The Little Red Hen

Retreat Ambiance

I thought I might set the stage a bit today by sharing some pictures of the location of our quilt retreat.

Traverse Bay.

Shells on the beach.

The "Craft Boat"

Elk Lake.

White Birch Lodge.

Stitching by the water.

Stay tuned for a few project  pictures.

Thoughtful Sunday

(storm photo by D on our trip to the gulf coast.)

"Those people are earthbound. They heap too many goods. They have not learned the trail of beauty."

Waterless Mountain, Laura Adams Armer, 1931

Gulf Coast Trip

We have returned from a trip to the Mississipi gulf coast.

We stayed in a rental house on a narrow strip of land between the bayou and the gulf.

It was a week of family fun. Me, my sisters, and our families - fourteen people in one house.  We ate lots of Michigan blueberries (twenty four pounds) picked the morning we left here.

There was a ferry trip to Ship Island.

We also explored the beach area near our rental house. 

In the heat of the day we entertained ourselves with jigsaw puzzles, hula hoops,

Rummikub, chess, anagrams, dictionary,

and lots of different card games.

 

You can find more photos of our trip here.

Oberlin - The College Tour

Friday we took a road trip to Oberlin, Oh. We are gathering information for D's college choice.
Oberlin is a very small town but reminds me a bit of Blacksburg, where I grew up.

There is a Ben Franklin with a used/new bookstore in it on the main shopping street. A store where you can buy used books, fabric, games, and school supplies! Is there anything better than that within walking distance of your school? Another shop has a great selection of Easter treats.

They have a great art museum with works by Picasso, Miro, Klee and more.

The Conservatory of Music.

There are some great student housing facilities like this,

and this.  There is a lottery for this most desired building. It is filled with lucky upperclassmen.

Oberlin has the best campus food I have ever eaten. There are also nine food co ops here.

We were impressed with the student faculty ratio and their new science center. Since there are no graduate students the undergraduates have the opportunity to do research with the faculty. Many have their own labs and publish papers with the faculty before graduating.

University of Michigan campus tour last week scored low in the campus housing and  food categories. It does score points for being the most affordable of the three choices.

This week,- Cornell. I can't wait to see the pictures D and B bring back. They plan to eat at Moosewood tonight.

Collected

I thought I would share some things we collected on our beach walks. We found a number of beautiful shells.

Shark teeth.
 
P's pink collection
 
Favorites.

We found a number of shells that were still connected.

Recharging - to Make it Through March

We are just back from a short but much needed trip to sunny Florida. I think we will be able to make it through muddy March now.  Shortly after we arrived, we rolled up our pant legs and waded in the water. Yes, we were really in Florida.

We flew with our tents and sleeping bags and camped at Fort DeSoto right in the mouth of Tampa Bay. It was wonderful. Each morning we got up early and walked on the beach.   We saw a lot of wildlife - fish, sea urchin, whelk, crabs, hermit crabs, starfish, dolphin, pelicans, gulls, sand pipers, osprey, egrets, and, of course, the raccoons that live around the campground. We even found some small shark teeth.

The sun was a welcome change from our gray Michigan winter days. It was wonderful just to see such vibrant color.

We were jumping with joy.

What a wonderful few days.

You can see more pictures of our trip on flickr.

More from the DIA

Here are some more items that I found interesting at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
wood motorcycle:

quilt:

landscape from above in wood:

Native American doll:

This one is not a great photo but I want to share it anyway.
Native American bag:

I know that people around here (in the midwest) used deer toes to ornament items they made.  They also used them to make rattles.  The ornaments on this bag are puffin beaks.  I guess that it is a matter of using what is available where you are.  Interesting, to say the least.

Paintings at the DIA

As you may know, a year ago I had to purchase a replacement camera in a pinch after the old one had a tragic fall onto cobbled pavement in France.  I like the new camera but have not tried all of the settings as the manual is only written in French.  D. now knows enough French that he has read the manual and given me some tips.  I used some of my new knowledge when taking photographs at the Detroit Institute of the Arts last week. I didn't post them Friday because I wanted to make sure that was within the guidelines of the camera permission at the museum.  I just heard back that I can post some pictures here!

Here are some details of a few paintings in the "Dutch Golden Age" at the DIA. I love the detail on this painting - the transparency of the hat,

the beads and embroidery on the glove,

and the needlework on the cuff.

However, I cannot imagine wearing one of those stiff ruffles around my neck.

The little chicks here were also beautifully done.

The cow.

New Years Eve

We usually stay home for New Years Eve and sit around working a puzzle or playing cards trying to stay awake until midnight. Not very exciting. This year we are doing something different. We are traveling to Cadillac, MI for the First Night festivities there. We will hear both boys play with the Chelsea House Orchestra. D will play violin and M will play djembe. P will dance in the audience.

Have a great New Year's celebration!

(cookie boy ornament made by my sister M)

Leaves

This morning we walked in the woods near Grandma's house.

Last month was the warmest October on record here in Virginia. They also have had a drought for several months. I wonder if that has anything to do with the leaves staying on the trees longer than normal. One of our usual Thanksgiving week "chores" is to rake all of the leaves in Grandma's yard. We make a huge pile for the kids to play in. When they have had their fill of the leaf pile we drag the leaves down to the back of the yard on tarps. This year most of the leaves are still on the trees.

There were enough leaves to make a small pile for P.