately and I apologize for the lack of updates.  I have had something else the has had my attention this month that is very exciting to me -- another thing coming to ripeness...
If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you have probably noticed that I don't talk about my job very much.  I really believe that talking about work in a public manor is not usually very beneficial.  On this occasion, I am going to break my own policy because I am very excited and want to share my joy with you.

For those that didn't know, I have worked in the Customer Service Department for a large utility provider in Michigan for the last 6 years.  I am very blessed to have had steady employment during this time since Michigan is really having a rough time with it's economy right now.  In fact, we have had a lot of overtime for the last 3+ years and the paychecks have been really nice.  The job I have can be very stressful though and I was really starting to feel discontented in that position -- I needed more of a challenge.
So, for the past few years I have been waiting for the right position to open up elsewhere in the company so I could apply for it.  Finally, the department that I wanted to get into had an opening and I applied for it.  I managed to get an interview that was scheduled last Monday.  That is why I only have one blog post in August before this one -- I've been prepping for the interview in my spare time and brushing up on some of the computer programs they use in that department.  The interview was intense!  Five people sat in on the interview - which lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
Anyway, to make a long story short, on Thursday I was notified that I got the position!!!  I will be in a scheduling department which will involve a lot of technical skills (like reading prints) mixed with customer service skills (interacting with a variety of departments).  I'm sure there will still be overtime involved in this position, however the shift is earlier than the one I have now so I will be getting out of work earlier.  I will be working in the same building as before so I will still have contact with all of my dear friends I have made over the years.  Oh, and the people in the scheduling department are nice as can be and I already love my new boss.  I really am lucky and I'm happy that all of the hard work I have put into this company has finally ripened into something I could call a career!
So, I have a couple more weeks before I make the transition.  Then Charlie and I are going on vacation at the end of September (I hated even bringing up the vacation we had scheduled when I was hired - but it didn't end up being a problem at all).  Charlie and I are going to go on a road trip but we are still determining which way we want to go.  We were thinking of heading westward to see what we could see -- toward the Badlands or the wild west.  I'd be happy heading east though too -- to Vermont and Maine and to see the ocean again.  Does anyone have any suggestions for a good road trip starting in Michigan and lasting about a week?

Vacation with Mom

My wonderful 2 week vacation is almost over.  It went so quickly!  Here are some photos I shot while my mother and I went out together on Monday and Tuesday.  On Monday, we went to the Lake Michigan shore and into Saugatuck, MI.  We also went to a large winery in Fennville.  

On Tuesday we went to Shipshewana in Indiana.  If you are not familiar with it, there is a large amish community there.  We drove through the countryside and also went to several stores.  Oh, and we even went to an amish garage sale.  

On Wednesday, Mom had set up a surprise for me in the AM for my birthday.  Then we spent some time with my grandma at the craft store and getting coffee.  We had my favorite pizza for dinner.  It was a nice birthday.  I spent an extra night so that I could go out for coffee with my dad the next day.
Thursday I spent the day in the garden planting all of the perennials that Mom had sent home with me from her own garden.  The sun coaxed some freckles out.  Friday I ran some errands and yesterday I spent most of the day making strawberry freezer jam.  So far, today, nothing is going on.  I'm going to persuade Charlie to take me to a movie and celebrate my birthday (belated) today.  Then back to work tomorrow.  This vacation has me dreaming more and more about how to become self-employed... any ideas for me?

Trip to the U.P.

Charlie and I went to the Upper Peninsula this week for our vacation.  We went there on our honeymoon 5 years ago.  We celebrated our anniversary this week.  I thought I would include some of the photos I shot while driving around.  

We decided someday we would have a place in the U.P. -- even if it looks like this.  

We were driving down this road and saw a baby black bear tearing into a rotten log.  He ran away before I could get a photograph.  We never saw the mama.  

Wildflowers were everywhere.

This is Lake Huron -- we drove the long way home so we could drive along the lakeshore.  We didn't want the trip to end.  

Birthday Weekend

Charlie and I had a 4 day weekend to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday.  It went by way too quickly, but we had a good time.  We headed "Up North" (a term Michiganders use to describe anywhere in the northern lower peninsula or anywhere in the upper peninsula - usually it involves a large body of water or campfires - or sometimes watching the black bears at a garbage dump).

We spent a little time in Traverse City.....

We went to Manistee.  Then we hit a beach in Ludington.  The Ludington beach is my favorite in Michigan.  It has clean white sand, shallow water to wade in, has free access along the road to the state park, and if you go on a weekday, it isn't very busy.

We also went to Grand Rapids to visit my family for a Birthday dinner.  Mom and I assembled the veggie skewers and Dad was the grill master.  He asked how I always manage to get photos of him cooking -- to which I don't have a good answer.  I suppose because we both have a fondness of cooking and coming up with new recipes.  The chicken he made had been marinated in lemon-lime soda pop!  Charlie says it was quite good.

Anyway, it was a nice visit - albeit a bit rushed.  We also swung out to the Quiggle Farm for a quick visit.  Jen hooked me up with some new plants (to replace the dead ones in my garden).  They got planted on Tuesday and fill up the holes in my garden perfectly.  I didn't get to see another good friend of mine like I had hoped.  We just ran out of time.  Luckily I have a week off in July so I can spend more time with my peeps.

Much needed change of scenery

Mom and I took a vacation together this past week and I'd like to share a bit about it.  We had a marvelous time!  We went to the Traverse City, Michigan area and stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast near Torch Lake.  Most of our time was spent cruising around in Mom's convertible.  The weather was awesome staying mostly sunny and in the mid 70's.  I even got a little suntan on my face -- not bad for late September.  

The first image is of a little dirt road we took.  We love exploring -- especially in Mom's convertible.  

We spent some time wading in Torch Lake at this little beach.  It is supposed to be the third most beautiful lake in the world (I wonder where the 1st and 2nd place lakes are).  It was nice, but Lake Michigan is still my favorite.

We drove out on Old Mission Peninsula (just North of Traverse City).  It is one the most scenic drives I have ever been on.  It is covered in apple and cherry orchards and numerous vineyards all over the rolling hills.  Beyond that you have a great view of the bay.  

We stopped at a few wineries and sampled plenty of amazing wines.  In fact, besides one piece of artwork that I couldn't pass up, the only things I bought on vacation were fancy foodstuffs.  I got 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of cherry port, a local cheese, chocolate covered dried cherries, pear preserves, pumpkin butter, and hot masala (indian spice) chocolate.

We did much more than that, but I think you get the idea of how pleasant and relaxing our vacation together was.  I'm so happy that Mom and I have such a good relationship with each other.