The wedding of Erick's grand-nephew provided a prime opportunity to visit his family and a few of our friends in Michigan this month.
My first visit was a hike with with my friend Jane in the Nan Weston Nature Preserve south of our old home town of Chelsea.
(Click on a photo to see a larger version.)
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| If you support the Nature Conservancy, you can take some credit for this one. |
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Jane on the boardwalk over a marshy area on the trail.
Sun filtered through the leaves gave everything a green glow. |
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| Mill Pond at one edge of the Preserve |
The next day, I visited Chelsea Farmers Market in its new (to me) location. It was good to see it thriving. I knew I'd see friends and colleagues from my Chelsea Community Kitchen days there.
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| Suzanne who was on the CCK board with me, and Lisa at their booth |
Then a bit of shopping at Global Marketplace, one of my favorite stores.
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I was happy to see that the crane sculptures are
still around and sporting their unique outfits |
Lunch at Mike's Deli with friend George and dinner at Glenda and Rick's new place rounded out the day.
Sunday we drove to Tustin for Kyle and Sofia's wedding. There were lots of Erickson's - spanning four generations - to catch up with. I took so many pictures that I had to put them all in a separate folder online. (Just ask if you'd like to see them.)
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Us with the groom and bride
Photo by Kayleigh Green, Kyle's sister |
We visited Tustin again on Monday and spent some time in Cadillac walking around Lake Mitchell.
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| Eagle sculpture by the lake |
Tuesday, it was time to head back to Detroit Metro for the evening flight home. We were delighted to be able to spend some time with Carol and John at their home in Okemos on the way. Lunch, a tour of the gardens (wish I had unpacked my camera), and good conversation.
Now for the project - the indoor portion of repairing damage from the leaky roof (now history) over the front door. (Detail for DIYers; others may skip to the last couple of photos in this section.)
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| Damaged drywall area |
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| Damaged drywall above and to the right of the door removed |
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| New drywall patched in |
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| Drywall mudded |
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| Sanded and ready for texturizing |
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| Texturizing done |
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| Drywall repainted |
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| Putting the last piece of trim in place |
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| Inside repair finished! |
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| Inside |
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| Outside - repairs finished about a month ago |
And there were some "while we have the ladder out" side projects - painting the bottom of the trim along the upper railing, and sprucing up the bulk head leading to our living area.
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| Love that Frog Tape |
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| Bulkhead cleaned and re-stained |
Meanwhile, outdoors, Friends of the Montclair Railroad Trail board members met for some ad hoc thistle removal along a portion of the trail frequently used by kids from the nearby elementary school.
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| Thistle to be removed |
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Near the end of our hour and a half session -
two compost carts and three bags filled |
Flora:
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| Wedding day peonies - Tustin, Michigan |
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| Indian paint brush - Tustin, Michigan |
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| Added a Laelia to our orchid collection |
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Large poppy in the front yard - early June
California poppies and Oscularia in the background |
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| Native plant purchased at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens |
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| Monkey flower - back yard |
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Silver bush / cushion bush
Planted two years ago, blooming for the first time |
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| Succulents in bloom |
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Carnations (several year old plant) and 5 new geraniums for the balcony
Each geranium is a different variety selected for leaf and flower color |
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One of the at least 3 scrub jays that visit us to get peanuts
and will take them right out of our hands |
And to finish up:
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| Horse sculpture at Detroito Metro |
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| Wind sculpture in action in our front yard |
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| Mid-June sunset - canyon side |
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