Fall at it's peak

Ah, the colors are beautiful at my house these days. I know that it will not last much longer as the heavy clouds are finding their way into MI. A sure sign of the impending winter season. While I am not a big fan of winter I am trying to take in all the warmth of the colorful leaves. Many of my trees have shed their season's growth, but a few are just beginning the process. I think it all has to do with the hills and valleys in my yard; which spots are cooler (more exposed) and those that are more protected from the wind. Those that are more protected still have many of their leaves and the colors went from green (last week) to yellow this week. Its funny how the colors of the leaves are so warm when the weather begins to cool and we are left with nothing but cool colors thru winter.

Feeling "normal" again

Ok, my short rant about getting sick. I went to a Dr. (dermatologist) last week and ended up getting sick. Now I didn't go in because I was sick, but the Dr. I visited was. When she sneezed upon entering the room she proceeded to apologize for being sick and wiping out half her office. Great. You are a doctor. Go HOME! Don't infect others that are not sick. Needless to say, I was sneezing within 12 hours of seeing this doctor and decided to work from home for 2 days so as not to spread the germs. Too bad the Dr. didn't do that as well. Not only did she take out half the staff, she infected at least one of her patients. Bummer. I spent all weekend at home and missed my friend's Halloween party. I am starting to feel better. Drug of choice for this flu? TheraFlu and TheraFlu Nighttime.

Fall Colors

Yes, it's that time of year again. The time just before the time of year I like the least. [winter] Fall is turning out to be a very colorful one around west MI. I have lots of trees on my 3-acre lot. Many maples, a cherry, a few oaks, some crab apples, a couple elm and then a couple I have no idea what they are. I shot a couple picks of the leaves in hopes that someone might know what they are.
Perhaps this one above should be the "State of MI" tree. Since it is kinda shaped like the Michigan mitten {minus the U.P.} Below are some other examples of the same tree's leaves.
The third image reminds me of an Oak leaf. However, the Oak leaves are not typically jagged? I don't know. Wish I did. Wish I had that collection of wax paper-ironed fall leaves from grade school that would tell me what leaves I was looking at. Oh well, I do not have them. Perhaps I can make my own collection of wax paper/ironed leaves. If I could only remember how... Ah, the art projects of childhood.

Headhuggers, Not tree huggers

About 8 months ago a bunch of women at the office invited me to "knitting, lunch, and learn". Since I had NO idea how to knit, I decided to sit in and see what these women were doing. First project, a ten-inch square which would later be turned into a quilt and donated. It was not that easy as I am left handed and nearly everyone else was right-handed. Oh well. I finally figured it out after reading Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller. (a very fun book for someone interested in learning to knit. Young & hip. Not old and boring.)
The next thing was to make Chemo Caps. A very nice thing to do for people that have lost their hair to Chemotherapy. Well, that seemed to go quite well and soon I had 2 hats made. The first hat was a bit large (even too big for my bucket head) but, would work with a pretty ribbon. The third hat in the pic was my dad's girlfriend's first hat. Not too shabby. I finally bundled them all up and sent them off to Headhuggers to distribute to those in need. I hope they enjoy them. Now I need to knit one for myself since winter is approaching. Next donation? My hair. I am close to the 10" (plus 2" to cleanup & style) needed to send off to Locks of Love. That will be my 5th donation to Locks of Love since 1999. At 12" each time, that means I will have cut off 60" inches of hair since 1999. Yikes!

Men and their cars

Much like new moms want pictures of their new babies, men love their cars (and pictures of them).

This was obvious on Sunday when I went to the Harvest Happening at the Waterford Hills Race Track. There were lots of men with their cars on display before each of them took a turn or two on the race track. The hoods were open for all to see. (Unless of course you had not customized it) All sorts of cars: Corvettes, a Trans Am, kit cars, a lot of Mustangs, a Ford Focus, and a few imports. The guys really love their cars. I think they love them as much as women love babies. They even want pictures of their cars to hang in their office or the garage. I guess the pics bring back memories of life with the car? Good times had in the back seat? At the wheel? Cleaning it? I dunno.
Oh well. As a woman my need to photograph my car is not really that strong. However, after growing up in the Detroit area, (new car Mecca) I have an affinity for the automobile. It was great living in that area since there were always new cars on the roads that had not released to the public yet.
My first Car? A 1970 Chevrolet Station Wagon that was big enough to put a sunfish boat in the back end and head out to the lake. It was the green machine with the seat in the way back.
It was great. Some of the other cars I had the privilege of driving:

• 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Rag Top (Cherry Red w/white Top)
• 1980 Mercury LN7
• 1982 Lincoln Town Car (Black, w/ moon roof) I was styling in this car but caught hell for driving it from my artist boyfriend in college.
• 1986 Chevy Cavalier (the first car I bought --for $3k sold it for $2k 5 years later.)
• 1989 Toyota Camry (USED- totaled before I bought it. : ( --got my money back when I discovered it)
• 1988 Ford Crown Victoria (interim car until I got cash back for Camry 1)
• 1996 Volkswagen Golf (my first new car)
• 2002 Toyota Camry (my second new car--love it)

What was your first car? Your Favorite car?

Gentleman's Race

Today I got to watch my brother-in-law live out one of his dreams of riding his 2002 Corvette something series (sorry, I don't know the model #) on a race track. The "race" considered to be a "Gentleman's race" where the men are not out to place first (or damage their pricey cars) but just want to ride on a closed course race track with straight-aways, tight corners, hills, etc. and feel as though they are actually in a race. There is some passing for position, but nothing too intense. These guys seemed to be out there because they love (to drive) their cars instead of wanting to win the race. It was cool to watch.

I got in trouble a couple of times because I got a little too close to the track and was asked to back off. I backed off but still got some good shots. I shot about 200 pictures. A few of them were for other men that saw me shooting and wanted pics of their car/race. It was fun. Very different than the Figure 8 races I have attended in the past year, but enjoyable none-the-less.

Phallic Container

For those of you who do not know what "phallic" is the definition I found on dictionary.com is as follows: Of, relating to, or resembling a phallus (or penis).
I am sure that most people of a certain age understand the word, however...
I was chatting with a friend of mine today and spotted an odd object in his office. I looked at him, he looked at me, and we both snickered. Perhaps we should not have snickered, but we just could not resist. It was a 7" phallus-looking clear plastic tube filled with liquid that had a light yellow color. I was brave and picked up the object to find that it was actually a grapefruit-mango flavored protein drink!

Questions now fill my head.

• Who is the target market for such a product?
• Why the shape?
• Why clear plastic and a yellowish liquid? (Why not a more vibrant color that does not look like a urine speciman??)
• Who would drink out of this?
• Why such a heavy duty container? Who came up with the shape?
• Why is the opening at the base?
• Did they do market research to determine the shape of the packaging?
• How many do they sell?
• Do they sell other phallic products?
• Why would they put a clear protein drink in a container shaped like a phallus?
• Who would pay $3 per 2.7oz. vile of protein?
• Do you buy it only for the shape?
• Is the container recyclable?

I could go on for days, however, I will spare you. You be the judge. What questions come to your mind? Would you drink from this "bottle"? Nine out of ten men that I questioned said, NO! I have to take them at their word, but someone is buying this product. Who is it? I cannot say I would buy it other for the novelty of the shape. Maybe for a bachelorette party? I felt like I needed to wash my hands after touching it. I would love to hear your comments. : )

Grilled Salmon

Although I am not a seafood fan, I decided I must try the salmon that I was given in return for the photos I took. So, I marinated the salmon steaks in olive oil, lime juice, crushed garlic and pepper; grilled them and had one for dinner. The smell and the flavor of the meat was not at all fishy [probably because it was sooo fresh] which was a very good thing. It was good, but I must say, I had a hard time peeling the skin off so I could eat the fish. It really creeped me out as it was too close to the fish for me. My next career will not be, "fisherman".

I remember fishing with my grandfather when I was a little girl and spending a lot of time puking from the smell. (I don't think he was too happy about that.) To think, that my family comes from a fishing community in Nfld.

Oh well, the fish did not go to waste. I called my friend Carole (who loves Salmon) and gave her 3 grilled steaks and 4 frozen steaks. She was, oh, so happy to have the salmon. I just could not eat the salmon. I wonder, if I went to a farmer's field, and took pictures of his beef cattle, would he give me some steaks in trade?

Salmon - swim upstream to die?

In the past couple weeks, while driving downtown GR over the Grand River, I noticed a bunch of guys out there fishing. It is that time of year when the salmon are swimming upstream in an effort to lay their eggs (and I guess die?).

Anyway, I talked to one of the fishermen at the office to find out what time of day would be best to catch them fishing downtown. I was told that daybreak was the best time of day. So, this morning, I was up at 6 so I could get downtown by sunrise. Much to my surprise, there were already about 30 guys with their poles in the water hoping to reel in a big one. It was a beautiful fall morning and perfect for checking out the fishermen. There were a few guys reeling them in and a bunch of other guys hooking them, but losing them to the fast current.

I think the coolest thing for me was to see the fish flying out of the water in an effort to get over the wall and into the next level of the river. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture any of those shots. : (

However, I did get a few other shots that you may enjoy.

My question is this: If the fish are going upstream to lay eggs and die, is the meat bad or old? Not as flavorful? Why are so many guys in the river trying to reel them in if it is not edible? Who knows, perhaps it is just for the sport of it. It was a good way to start my day.
Check out a couple of the photos at Flickr