Aug27

on the water.

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beautiful and  enlightening experience

kayaking through detroit’s canals

that i never knew existed

with detroit river sports

then paddling into the detroit river

bounded on either side by the united states and canada

learning history and tales of

bootlegging, river islands, mansions, auto barons, inventors, and boatmen

finishing with a lovely relaxed dinner

canal side

at coriander kitchen and farm

fresh farm to table fare

all in the heart of the city.

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“if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

-loren eiseley

Aug26

al fresco.

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local alfresco dining

so welcoming, jovial, relaxed, and natural

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 The term al fresco comes from the Italian and loosely means “in the cool air.” We use the term to mean dining outdoors. Interestingly, the Italians don’t use the term for dining outside.

Italians use the expression ‘al fresco’ to mean ‘in the chill’ or ‘in the cool’. For example, when they want to convey keeping things in the right places, they’d say ‘keep the cheese al fresco’. But these words also have another meaning. When tourists in a restaurant are wanting to eat outside, they usually say they want to eat ‘al fresco’. In Italian, the expression, ‘Al fresco’ literally means ‘in prison’. The reason for this may be because in the past, prisons were very cold places with thick walls (‘fresco’ means ‘cold’). So, don’t be angry if, when you say: ‘I’d love to eat al fresco’, the waiter laughs, because you are actually telling him: ‘I want to eat in prison’. Instead what you need to say is: ‘Vorrei mangiare fuori’ or, ‘I’d love to eat outside’. Note it to remember it for your next Italian trip, and let the waiter know that you want to eat in the open air and not in prison.     

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“seating themselves on the greensward, they eat while the corks fly

and there is talk, laughter and merriment, and perfect freedom,

for the universe is their drawing room and the sun their lamp.

besides, they have appetite, nature’s special gift,

which lends to such a meal a vivacity unknown indoors,

however beautiful the surroundings.”   

-jean-anthelme brillat-savarin

Aug25

*rudolph.

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a white-tailed deer startled shoppers

after it wandered in and strolled the aisles in a dollar general store

it seems even mother nature can’t resist low prices.

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Shoppers were joined by an unexpected patron Friday when a female white-tailed deer wandered into the Dollar General store in Jackson, Michigan.

“I was shopping and I heard a commotion coming from the front of the store,” said Connie MacGuinness, a customer in the store at the time. “I heard people calling out ‘Oh no!” MacGuinness turned around to see the deer walking straight toward her down the aisle, she said. “I was stunned for a quick minute, then got out my phone.”

A report of the animal’s escapades reached the Jackson Police Department. Police and Fire Services Director Elmer Hitt said within a few minutes, officers from JPD and Jackson County Animal Control arrived to help lead the doe back out of the store. “It seemed as scared as we were, but it didn’t run around or seem upset,” MacGuinness said.

Another shopper told MacGuinness they saw the deer walk into the store through the open sliding door at the front of the building.The deer was in the building for about 20 minutes before police guided it outside an open door by barricading the aisles with boxes and carts.

*note: my personal theory is that rudolph had a lot of shopping to do,

hoped to beat the black friday crowd in november,

wanted to fly under the radar, and stock up on some good deals.

unfortunately rudolph is now such a celebrity

that it’s hard to be out in public

without being noticed and posted about on social media. – beth

 

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“i’m like rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. if i’m not ready, the sled isn’t going to go.

-kevin garnett, nba championship player

 

 

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credits: photo – connie macguinness, mitchell kukula, mlive.com, jackson police and fire

Aug24

rock on.

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pine knob - the grateful dead

remembering 50 years of magical music memories at pine knob

one of the greatest outdoor amphitheaters ever, and still rocking.

i’m sure you can pick me out here,

on a typical night in the middle of the hill on the lawn

early 70s, where i saw my first live concert, Focus, performing their one hit, “Hocus-Pocus.” 

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Pine Knob. A holy musical pilgrimage for metro Detroiters for 50 years. 

The award-winning theater was christened with a matinee concert by teenage heartthrob David Cassidy on June 25, 1972 (a few days later, old-school crooner Andy Williams and Quincy Jones hosted a five-night run at Pine Knob to mark the occasion). It was the largest venue of its type in the country at the time, currently able to accommodate 15,000 patrons.

A couple of weeks later, the first rock concert at Pine Knob forced the police to shut the place down — a sign that Clarkston’s new venue had a little something for everyone. 

When the James Gang rolled into Pine Knob that inaugural summer, an estimated 25,000 “young people” tried to storm the venue. That’s according to a report in the Detroit Free Press, which noted that the rest of the “hard rock” concerts scheduled for that summer would be canceled after the ruckus. That included an upcoming show by Detroit’s own Bob Seger, who would go on to play more than 25 sold-out shows at the venue over the years.

Maybe you were at that show, or the more than 3,000 other concerts that have taken place there. Thousands have made memories at Pine Knob over the years, whether blurry-eyed ones from the top of the hill or once-in-a-lifetime front row experiences from within the comfort of the pavilion (which, admittedly, could’ve been blurry-eyed, too).

When Pine Knob changed its name to DTE Energy Music Theatre in 2001, it was those memories that kept the original name alive. Even the bands that played there and recorded live albums there called it Pine Knob. “It’s always been Pine Knob to me. I always call it that from the stage,” Peter Frampton told Billboard earlier this year. “I am really happy Pine Knob’s true identity has finally been returned.” (Frampton recorded his 1999 album Live in Detroit at Pine Knob.) For its 50th anniversary, new sponsors made the wise move to tap into that well of nostalgia by bringing back the original name and some of the retro aesthetic to the signage and logo.

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“you create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.”

-david byrne

Aug23

apples to even more apples.

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opening day – tis the season! 

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“if you never tasted a bad apple, you would not appreciate a good apple.

you have to experience life to understand life.”

-leon brown

 

 

 

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image credit: mlive

Aug22

love and cheese.

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so exciting to have found a new approach to dating and romance

i feel pretty sure this method will be the winner!

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Notes: TYROMANCY: The use of cheese as a divination tool was known in the ancient world and the Middle Ages, although the details aren’t very well-recorded. Some say the shapes of the holes in the cheeses were thought to hold meaning—a heart shape could indicate love, and certain holes could be read as initials. Women in the countryside would predict future husbands by writing the names of suitors on pieces of cheese. The first to mold was believed to be the ideal mate. It may be worth noting, however, that the Greek diviner Artemidorus did not feel that cheese divination was very reliable, and included cheese diviners among his list of “false diviners,” alongside dice diviners, sieve-diviners, and necromancers. (The interpretation of dreams and livers was far more dependable, he felt.)

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“i pondered what else I should take for him. flowers seemed wrong; they’re a love token, after all.

I looked in the fridge, and popped a packet of cheese slices into the bag. all men like cheese.” 

-gail honeyman, eleanor oliphant is completely fine

Aug21

dare to dance.

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on this day in 1959, hawaii officially became the 50th state

 always wanted to visit

but the closest i’ve come

is when i was young and my dad announced

he wanted to buy a little radio station in kauai

i quickly got ahold of a hawaiian dictionary

 forced/encouraged the family to learn the alphabet during dinner

only to discover it was just a fantasy job wish for him

years later, as an adult

i took hula lessons with close friends

we were not good at it

got into the spirit of the dance

did not get asked to perform in hawaii

but we had a a blast

you never know

where and when this skill will come in handy

plus, it’s impressive on a resume

 i’ve yet to make it to hawaii

 only a matter of time

third time’s the charm

aloha!

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“dare to dance, leave shame at home.”

(A’a i ka hula, waiho i ka maka’u i ka hale)

-hawaiian saying

 

 

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art credit: vintage hawaiian poster

Aug20

hope is the feeling.

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art credit: the hope tree, by ashvin harrison

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she looked older, tired, worn down, but trying

dark eyeliner, hair an unnatural black, a gold barrette

standing at the register

waiting as i approached

buying paper for an art project

noticing colors and prints on the papers

she pointed at them, saying:

“if you mix this blue with this flowered print, it looks exactly like the inside of the locket that i had when i was a little girl. it was shaped like a heart, my mother gave it to me, it had both of our pictures in it. is was really something. it didn’t make it through the fire though. i think someone came and took it after that happened. they didn’t know how important it was. i’ve had my dreams squashed before, but i still have hope.”

she shared all of that with me, a random stranger, in a 2 minute encounter. something about her was achingly sad, yet i also felt admiration for her refusal to surrender to a life that may have never been easy, still holding out hope for a better day, yet to come. amazing person.

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“hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.”

 -mignon mclaughlin

Aug19

life with shopping carts.

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in talking with my grandson

about the reason shopping carts are found all over

i told him to think about where he sees them and why that might be

i told him to consider the fact that they are often found

where there are people without transportation or without disposable income

who may have to walk a long distance, have a disability, or take public transportation to get home

most with challenging life circumstances

i told him about

when i moved to family housing here for grad school

with no money, but still one of my favorite times of my life

everyone in debt, in grad school, with families, with limited income

most did not have cars and could not afford taxis

i saw that shopping carts were all around us

 quickly noticed why.

families used them for everything

to move in and out, to move their children, to move their laundry to the common area

to move things to our monthly swap meets, to carry food, to carry things to their car, and on and on…

my youngest daughter lived with me

for a few months before heading off to her university

before long, we were using them

they had come from the local grocery store

 when people would walk home with food for their families

the carts would stay to be used in the community

the grocery store would send a truck once a week

to round them up and take them back to the store

and the next week they would be back

it seemed to be an unwritten understanding

i came to love the custom and used them many times for every imaginable purpose

 understanding why they were so helpful and important to the community.

everyone was just trying to find a way to live their life

to get things done that needed doing

while making the best of their circumstances.

“do what you can with what you have, where you are.”

-theodore ‘teddy’ roosevelt – 26th president of the united states

Aug18

go, carts!

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Abandoned shopping carts could be a sign of social dysfunction.
Abandoned shopping carts could be a sign of social dysfunction.
The reason some people never return shopping carts, according to science.
On the spectrum of aberrant behavior, leaving a shopping cart in the middle of a parking space doesn’t quite rise to the level of homicide. But poor cart etiquette is nonetheless a breakdown of the social fabric, one in which some consumers express little regard for others by failing to return a cart to its proper place. Why does this happen?

In a piece for Scientific American, Krystal D’Costa examined some plausible reasons why shoppers avoid the cart receptacle. It might be too far from where they parked, they might have a child that makes returning it difficult, the weather might be bad, or they might have physical limitations that make returning it challenging. Alternately, they may simply believe it’s the job of the supermarket or store employee to fetch their used cart.

According to D’Costa, cart returners might be motivated by social pressure—they fear a disapproving glance from others—or precedent. If no other carts have been tossed aside, they don’t want to be first.

People who are goal-driven aren’t necessarily concerned with such factors. Their desire to get home, remain with their child, or stay dry overrides societal guidelines.

Ignoring those norms if a person feels they’re not alone in doing so was examined in a study published in the journal Science in 2008. In the experiment, researchers observed two alleys where bicycles were parked. Both alleys had signs posted prohibiting graffiti. Despite the sign, one of them had markings on the surfaces. Researchers then stuck a flyer to the bicycle handles to see how riders would react. In the alley with graffiti, 69 percent threw it aside or stuck it on another bicycle. In the alley with no graffiti, only 33 percent of the subjects littered. The lesson? People might be more likely to abandon social order if the environment surrounding them is already exhibiting signs of neglect.

In another experiment, researchers performed the flyer trial with a parking lot that had carts organized and carts scattered around at separate times. When carts were everywhere, 58 percent of people left the flyers on the ground compared to 30 percent when the carts were cared for.

Social examples are clearly influential. The more people return carts, the more likely others will do the same. There will, of course, be outliers. Some readers wrote to D’Costa following her first piece to state that they didn’t return carts in order to keep store workers busy and gainfully employed, that the primary function of those staff members is to get the carts back to the store, even though it’s rarely their primary job. Until returning carts becomes universally-accepted behavior, random carts will remain a fixture of parking lots. And Aldi will continue charging a quarter deposit to grab one.

and –

in recent shopping cart returning news:

Meijer employee celebrated for returning millionth cart .

Dave Esch demonstrates returning carts on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Meijer in Grand Ledge. Esch was celebrated for returning his millionth shopping cart as an employee of the store.

Dave Esch demonstrates returning carts on July 20, 2022, at the Meijer in Grand Ledge, MI.
Esch was celebrated for returning his millionth shopping cart as an employee of the store.
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“the worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.”

-benjamin franklin

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