We had a nice walk around several of the trails at Van Raalte Farm today. The leaves are already turning on many of the trees, but it was a beautiful 72-degree evening for a stroll. Both Aly and Leah loved running down the sledding hill, and Leah keep saying “Pooh!” waiting for Winnie the Pooh to appear in the woods. (He didn’t). A few bonus pics of Leah from earlier this week are at the end of this gallery.
Saugatuck Dunes State Park
A bonus visit
After a work outing in Saugatuck ended a bit early, I took advantage of the extra time by spending some time wandering through the north end of Saugatuck Dunes State Park, working my way to Lake Michigan and then walking along the water line back to the central path. It was a spectacular day in the mid-80’s, a slight breeze, and warm water. Over the course of 90 minutes walking the trails, I only passed a handful of people (and one dog).
Work team outing to Saugatuck
We started with lunch
What else would we start with? Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the wonderful lunch at The Mermaid restaurant in Saugatuck. I’m sure you’d all love to see Louis’ Spicy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich w/Fries (or mine), Karla’s Shrimp Bowl, Amy’s salad, Janene’s veggie burger and whatever Steve and Jef ordered. So the committee apologizes for the lack for visual imagery regarding lunch consumption.
The girl loves her some corn
Pants, not so much
The Beard
The Beard appears
It was believed that The Beard was planning some sort of kayak-delivered attack on the Independence Day festivities of the Roschek-Vogel-Goudie 2012 Summit. Note the care in planning – the kayak has an up-to-date Ohio water license.
Songs that changed my life – Oceansize
Previously:
I have enjoyed reading Rolling Stone for the last ten years or so, and every now and then, I take a flyer on a band I’ve never heard of that gets reviewed in RS. Life is easier now with Spotify, Pandora, and other music discovery services, but I had a harder time finding good new music back then, so when I found something, it was seriously positive. I came across a review of a band called Oceansize, with an album called Effloresce, and the article had a thumbnail of the wicked album cover:
This is one wicked album
Songs that changed my life – Metallica
I have a pretty intimate relationship with music, and have as far back as I can remember. It seems fairly common to hear a song and associate it with a memory, and I do that a lot. The inverse is also true with me – memories trigger song associations as well, which seems to be a bit less common. Though the music I listen to evolves over time (does my 1989 Poison-to-Dokken preference realignment count as evolution? Probably not), my bond to music has stayed consistently strong.
I’m never far from music, like many of my fellow junkies, and on certain occasions, I come across some new track or band that absolutely blows me away and changes my perception of not just music, but myself, and my life. Introspectors tend to have moments where they say to themselves things like “I know my life will never be the same after this” – and I have musical moments like that. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’ve experienced probably a couple dozen moments like that over the last 25 years, and I’ll share a few here. I can’t remember them all off the top of my head, but whenever one of those songs comes on the great iTunes shuffle, I’m instantly transported back to that moment of discovery. Enough already, more about the songs that have smacked me in the face.
Metallica – For Whom The Bell Tolls
Dear food
Dear Food,
I’m writing this letter to let you know that I’m breaking up with you.
I know, I know, breaking up by letter is weak and I wish I had the courage to tell you this stuff in person. But there’s so much I have to say, and my thoughts are better organized when I write them down. Plus, I’m afraid how you’ll react, or how you’ll make me react.
I want to just be friends. Cliche, certainly, but I think we can treat each other with friendly respect now that our relationship is over. We owe it to ourselves to be civil, because we have so many mutual friends and share so many activities, like second lunch, late-night snack, and the munchies, not to mention when we’ll be at the same holiday gatherings.
So why am I breaking up with you? There are many reasons, and the blame lies with me – it’s not you, it’s me.
The Perfect Camera Strap – Luma Loop Review
Ed note 11/16/11: I just realized that Luma has stopped making the Luma Loop, because of an aggressive patent awarded to a competitor. This is a shame, as this is a great camera strap. See this statement about the patent on their website.
If you take pictures with a DSLR camera, you should check out the Luma Loop camera strap. I saw someone using one this spring and immediately asked what it was, having never seen anything quite like it. The guy told me it was a Luma Loop, and he loved it – after taking a close-up look at his, I knew I needed my own.