Author Archives: makielb

From a car at Whitefish Point. Every day is my “cup of tea!” The Moon in the early morning, rapidly becoming dark on the right, like the country. Our little piece of Paradise at sunrise. There was a lot of dragonfly movement today. It was green darners and meadowhawks. The meadowhawks didn’t stay put longContinue reading “A day with nature”

The other day Susan made sausage-kale soup, while I picked more blueberries, this time I managed three cups. I’m seeing more blueberry pancakes in my future. Outside the lichens were glowing in the early morning light. This is a stump along the driveway that had no lichens ten years ago. Now it has a thickContinue reading “More food and nature at Whitefish Point”

It’s been overcast with intermittent rain since yesterday. But don’t worry there’s always something to do. We managed to find a blue-spotted salamander on the boardwalk to the point. Damp, overcast days are great times to photograph lichens. I spend a lot of time on damp knees with these little beauties. This is Vulpicida pinastri,Continue reading “Back to nature”

Before I get to the comics it’s time to get caught up on what’s happening with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over the past week Ukrainian forces have steadily regained control over parts of Eastern Ukraine. Hopefully, this will continue and in the future Ukrainian forces will regain control over their whole country. On onContinue reading “Rainy Monday humor”

A piece that I wrote for the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor in December, 2001. A Clay-colored Sparrow wondering where our feeders are, instead eating caterpillars and moths behind the cabin. Walking home from watching some migrating waterfowl this morning I stopped along some paths to collect blueberries. Two cups of wild blueberries should beContinue reading “Blueberries and memories”

There were a few birds around when we arrived at Whitefish Point yesterday, like this young Broad-winged Hawk. But the plants were covered with bees and flies. Crab spiders were ambushing insects on many of the plants. Looking back at the point from the tip we could see what was becoming a beautiful sunset. ButContinue reading “The full moon and a rare bird”

I just thought that this was a cute cartoon. If you’re in southeast Michigan get your bivalent booster and mask up when in public places. But this, with the heat was enough to get us to head north. All the way north on I-75 we passed trailers with tractors. There were a great variety –Continue reading “Back at Whitefish Point”

Elizabeth was queen of England for 70 years. Her father George VI was king when I was born. Presumably, the next monarch will be Charles III. But we shall see how that all proceeds. Yesterday afternoon I went to get a flu shot and found out that I could also get the latest bivalent covidContinue reading “Getting vaccinated and the death of a queen”

After breakfast we took the bus downtown to go to the farmers market. We wanted to get falafel, green onions, olive oil and cauliflower. We even got to listen to some music while shopping. I highly recommend getting falafel here, it is excellent. She also has a great variety of Middle Eastern foods. From theContinue reading “Shopping, then into the kitchen and more”

Wave goodbye to other activities. Today I picked tomatoes, beans and peppers. It took several hours just getting the tomatoes processed and ready for canning. Then cooking the sauce for several hours. Finally, canning after dinner. And now eight more pints waiting to cool before going into the cupboard. Tomorrow will be a day forContinue reading “Another day with tomatoes”