another picture of nick

The neighbors were having a tree removed from their front yard today, bringing a whole bunch of noisy vehicles and machines to our front yard. Nick wasn't having that. Here he is on guard.

snow white's backyard pt. 2

At another point in the day, Nat's mom's next door neighbor dropped by with a baby turtle she found in her yard. Here s/he is walking in Nevada's hands.

snow white's backyard pt. 1

My writing group had a retreat today at Nat's mom's house in Chesterfield Township. The house is one of those fairytale style places set right on the river and surrounded by fields and beautiful gardens. Nat told us it was actually Snow White's home. Either way, this swan kept visiting, asking for food. He got bread.

scratch my name on concrete with a stone and mud this means you really love me

I spotted this on the way to breakfast this morning. The most impressive part was that it was done in mud with a stone used as the pen. I don't know whose initials they are, but I was quite touched by the romantic possibilities. I hope the love is true.

i just called to say hyacinth

Man, I'm really loving all the flowers that seen to be popping up out of nowhere. I noticed this bunch first thing this morning. There are more tulips out now, too. And more of those beautiful purple wildflowers. God's canvas, right? Beautiful.

tulips whisper 'spring'

After a rather nasty month of April, the flowers are beginning to pop up everywhere. I love this time of year where the world gets colorful again. I just wish I knew more about the different types of flowers. All I know is they're beautiful.

it's a small mexican world.

They reopened the boat ride in EPCOT's Mexico, and now it's a sort of Mexico-centric version of It's A Small World mixed with travel films and the characters from The Three Caballeros. It's really quite cool. This picture doesn't do it justice.

the pluto with flowers in his hair

We went to EPCOT for the flower and garden festival and stumbled upon this beautiful floral canine. I have a thing for dogs these days...?

eating with the monkeys

My folks and I spent the bulk of the day shopping and ended up eating here, at the Rainforest Cafe. They sat us by some gorillas that kept carrying on and making a fuss. Nick would have loved barking at all the robotic creatures.

reading by the pool

So this is my current locale of choice for reading. Not bad, eh? It's been sunny and seventies today, in beautiful central Florida. Everybody's talking about how they desperately need rain, so I'm trying not to enjoy the clear skies too much, but it's tough. It's quite ideal after the months of gloom, cold, and snow from the past Michigan winter. This is a nice way to begin what I hope will be an excellent summer.

nick watches the tigers

Nick takes his Tigers games quite seriously.

the view from comerica park

Here's the skyline from our assigned seats for the Tigers game this afternoon. The temps were bitter cold so the stadium was almost empty and we moved to a better position. Either way, pretty no?

michigan has moved

Saw this sign hanging up at John King's this morning. It caught my eye and gave me a lot to think about. It's sort of true-the spirit of my homestate sort of has moved. I guess that's natural. And I'm not even trying to be pretentious. :-)

emmylou harris

Can you find Emmylou in this picture? She's the whiteish thing in the middle that's furthest to the right of the four people shaped things. Anyhow, I just got back from seeing her play at Calvin College. Great show and the venue was fairly small and intimate (sort of) for her. Not indie small, but what you would expect at a small college. She played a great set and I do believe 'Here I Am' might be my new favorite song. She opened with it and it was the highlight of the night. Now I've got to get some sleep.