Into our vacation a little rain falls

From our retreat in Northern Michigan I've been watching the heat wave hit the southern half of our lower peninsula. Every time I visit my home weather bookmark online I am bombarded with bright red and orange warnings: "heat advisory," "air quality alert," "excessive heat watch." I'm not sure how all these are different, but they make me even more thankful to be on vacation, a trip that was planned when the temperatures at home were still in the 80s, the kind of days we are enjoying here now.

Blue skies, intermittent clouds, a soft breeze to cool our warm days, I wish I could share them with the friends, family, and pets we left at home. And the rain we got today—sweeping in with showers and sprinkles, sending us to town to enjoy books stores and adventure golf before sweeping back out again in the evening—that rain would have been appreciated at our house, too. We didn't mind it here either, though. It gave us a break from the sun, a chance to play golf, some reading time at the house, naps, daydreams. These are the traditions from my own childhood vacations in this area, and we're soaking up as much of this relax time as possible.

For more information:

Petoskey (Chamber of Commerce)

Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf

Vacation, take 3

Going to bed full of sun, full of discoveries, full of good food, full of rest, full of joy. Sated.

For more information:

Tunnel of Trees

Wilderness State Park

Sturgeon Bay

Don't forget Leg's Inn!

Vacation edition, take 2

for more information: Harbor Springs (Chamber of Commerce)

Elation

This is us going on vacation. Whee!

Pure Michigan

Nature Thursdays—wildflowers at County Farm Park

There is something to be said for schedule. If nothing else I like knowing that my Thursday journaling topic is covered, and that makes the brainstorming part of blogging much easier. Today's nature program for kids was all about wildflowers. I knew when I looked at the schedule for the summer that most of the activities and information would not be new to Calvin, and since we have a garden full of carefully cultivated "wild" flowers at our house today's program was anything but. I don't mind, and it's clear that Calvin doesn't either, because the point is to enjoy the time outside with other nature interested people. But a new situation presented itself today that I've never delt with before: the kid who knows everything. When the guide asks questions Calvin knows the answers almost every single time. He knows this stuff, we've enjoyed it together at home for years, if that can be said of a five-year-old, but we're going to have to discuss the importance of letting other kids answer first, or at least think about the answers. Calvin knows these things because he was exposed to them, and now it's time for the other kids to gain their own exposure. With a relatively shy and introverted little boy that was a new one on me.

As usual today's program was enjoyable. We learned about native Michigan wildflowers and the wildlife that love them. The bug-fearing mom was back with us, but apparently butterflies and bees are less scary, and everyone was interested in the plants. And I know we usually hike afterwards, but schedules are meant to be broken, and since we are in the final stages of readying for a summer trip—packing, meeting with the dog/house sitter, and doing some last minute cleaning up, laundry, and squaring away at the library—our usual post-program hike went right out the window. Not before we retraced our steps to the car, however, a short hike which afforded us more prairie-like views and many bird sightings (though none as cool as a woodcock).

A little early

Bumble on Bergamot (bee balm)