We've come a long way baby!

I loved this typewriter when i got it.  I thought it was so cool that is was portable and i could type anywhere i wanted, of course it was like lugging around a cinder block.  I am sure one of the first things i did when i got it was type a letter to my grandma who always sent me type written letters.  


Letters for you kids who have never written or received one, is a piece of paper with kind words written on it (usually) then it gets put into an envelope where you put the address of the recipient and a stamp followed by depositing it into a mail box and then several days later they received it in their mail box.

You've gotta kiss a lot of Toads!

This Toad would be a great catch even if he didn't turn into a Prince, if i heard the Carousel operator correctly i think he said this frog is valued at $250,000. Spent the day at Greenfield Village again watching Crystal sing and i caught several of the shows as well. But i loved the Carousel and because i really have a hard time going in circles the operator was kind enough to let me take a quick walk around and take photos before he started it.

Girls on a Boat

I haven't been this relaxed in years, but i guess that is what happens when you spend 6 hours floating on a raft in the middle of the lake.  About 20 of us lovely ladies spent the afternoon out in the middle of Muscamoot Bay on what surely was one of the most beautiful days of the year.

In keeping up with a life styles of the rich and famous type outing we had our own Captains who drove us and our tubes out there, anchored us and then picked us up.

Nature?

I am always looking to nature for interesting photos and i have always loved how the tendrils on some climbing plants curl up. In this case i automatically saw this one as a question mark on my cucumber plant today.

Bubbly Girl

Today's photo was shot out of pure desperation and low light as i felt time slipping away tonight.  What i liked best about if upon further inspection is that you can see my reflection in each bubble as i hung over them to shoot.

I gotta bounce!

Sometimes you just gotta bounce, if that is the case with you then feel free to contact the folks at Amazing Jump Jumps (link to follow as soon as their website is up) to book one of their Bounce units.  This is the Full Tilt and boasts a two sided obstacle course and a huge slide. Tell 'em i sent ya!

Date Night Serenade

In keeping with our monday night date tradition, cliff and i joined Tim & Sharon for dinner at Rojo at Partridge Creek.  I absolutely loved the atmosphere and decor of the restaurant which included some painted bikes hung on a wall, red chandeliers a mural of the Tequila making process and two huge glass cabinets filled with many different varieties of Tequila and if that were not enough two delightful gentlemen came and sang at our table. My taco dinner was good but Rojo is not going to knock El Charro's off my list anytime soon. However if you are a Magarita lover then this place might be for you, they are served in fish bowl sized glasses.

Draught Buster!

What a welcome sight the rain was today, it was warm and came down so hard that within minutes the street at the end of the driveway began to flood.  Of course this brought out the kid in cliff and i and we went out to splash around in a puddle. I was starting to become concerned about the draught because our grass was looking more like a hay field and the garden and flowers in the backyard are starting to wilt and whither away.

New Friend

While up north i had an opportunity to make a new friend, Thomas, a delightful little boy with a lot of energy.  We played cars and he took some photos of his little brother with my camera.

Road Trip

Took a trip to Houghton Lake to take the Mother In Law home.  We had a photo session in the car and had some good laughs, one of which started when my M.I.L. exclaimed that she lost her crochet hook with such despair that I thought to myself it's not like if flew out onto I-75 i am sure it is in the two foot area your are sitting in.  Not to worry we found the crochet hook on the floor right at her feet. 


Don't you just the love light in the car when you are driving into the sun?

Airport

One of my favorite places to go is the airport, although i would rather go there for the purpose of traveling somewhere not working like i did today.  This is the Oakland County International Airport's new terminal.

Guitar Hero

As a lover of all instruments i couldn't resist the opportunity to take a photo of this guitar tonight.  If i were a super hero and i had to pick an instrument to wield it would be a guitar.

Eating and Shopping Frenzy

My mother in law is in town and that usually means we will be out shopping and of course eating.  White Castle is one of our usual stops when she is as they say up north, "down state".  

Also had to include this photo of the sky because i thought it looked so beautiful today.

The Aftermath

Ah, the dreaded bottle return.  Every great party comes to this point and ours was no exception.  At least the vacation fund grew a little bit bigger with this jackpot!

Flip Flop Fun!

Today was clean up day after the party so the house was full of people all day, when my nieces got there i thought it looked cool that all the girls had on different colored flip-flops!  Of course i had no trouble convincing them to take a photo. Upon further review this photo looks like a five footed monster.

Cameron's Grad Party!

Today was Cam's graduation party - and friends and family came from near and far to help up celebrate. The highlight of the party was a baseball game in which the kids challenged the "old men". Well the "old men" won but but i am not sure if the will be able to celebrate their win - most of them hit the ground as some point and they were all complaining about sore knee, hips, elbows and overall body aches.

From Apple to the Big Apple

Crystal and Chris, her friend from Apple, had an opportunity to hang out for an afternoon before he packs up and moves to the Big Apple!  Chris good luck as you take this next step in your journey. Take lots of photos!

Chris i love the Leica, can't wait to see the photos you took.

What a difference a day makes ....

or in this case eight years!  Like i said i was looking through old photos and i could not resist using this one as a Now & Then example like the shot from yesterday!  This is Cameron on his first day of school in the 3rd grade back in 2002 in the photo i am holding and that is him leaning against the door in the photo from today.

Dear Photograph

is the name of the website that inspired my photo today. About a month ago Crystal sent me the link to this website where people take a photo from an area and then take another photograph using the original in its previous location to create a Now & Then type photo. This original photo is from 2001 (so 10 years ago) and at the time we were landscaping the front of the house. It has gone through a few changes since then.


Don't be surprise if you see a few more of these as i have been going through old photos this week.


Check out the website at:   http://dearphotograph.com/

Ditch Lillies

If you have been out and about lately you have surely seen these Lillies on the side of the road and in peoples gardens.  I have always called these bright orange beauties Tiger Lillies but have heard many people refer to them as ditch lillies. I have some in my yard that could possibly be 100 years old, i transported them from our old house on North River Road and moved them from all the houses i have lived in up until now.

I am in love with these new birch trees i bought for the living room.  I needed some way to tie the two walls together because of our TV which we could not center on the wall. 


Thank you Sue Sue i could not have done it without your help!

I'm on a boat....

It has been some time since i had an opportunity to go out on a boat and hang in the sun all day, what a blast.  It was a little cramped i mean sheesh how many people can you really fit on a 42 foot boat!


photo 1 : Genene & Sue
photo 2 : Cliff took this one of me right as the wind caught my hair - just thought it was cool.
photo 3 : cliffie and the view in his glasses
photo 4 : Virginia still has it - that's right she can still do the splits - she probably won't be able to walk tomorrow, but today she is a rock star.
photo 5 : Cliffie coming out of the water
photo 6 : Tyler and Rob
photo 7 : and after we got home cliff saw smoke in the sky so i followed it to this fire near my house.

Grad party gone wild!

Dalton and his girlfriend ham it up for me at his grad party!

Obsession, Addiction or Collection?

Well, by definition all of the above!  Is love to strong of a word for an inanimate object, no, okay then i LOVE Converse!  Last night i picked up a new pair that were on clearance at Target (trifecta - Target, Clearance, Converse).  This makes 5 pairs in rotation and one pair retired - i would have saved the first pair to hang from my rear view mirror but as you all know i have big feet and that surely would have caused great bodily harm if i had to break hard and they swung off.  I am currently eyeballing a pair of Navy/Denim ones at Famous Footwear and if i ever win the lottery watch out Red, White & Blue Flag motif Converse you are mine.

Some of you may know about my Converse Project - i am photographing people in their Converse for a future blog/book or ad campaign LOL.


Have a pair of Converse and want to be photographed, let me know!