6 posts tagged “michigan”
I love fall, and today was the most beautiful kind of fall day in Michigan. Crisp and cool, without being too cold or windy. Gorgeous clear sunlight slanting in from the south. And a lot of the trees still had color on them.
I especially love when all the cornfields go golden, and the cattails go dun, something about the combination with the sapphire blue sky... Lovely.
So today we were spontaneous, and decided to go to Greenfield Village after Eldest Son's last swimming lesson. (He gets to graduate from Young Swimmer II to Young Swimmer III. Yay!) (You know, "America's Premier History Attraction," as it bills itself? -- We *love* Greenfield Village.)
Now normally you know I'm not big on spontaneity, right? But this afternoon was simply fabulous. Everything was perfect. The kids were well-behaved - despite missing naps - and nobody had any meltdowns. (Not even me! ;-) ) Finally we read the warning signs correctly and got out of there while the getting was good. Yay, us! Back-pats all around.
And, I was able to take these photos.
One of them even inspired me to change my, whatever-you-call-it, the photo that comes up associated with my name. My icon? My thumbnail? Whatever. I'm putting in a new one now. I've had the old one up for almost a year. It's time for a change.
Happy November, everybody!
Thought you might be interested in some more info about Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes.
(And even if you're not... tough!) ;-)
Lake Michigan -- what my family fondly calls "The Big Lake" and subject of my previous post -- is not even the largest of the Great Lakes. That distinction belongs to Lake Superior. Properly speaking, some geologists have it that Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are not actually two separate bodies of water, either.
But Lake Huron, being on the eastern shore of Michigan, has mostly rocky beaches for us, whereas Lake Michigan, being on our western shore, has mostly lovely sandy beaches. And Lake Superior, being north of our Upper Peninsula, is far too inaccessible for most of us -- besides being ridiculously cold even in the height of summer.
So for my family, as for many Michiganians (or Michiganders, as some prefer), Lake Michigan is what we mainly think of when we think of the Great Lakes.
Here, a map from this website:
Here, a quote from this website:
"Great Lakes
Facts and Figures
Overview
VOLUME
6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water; one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more); 95 percent of the U.S. supply. Spread evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes would submerge the country under about 9.5 feet of water.
TOTAL AREA
More than 94,000 square miles/244,000 square kilometres of water (larger than the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined, or about 23 percent of the province of Ontario). About 295,000 square miles/767,000 square kilometres in the watershed (the area where all the rivers and streams drain into the lakes).
TOTAL COASTLINE
United States and Canada -- 10,900 mi/17,549 km (including connecting channels, mainland and islands). The Great Lakes shoreline is equal to almost 44 percent of the circumference of the earth, and Michigan's Great Lakes coast totals 3,288 mi/5,294 km, more coastline than any state but Alaska. "
*****
Okay, enough "dry" (ha! couldn't resist) facts and figures.
Here's the thing:
Michiganians love our big waters with a fierce and irrational passion. You may not be a boater, you may not even like swimming, but you cannot fail to be moved when you see the big lakes in person. It shapes you, to grow up here.
When my grandparents first started wintering in Arizona, before we had kids, my husband and I went out to visit them a few times. And we fell in love with Arizona too; the desert is beautiful out there.
And the Grand Canyon -- ! Words fail me to describe that, and I'm nothing if not lippy, so that humbles me.
But, I don't think I could move out to Arizona permanently. The desert is beautiful, but that parched land is too austere for me. I need to feast my eyes on vast expanses of blue water, on a regular basis.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the feeling I got in the Grand Canyon -- that I was immediately hooked on and would love to go back and get more of -- is the same feeling I get on the Big Lake. When I stand on Sleeping Bear Dune looking west past the Manitou Islands, west to the horizon over that blue water. When I go over the Mackinac Bridge. When I sailed under the Mackinac Bridge. When I'm at Pictured Rocks. When my husband and I drove to the very tippy end of the Keweenaw Peninsula, jutting far north out into Lake Superior; and when we think about, someday, taking the ferry from there to Isle Royale.
And I bet I'm not the only Michiganian who feels that way.
I am completely blown away by our Governor's ability to get a tax hike approved, in the current economic malaise of the State of Michigan.
This state's economic climate continues to go down the tubes. Jobs have been lost, and not replaced. Businesses have closed up shop and moved elsewhere -- some of them big, some small. Some have closed up shop, period. Most families in this state -- those whose wage-earners are not already employed by the government in some capacity -- have suffered through some combination of job losses or at least flat income. We've had to do some belt-tightening over the past few years. -- Including my family, yes. Oh, and my parents too, yes, as small-business owners.
I've really been hoping that employees of our government would see that, and perhaps, just perhaps, join us in that belt-tightening effort. (Silly me!)
I've been hoping that they will somehow wake up to the realization that the private sector is the engine that drives wealth creation and makes it possible to PAY for the government and all its services. -- And all their salaries. -- And that engine is severely red-lining these days. Back off on the throttle, PLEASE.
But, no, it appears the public sector just cannot bring it upon themselves to share our pain.
That's why I'm appalled.
Here's why I'm terrified:
Even if I WANTED to find a new job -- and I may have to, whether I want to or not, with the way the auto industry is going -- my husband's an automotive engineer --
I have serious doubts that I could FIND another job around here, just now.
And even if I found a job elsewhere --
I could not afford to move!
That's right, there are already four houses for sale in my neighborhood, what with Pfizer pulling up stakes this past year, and they've been for sale forever and they're not budging.
I doubt we could even get our purchase price back on this house right now.
And our illustrious Governor just made the business climate in this state EVEN WORSE. Increased personal income tax, increased sales tax, and oh yeah, a small-business tax.
I just have to scratch my head and wonder, what planet is she living on?
I guess, the one where you can just keep heaping burdens on an already stressed economy, and magically, new tax revenue will appear. The one where, if you're losing jobs out of your state in a flood that makes Noah look dry, you tax the remaining people MORE, and you tax the remaining businesses MORE, and that's supposed to make everything BETTER!!
Right, THAT planet!! Silly me.
It really puzzles me how someone with so little grasp of basic economics could be elected Governor. Even worse is my suspicion that maybe she DOES understand economics, but chooses to ignore them. To pander to her base; bread and circuses for everyone! To keep herself in power.
-- To the detriment of our state. To the very REAL economic insecurity of myself and my family. At this point, it's personal.
To me, it's as if she just decided to step off the top of our State Capitol building, in the hope that, magically, the law of gravity will be repealed for her convenience.
The laws of economics are just as real as the laws of gravity.
At least on the planet where I live.
I swear, I'd run for Governor myself if I thought I stood the least chance of getting elected.
I could not possibly be any LESS qualified than our current Governor is.
I'm dreaming... of a whi-i-ite Easter -- !
Just like the ones I used to loathe!
Ahhh, Michigan weather! Toldya we weren't through with winter yet.
Mind you, it was 70 degrees (F) on Tuesday; we were in shorts and short-sleeve shirts, we're just so desperate for winter to be over. We grab at any inkling of sunlight and warmth. 70 degrees may not sound very warm to those of you in Florida or Arizona, but believe me, around here that's SUMMER weather! So that was Tuesday. Tuesday night a cold front blew in and the temp dropped about 35 degrees overnight. It's been hovering just above freezing all week. Last night it started to snow.
Here's the view from my front porch this morning:
Our church had a pre-Easter party for the kids today -- stories, crafts, and finally, a candy hunt outside on the lawn.
(The candy hunt is divided into two age ranges, so the littler kids have a chance. I stayed with Precious Princess and Littlest Brother in the Age 2 - 4 zone; Dear Husband went with Eldest Son to the Age 5 - 7 area. I couldn't be in two places at once so I only got Eldest Son's picture when it was all over.)
This next picture pretty much says it all:
Don't you just want to move here?
You think we'd be used to it, but by Friday everyone I saw was walking around with these variably dazed or hostile expressions, shaking their fists at the sky. It's almost worse when you get a teaser like Tuesday, sunny and 70 degrees. You're SO READY for that to be reality, and then the grim truth comes rushing back.
Hmpf.
Well, there's always chocolate!
Easter candy, anyone?
(Have a blessed Easter!)
;-)
It just seems that way.
I've come to the conclusion that I have SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder. It seems to be getting worse as I get older. When I was in college I neither noticed nor cared about going off Daylight Savings Time, or the number of sunless days in a row Michigan gets, or how long the snow lasts around here (well into April).
Every year since then it's gotten a little worse for me.
Along about February or March I just find myself completely bonkers and utterly unlovable. Everything's bad, and it's never going to get better. My children are annoying, my humor tends toward the bitter (to the extent it's detectable at all), and everybody else is an idiot.
In Michigan, we don't have spring. At least not as it's been described for me by people who grew up in other parts of the country. We have solid winter through the end of March. (Although, in one memorable year while I was in high school, we had one FREAK day of 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) in March -- we all went out onto the frozen lake in our shorts and T-shirts, and got sunburned -- the ice-fishing shacks off in the distance) (and no, I'm not kidding). We often have snowstorms well into April, though it usually doesn't stick on the ground then. In April, winter and summer fight a pitched battle; there is no in-between weather of what other people call "spring." It's either 70 degrees and sunny, or 30 degrees and sleeting. That's April.
Along about May, when it's clear that summer is going to win the war and winter, to go lick its wounds for five or six months, things start looking up for me.
When I win the lottery? -- I'm going to go to Florida, or maybe Arizona, and stay there for the entire MONTH of February. On second thought, March too.
What was your favorite game to play at recess in grade school?
Submitted by Elisheva Chana.
How bad does it burn?
I wouldn't say this was a favorite. But one of my most memorable recess activities -- here in Michigan, where winter can begin before Halloween, and lasts well into April -- was "See how long you can hold your bare hand on this frozen puddle." Last one to pick their hand up from the ice wins.
Thank God for pain. Negative reinforcement = adaptive trait.
I don't THINK anyone had any seriously damaging frostbite from this activity. At least, I still have all my fingers.
But I still remember seeing the image of my handprint, melted into the ice. And all my little friends, huddled around, admiring.
