We enjoyed two weeks in Michigan, staying at my mom’s little house, just down the hill from the house in which I grew up. We helped her with a few little jobs. Gayle and Mr. Imagination cut down a few dead trees and cut them up for firewood for my sister who lives in the big house.
Miss Joy loved cuddling Johnny Cat, who hangs out at Grandma’s house most of the time, while she watched the tree-cutting operation.
I enjoyed seeing deer come close to the house a few mornings while I had my Bible time.
It’s hard to reconcile the way the land is now with the way I remember it. When I lived there, all this land was grazed by our herd of milk cows, but now it’s all overgrown! I had a hard time recognizing familiar spots.
We visited my dad’s grave on the way home from church one of the Sundays.
We enjoyed picking blueberries. We went just with Grandma once, then again several days later with many from the extended family. My sister and I went back another time, just the two of us, to get a few more. What fun!
We made a delicious fruit salad with the blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from Grandma’s garden, and some peaches that we bought. Yum!
One day, Grandma and I went shopping with the two girls. On the way home, we stopped at an overlook at the edge of the Pere Marquette River beside Ludington. What a view of the wetlands!
The children enjoyed Grandma’s marble roller.
On the day we went to the Otto Nature Preserve, we stopped in Silver Lake to get ice cream from the place where my niece works. The shop wasn’t open when we got there, but she was working and opened the window to sell us each a cone. I recommend The Other Place if you are in Silver Lake!
The children enjoyed putting together Grandma’s puzzles; Miss Joy wanted a picture of this floor puzzle after it was completed.
They enjoyed playing her games, too!
Mr. Imagination loved mowing Grandma’s lawn–and was especially delighted to find a couple of small snakes!
I had fun trying to get pictures of a few butterflies.
One morning, we noticed a huge flock of vultures wheeling overhead. Off to the east a short distance we could see another similar-sized flock, and there were many more perched on the power tower on the hill just to the north. I counted the ones in this flock and estimated that we could see around 60 vultures all at once!
Mr. Imagination had fun exploring the creek (changing clothes and showering afterward because of ticks and poison ivy!), and brought this frog up to show us one time.
Little Miss found this walking stick in Grandma’s garage.
Because Grandma loves nature, the children brought her anything interesting that they found. She put this caterpillar in a cage to see what it would turn into. Within a few days it was pupating.
Miss Joy asked me to french-braid her hair one day, then wanted a picture of it so she could see it.
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