Grand River Drive Walk - 5/17/12

Something was obviously amiss at the intersection.

I traversed on and found Dame's Rocket, masquerading as always as Wild Phlox, and Virburnum that's perhaps more notable in the fall/winter for its berries.

I circled up through the cemetery and was touched by the care taken of this tombstone, so old the dates were worn away.

Passing Holiday Farm, I decided to see what was happening, if anything, with Carl's Creek Preserve. 

All I found was this bridge to a neighboring property and an old chair that brought "Psycho" to mind. I didn't investigate further.

                                            I love my Grand River Drive neighbors :-)

Sometimes the sounds of nature are as pleasant, or more so, than the sights but I was lucky enough today to both hear and see Orioles and Bluebirds. After a visit to the horses, I headed back, just in time to see the stop sign being put in place, the perfect bookend to my walk. But before that I felt a little sorry for the bugs caught in this web. Be careful out there, my friends.

Things Seen On An Afternoon Walk

This decaying log covered in moss and lichens brought

Thich Nhat Hanh to mind.

"Our true nature is the nature of no birth and no death." 

I was brought out of my reverie by a jackdaw overseeing a creek, 

a huge, orange flying fish,  

and one of the least compelling real estate signs ever created :) 

??

They went that-a-way.

A gnarly optical illusion.

Just gnarly.

Peckerwood,

and other images from the changing season.

Wishing you all serenity and tranquility.

A Haiku Kind of Day

birdsong fills the air ~

starlings ascend and descend ~

who leads, who follows?

joggers pass me by ~

they're younger, thinner, stronger ~

but still I plod on

A January 14 Birthday

We all share our special day across the decades with people and events. You may think you are the most important thing that happened on your birthday, but catch yourself on.


I happen to share my birthday with Benedict Arnold and Albert Schweitzer.

Henri Fantin-Latour, Berthe Morisot, Cecil Beaton, and Steven Soderbergh also claim this day, as do Faye Dunaway and LL Cool J.

Andy Rooney, Jack Jones, William Bendix, Nina Totenberg, Carl Weathers, Jason Bateman, and Georgine Darcy (Miss Torso in Rear Window) add to the 14th of January birthday crew. 

Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio on the 14th, and Diana Ross & the Supremes, and the Sex Pistols, gave their final performances (not together). 

The Today Show, Sanford and Son, and The Simpsons premiered; George Wallace was inaugurated as Alabama’s governor; and FDR became the first President to travel by plane while in office when he touched down in Casablanca to meet with Churchill on this day.

We said good-bye to these people on a January 14: Ray Kroc, Shelley Winters, Barry Fitzgerald, Peter Finch, and Donna Reed.

Sonny and Cher released “The Beat Goes On”, and Elvis Presley broadcast his “Aloha from Hawaii” concert live via satellite. 

Queen Margrethe II ascended the throne of Denmark, where she still reigns today (I took this photo in 2010 outside of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen ~ right place, right time 😉).

Here’s hoping you share your birthday with some equally fascinating people and events, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Hendrik Willem Van Loon (born January 14):

“Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most previous possession, their ignorance.”

Cheers! I hope you still get this excited about birthday cake 😀