while visiting my niece’s school
in the beautiful woods of northern michigan
i realized that it wouldn’t be
a real end of their school year goodbye
without a bear to see them off.
—
“but of course, it isn’t really good-bye, because the forest will always be there…
and anybody who is friendly with bears can find it.”
-a.a. milne
—
pathfinder school, traverse city, michigan, usa
closing out the day on glen lake
—
“in extraordinary times, the ordinary takes on a glow and wonder all its own.”
-mike a. lancaster
—
glen lake, empire, michigan, usa
summer 2020
Michigan football wide receiver Ronnie Bell has an epic quarantine workout
Ronnie Bell had a unique routine while quarantining back home in Missouri.
To stay in shape, the Michigan receiver would go outside … and push his family’s Chevy Tahoe around the block.
“I’ve been pushing the cars with my little brothers,” Bell told MGoBlue’s Ed Kengerski. “We’ll take the car outside and put it in neutral and just push it around the neighborhood. “They push the little Lexus and I push the Chevy Tahoe.”
Like many of his teammates, Bell went home for a spell after the coronavirus outbreak forced Michigan to cancel in-person classes and athletic activities, including the Wolverines’ spring practices.
“We were probably a week out from spring ball before everything happened,” he said. “Just kind of had to shift mindsets from getting ready, mentally, for spring ball, getting all excited for spring ball, and then having that taken away from you. You’ve got to adjust and adapt to your different circumstances.”
Bell, who is majoring in creative writing, says the shutdown made his academic life more difficult, as it prevented him from participating in office hours with his professors. But he did appreciate the opportunity to go home and spend time with his family, calling the experience “the best thing about” quarantine.
Bell is back in Ann Arbor, where he lives with running back Hassan Haskins and linebacker Cam McGrone.
Does he miss football? “Of course.”
“(I miss) just being around the guys and being around the facility with all the coaches,” Bell said. “Everything about it. You don’t realize how much you were going to miss it until you get it completely taken away from you.”
For now, Bell and his teammates have connected with each other and the coaching staff through Zoom. He says the team has tried to install the offense as best it can through virtual meetings.
Bell, who had 48 catches for 758 yards and a touchdown in 2019, has been watching film on a consistent basis in hopes of improving upon his breakout sophomore year. He says he has gone over film of himself looking at situations in which he could’ve done “something different” or “something more.” He is hoping football will return in the near future.
“Everybody’s just unbelievably excited,” Bell said. “You could tell everybody was just getting antsy and itchy, just to get back to it. Everybody’s on edge because nobody really knows when everything will somewhat go back to normal.
—
“whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.”
-andrew carnegie
—
credits: orion sang, detroit free press, ed kengerski, mgoblue.com
(similar to a typical group I saw running into target today)
just a few days to go before christmas
it’s sunny and almost 50 degrees
in the lower peninsula of michigan
out come
the shorts, the sandals, the sunglasses, the smiles
the coats stay behind
close your eyes
feels almost like summer
we are a hardy lot.
—
“heat is heat.”
a summer evening by the lake in glen arbor, michigan
—
“after every storm the sun will smile;
for every problem there is a solution,
and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer.”
-william r. alger
on the field
pizza
summer weather
blankets
pillows
movie
littles running and playing in the end zone
and a few of our closest friends
sharing a big night in the big house.
—
“when we establish human connections within the context of shared
experience we create community wherever we go.”
― gina greenlee
Over the years, reported sightings of the legendary — and mystical — Bigfoot have made headlines across the United States. He’s been spotted in parks and campsites by people who claim the giant Sasquatch is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.
The legend of the beast has grown over the years as there are whole groups of people who search for Bigfoot and track his “known whereabouts.”
According to a new TV show, “In Search of Monsters,” Michigan is one of the top places to encounter Bigfoot as there have been 1,131 sightings reported in our state over the years.
Did a Northern Michigan eagle cam catch a Bigfoot sighting? An unknown figure can be seen walking below the eagle’s nest at the Platte River State Fish Hatchery.
In a description of their findings, the show — which airs on the Travel Channel — says many of the reported sightings were near the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula. They even describe a scenario where a woman claims Bigfoot walked up to her car and looked in while her baby was inside. She said there was a foul odor in the air and then she saw the massive creature.
In the fall of 2016, there were at least three reported sightings of Bigfoot in Michigan in the span of a few weeks. All of these occurred in the Upper Peninsula.
—
“the inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. a world that might have bigfoot and the loch ness monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.”
-chris van allsburg – author of the polar express
—
credits: mlive.com, matt durr, grand haven tribune
word has it the littles are headed to england.
hopefully they’re back in the states
in time for the first day of school today.
—
“you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
-rabindranath tagore
—
glen lake, empire, michigan – summer 2018
whiling away the day
at the casual and welcoming
houses of grape and grain
“come, gentlemen, i hope we shall drink down all unkindness.”
-william shakespeare, the merry wives of windsor
—
leelanau peninsula, michigan, usa – summer 2018
relaxation –
the process of an electron releasing a photon of light (energy)
and falling back down to a lower energy level.
—
on traverse bay, michigan, usa – summer 2018
