Winter Up North

  Well now, let’s be off!
                                      Let’s go snow-viewing
                                                  Till we tumble over!
                                                                                           haiku by Issa

            Most every Tuesday I get to go walking or hiking or skiing with a group of ladies who, like the mailmen, let neither rain nor sleet or snow keep them in.  It has been great fun and a wonderful way to cure all ills.  We have walked the National park trail in a downpour and the other day hiked the Arcadia Bluff Conservancy woods over a trail made rough with icy tracks of snowshoe and snowmobile.  But the woods were lovely and once in we didn’t feel the wind that could make that twenty degrees seem even colder.  As you can see, we came out smiling! —-and no one tumbled.

       Driving there over Joyfield road I enjoyed the farms and orchards in their winter garb and the long shadows of a windbreak of trees, all bent from that prevailing western wind.
Coming back we drove north towards Frankfort (and lunch!) and there was a wonderful view of the bluffs of the harbor through the trees. The scenic turnout is not a turnout anymore but the sign is still there, and so is the view.
      The winter seems dark and gray for a lot of the time up here but there are many moments that make it go by quickly—-the scenic loveliness, the animals foraging for a bite, and crazy friends who will go out in the weather with you!
      Stay warm, and spring will soon be here.    Carol

January Thaw

January Lake Michigan

The holidays are over, my son and his gal were here for a couple of weeks and just left and took the January Thaw with them!  Today we awoke again to snow, which we had evaded for a couple of weeks.  The thaw cleared most of our paved roads and left exposed banks of ugly brown piles of snow with sand.  It warmed enough for us to get to some previously snowed-in spots.  One afternoon, we actually had sunshine!  But winter has returned, and it is gloomy without that bright orb.

I thought I might share some of my portraits, one being a commission I did for Christmas.

Oil commission for Christmas

These are watercolors I did when my children were younger.

I haven’t done anything of late, but hope now that Hotel Mom is empty, maybe I can concentrate a little more on my art.  Carol has done one recently, and maybe she will share shortly.

February is almost here, and hopefully more Sally Sunshine will appear!        

Julie

Snowbound!

 The holidays are over, most of the family has gone;  no singing or laughter at games or digging horseradish from under the snow.  Just the company of animals and birds in a snowy wonderland.

     Pete took out the Christmas tree to begin its second life as a safe harbor for the many birds who come to feed.  Our resident sharp-shinned hawk is an ever-present danger to those on the ground.  And
I have filled my grapefruit shells with seed, suet and peanut butter just as my dad did many years ago.  So we welcome the tree sparrows, the pileated and other woodpeckers, nuthatches and titmice.
     The turkeys surprised us this week!  First we saw the strange trails across  the field, heading our way.  And then, there they were!  A whole flock of the big birds!  What fun to see so many—until
they discovered the bird seed.  When we went out to scare them away, they went grudgingly and slowly.  The snow is deep and as their legs sunk in their departure was rather like the “march of
the wooden soldiers”.
     Our field and wooded slope beside the house have become a wonderful white canvas for the prints of the winter animals,  one of which is the porcupine.  This picture was taken this summer, but
when everyone was here for the holidays, we watched him every evening at dusk  (5 o’clock on the dot) as he plodded across the snow to the old Basswood tree and climbed way up to his night time
perch.  We can almost count on him now.  This will be our snowbound entertainment for the winter.
       The last picture is of our snowy road after the snowplow cleared the drifts.  I won’t have the view of the far dunes ’til Spring, I guess.
      Here is a poem by Ogden Nash  called  A WORD ABOUT WINTER.  Enjoy.

“Now the frost is on the pane,
Rugs upon the floor again
Lengthy summer noon is gone,
Twilight treads the heels of dawn,
Round-eyed sun is now a squinter
Every cloud a blizzard hinter,
Squirrel on the snow a printer,
Rain spout sprouteth icy splinter,
Willy-nilly, this is winter.”

Carol

Hatching of the Mermaid

Pacific coast by Caz's house

As many of you know, my son Caz and his lady, Melissa, have left Michigan for better opportunities, and have landed in Astoria, Oregon.   We were all in a band together up until last year called Moxie. 

Moxie in it's hayday

 

Caz and Julie playing

Caz singing "Ballad of Curtis Lowe"

Melissa doing a little Janis Joplin

Our Last Gig

Now they have left, and economics have made it hard to do the band gig, so it has slipped into our family history.

I visited there this fall (check out the Nov. archives), and had a great time in the wet Northwest region at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

Lichen-laden fence

 Caz had bought Melissa a stylized painting of a mermaid in blues and greens, appearing to be stuck under the water, maybe even trapped.  Well, being the glass-half-full optimist that I am, I felt they needed a companion painting on the adjacent wall, so this was their Christmas present.  It is kind of a illustration/fantasy as I had no models to go by, just off the top of my head.  Enjoy……Julie

Advent, December 25th

Anticipation is rising as we get closer to the old Bowman farmhouse, down a snowcovered dirt road just plowed and dusted with sand.   We pass the orchards, and see the distant Empire Bluffs, it’s sandy face dressed for the holidays in snow.   The freezing rain has not deterred us from our destination.  ‘Round the last bend piled high with banks of snow, the homestead is standing fast and waiting.  We all pile in with several loads of bagged secrets, and of course, food. 

Here is the family Creche, bought by Grandma Jessie at J.L. Hudson’s of Detroit in 1939 (probably spending more than she shood have during the depression).  It is a coveted heirloom, and Kelly and Julie used to vie to set it up each year.

May you have the Peace of Christmas!      With much love to you and yours,

Julie and Carol

Advent, December 24th

You know it had to happen. 

 Right down to the last two Advent days, Carol and I have been taking turns inserting things, and her internet is messed up!  Sorry folks, I am pitch-hitting, so bear with me. 

I went around town tonight and took some light displays.  It is pretty quiet!  Not much activity anywhere, people must be travelling, or wrapping their goodies or visiting with just arrived relatives.  

Downtown Frankfort

 

 

Just got this picture of Burt’s brother’s house in Valdosta, GA.  He won first place for his decorations!  You can park in front of his house, tune the radio to a certain station, and the lights move in time!  I guess he spent quite some time computerizing that trick!

Allan's First Place Decorations

It is clear again, with the quarter moon flying proud in the sky, should be easy for Santa to see his way!  Time to tuck the wee ones in, and wait for the happy morn’! 

Spencer asleep Watercolor by Carol

Enjoy the Yuletide…..Julie

Advent, December 23rd

Most of the shopping is done, most of the presents are wrapped, tomorrow we gather at Grandma’s, and leave our everyday world behind!

The stars were bright last night, and the temperatures plummeted.  Burt said his nose froze when he let the dogs out this morning!  One thermometer said 10 degrees, the other 0 degrees!  No matter, we have our little wood stove, and we jockey for position with Fixit, and visiting dog Scout, first thing in the morning.

While visiting my friend Hallie recently, I snapped her advent calendars she has had since she was a child. 

We didn’t put up a tree this year, since the gathering is at Carol’s, so I decorated my Jade plant.  My Christmas cactus bloomed a couple of blossoms around Thanksgiving, and that was it, so it got bedecked as well.

Stay warm!  Until tomorrow……Julie

Advent, December 22nd

 Christmas is almost here and I am almost finished with my card sending.  As I worked at that I thought of the first time I painted a
grandchild for a Christmas card.
      Amy was our first grandchild and of course she was “special” as are all our firsts, and she visited us a lot so the grandparents and
great-grandma could play with her.  One summer when she visited we had lots of strawberries and she enjoyed picking them with me
and I took pictures, of course.  Those pictures later became the first Christmas card with the substitution of an antique sled and doll, which
was Amy’s .
     That card became a tradition, too, and so every year there would be a grandchild to paint for the card.   The next child was Jessie, named
after my mom. Jessie and her family lived in Mississippi then and we were so happy when they all came for Christmas up north.  Jessie helped
decorate the Christmas tree, and there was a card for next year.  The painting hung at Grandma Jessie’s home for many years for she
just had to have it.
      Now our youngest grandchild is 13 and still got painted;  but they are all growing up and you never know what will appear on the
card next year!   It has been fun.

Advent, December 21st

 ”Whose woods these are I think I know.”

    “He will not see me stopping here
     To watch his woods fill up with snow”.

    “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

     But I have promises to keep,
     And miles to go before I sleep.”

These lines are Robert Frost’s  from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” but I thought they were just the thing for our snowy
December.  They are lovely, but I don’t think Pete has always appreciated them.   We are getting down to the wire and the times are
busy with all there is to ready the house for Christmas and family.    But it is good to take a minute to look at the beauty of the woods.
Happy Christmas!     Carol

Advent, December 20th

I stopped by Carol’s  to pick up a painting today on my way back from a house showing.  She was out, and Pete was puttering around on one of his projects.  As I was talking to him, I looked over at the advent calendar my sister Kelly and her family had made and sent the folks.  It was constructed out of a pizza box, complete with heads gleaned from pictures she had taken in the past, or collected elsewhere.   Everyday you are to draw an “ugly Christmas sweater” and attach it to the head of your choice.  It is getting to be quite comical, and I was enjoying it, and then I did a double-take!   Pete had taken it a step further……he cut out his own sweater from a magazine, and placed it on Carol! 

She is probably gonna kill me for sharing this, and since she really isn’t what the sweater says, I think it is a riot!  Way to go Pete, you non-conformist!

Quick Carol, you have to get him!

As can be expected, Burt just tries to sleep through the craziness (or maybe it’s the sweater he’s wearing!).

Life at the Bowman’s is anything but dull!  

 Love to all,       Julie