Tag Archives: friends

Arch Rock, created slowly over time

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Arch Rock Mackinac Island, Michigan USA

We toured Mackinac (pronounced – mack-i-naw) Island in a horse drawn carriage Monday with friends. One of the stops along our tour was Arch Rock. Our tour guide shared the Ojibwe legends of a young woman whose tears slowly created the arch and another of how angry pileated woodpeckers slowly pecked away at the rock so a maiden could see the lake. But erosion, and science, explains the arch.

Mackinac is the Ojibwe word meaning ‘turtle’ as the island looks like a giant turtle shell emerging from Lake Huron. The Ojibwe were the Native American tribe which inhabited the island and the region long before Europeans explored and settled the region in the seventeenth century.

We had a wonderful time with our friends on Mackinac Island. They returned home yesterday while we helped our daughter move into her college apartment before the new term begins. Sometimes, I should simply stick to six words as Debbie from Travel with Intent suggests.

It’s Saturday and today is going to be an amazing day. After week with friends it is back to life andI have a long list of chores with all sorts of diversions possible. But I am going to try to stick to six words and make the day count. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, carving away at the to-do list. (My Saturday six words)

What are your six words for your Saturday? Or Sunday?  

My video of our trip to and from the island on the ferry.

W^2 – inspired

adventure, Challenges, history, travel, Weekly Photo Challenges, Wordless Wednesday, , , , ,

W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Inside Fort Zachary Taylor – Key West, Florida. Tuesday, March 29, 2022 3:46 PM

This week for my W^2 post, I have Fort Zachary Taylor and a quick post inspired by an innkeeper in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

My wife and I are on spring break with another couple. It’s our first BIG trip (not counting a visit to the lake house) alone, without children, since my brother’s wedding in the summer of 1997. Yesterday we drove west to Key West or Cayo Hueso which means in Spanish ‘bone island.’ It was a good day.

We parked the car at 9:30 AM and left after the sunset in Mallory Square. In between we packed the day with all sorts of things. We had fun, we enjoyed the sun, and there were a few things we left undone. My friend Jansen (aka Patricia) pointed out there is never enough time. But, while time is finite, we do our best to make those moments count, every last one of them.

One of the things we fit into our day was a trip to Fort Zachary Taylor which guarded the entrance to the harbor. It was part of America’s coastal defense system of the nineteenth century and constructed of brick and mortar.  I find it an interesting parallel that brick and mortar was old technology for military fortifications by the late nineteenth century and today, we are watching brick and mortar being eased out of date in the twenty-first century.

Yesterday, I crossed one thing off my ‘bucket list’ and it was an a amazing day. I know today is gonna follow in its footsteps. I know it and I can feel it, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, making the most of every day, all the time, or at least trying.

What is one thing you wanted to do on a vacation or trip that made your trip whole?

morning: a photo challenge

Family, Life in General, Weekly Photo Challenges, Writing, , , , ,

Saturday morning ….
It’s Saturday morning at the lake. The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and all is well. 
We have friends visiting for the weekend and last night we enjoyed a campfire as the moon and Jupiter set in the western sky. 

the western sky, the moon sets takong with it Jupiter, and the fire comes alive
Every morning is followed by a night; and it repeats day after day. What I do with the space in between makes the difference. The sun is rising and Earth is slowly waking up, as are our guests. It’s gonna be a great day. Making the Days Count, one day at a
time.

This post is inspired by the Word Press Weekly Photo Challenge: Morning and Margaret at Pyrenees to Peninnes. 
Note: this post was composed entirely on my smartphone – an iPhone 6s.

After Midnight

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It is another Sunday morning and the sun is up, the air is cool and crisp, and leaves litter the front lawn. I slept late this morning, or at least later than I should have although I have reasonable excuse – I stayed up too late last night, past eleven – almost to midnight.

I remember (often) the days of my youth when after midnight was truly after midnight, well after midnight. Eric Clapton’s song says it all about what I was doing:

After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we’re gonna chug-a-lug and shout.
We’re gonna stimulate some action;
We’re gonna get some satisfaction.
We’re gonna find out what it is all about.
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
Eric Clapton – “After Midnight”

These days, I can’t hang much after ten, maybe it’s because I have aged or I have gotten wiser, or just that I realize that have to get moving and accomplish something before noon.    Continue reading After Midnight →