Category Archives: Uncategorized

Unlike Snoopy and Woodstock I am hoping to see a few “late season” dragonflies at Whitefish Point. We’re on day two of getting the gutter on the driveway side of the house replaced. Which is why I was taking photos of skeletons and the like at home. This Mexican skeleton was given to be byContinue reading “A late start heading north”

The pantry is nearly empty. A few jars of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. It’s time to use some of what’s in the garden. Processed tomatoes, and cooking on the stove. Later in the day this will be ready for canning. The last batch of giardiniera is gone. We only have some pickled green beansContinue reading “The urban gardener and cook”

Old toys from close to 40 years ago, not part of a group of “memorabilia.” This morning we had breakfast at Angelo’s with Mike and Linda. This was the first restaurant that I ate at in 1977 when I moved to Ann Arbor. Back then it was run by Angelo himself and his wife. TodayContinue reading “Reliving old memories”

It has now been a years since I last took my seizure meds. And it has been over a year and a half since I suffered a seizure, which I had always called my “neurological events.” I’ll say I do not miss either. The meds, which were an important part of my life for sevenContinue reading “An anniversary, of sorts for me and more”

Timing is everything when trying to see flowers, insects and birds. Sometimes you get lucky and see what you are looking for at prime time. Sometimes you have to settle you get. Other times you miss what you are looking for. Yesterday we were lucky. Bishop’s Bog is a delightful site in Portage, south ofContinue reading “A day in a southern bog”

I posted this image six years ago meaning that today is the 77th anniversary of the first nuclear war. A few days after Hiroshima, Nagasaki was bombed by the United states. Sad event to prove a point. Here’s an explosion of flowers, an orange-fringed orchid. I’d rather think about this beautiful flower than the sinsContinue reading “A sad anniversary”

Sometimes a bumper sticker just speaks to you. That was the case with this one. We spent the morning at the fens and dunes at Vermilion Point. There are always nice plants and insects to find here. Not far from the parking lot there is a small patch of Spotted coralroot. This year we gotContinue reading “Live from the U.P.”

Started the day with a few moths. Jack pine budworm is obviously a pest of jack pines, which surround us at Whitefish Point. The green-colored wavy-lined emerald is less of a pest, and more uncommon. Here’s a white eulithis on the left and Formosa looper on the right. Both are as common as the emerald.Continue reading “Moths to start the day, then a fen”

Camilla, Oscar and me at the fountain at the Detroit Zoo. Me with my grandfather and great-grandfather at the Belle Isle Fountain. Me with my grandfather (Michele Bellotti) and great-grandfather (Davide Di Francesco) at the Detroit Zoo some 70 years before the photo of me with Camilla and Oscar. Lots of generations between my great-grandfatherContinue reading “The zoo and more”

After getting up Camilla and Simon get to playing some games. Oscar got up and sat with Alexis while she had her coffee. Alexis and I went to Da Lat and picked up a delightful Vietnamese lunch. In the afternoon we took a long walk and took Camilla and Oscar to visit some great fairyContinue reading “A full day in Ann Arbor”