Author Archives: makielb

On Saturday we watched the University of Michigan Wolverines beat the Ohio State University Buckeyes 30-24. The Wolverines are now #2 and OSU has dropped to #5. This means that UM cannot play OSU in the College Football Championship games, which I am pleased with. Now on to books. This December when we are visitingContinue reading “Books to read to the kids”

This story appeared in my new feed yesterday and was too similar to the start of covid (SARS-CoV-2) in the fall of 2019. It meant that it was time to get to the WHO website and ready more about the virus. Obviously, some of the same old viruses and bacterial are still around, but notContinue reading “A new respiratory virus”

Our day started in Ithaca at the State Diner where we had a great breakfast. On our way to the restaurant we passed this amazing mural that took up an entire city block. I thought that the monarch theme fit in nicely with our visit to Cornel. From Ithaca we headed west and crossed intoContinue reading “Port Dover, Ontario”

I found it interesting that the most prominent photo above “Entomology” was a spider, which is not an insect. Part of the 30+ people here for an end of season gathering of moth enthusiasts. Susan sitting in the range studying a tray of interesting micro moths. These are the types of moths that are perhapsContinue reading “A collection of moth-loving people”

As I am sitting down writing this as Thanksgiving approaches I found this particular cartoon quite funny. Over the years I have prepared turkey, chicken, duck and quail. But I would never threaten poor little Woodstock. The traditional Peanuts Thanksgiving dinner is popcorn and toast. Now on to Ithaca. The place we stayed in IthacaContinue reading “Fun in Ithaca”

If the Group of Seven were the stars of the McMichael Gallery, then the Tom Thomson exhibit was a super nova. The title of the exhibit was North Star. It was truly “exceptional.” This sums up the artist quite nicely. This painting perfectly catches the image of a frosty morning in the north. What theContinue reading “McMichael Gallery – part-3 Tom Thomson”

One of the reasons we went to the McMichael Gallery was to see the paintings by members of “the Group of Seven.” There was one gallery with many by the members. These are but a few. After each painting there is a brief description of the painting. I was amazed at how the artist caughtContinue reading “McMichael Gallery – Group of Seven”

The drive to McMichael “should” have taken 30 minutes. But the morning traffic was so bad it took close to an hour. In the evening it was similar due to the sleet and darkness as we headed back to the condo. This painting was both beautiful and disturbing. The interesting story behind this is describedContinue reading “McMichael Gallery art”

Crossing the Ambassador Bridge we could see the progress on the Gordie Howe Bridge. I can’t wait for it to be open and cross there. This was our AirB&B in Richmond Hills. It was on the fourth floor of a condo. We had our own private elevator (behind the closed door) that gave us accessContinue reading “Traveling to Toronto”

Back in sunny Ann Arbor after a delightful week traveling to Toronto then Ithaca, New York. The last of the leaves on trees here are turning colors and dropping. We did notice some interesting things with tree while traveling. We were amazed at the number of ginkgos that we encountered on our travels. More surprisingContinue reading “Home after a whirlwind trip to New York”