Christmas 2013

Wow! It has been some time since I've blogged. We haven't taken any big trips - just some local things. I've been swamped with work - good thing. Jack's shoulder surgery...

But here it is...Christmas 2013.

It is a white Christmas. Way more snow than normal. With Jack unable, and me unwilling, to remove the snow, we have a wonderful person doing it for us. He calls to check after each snow fall to see if we need to get out.

We started the day with French toast. Jack in sling.

Time for presents.

I almost finished Jack's afghan. I started this a while back and messed up. I've spent way too much time trying to figure out what I did wrong. When I mess up I generally get upset and throw a project aside. Jack figured he would never get the afghan. I finally decided what the heck, just go forward. Turns out the mess up wasn't as bad as I thought. But I couldn't get it finished in time, hard when I couldn't knit in front of him. But now he knows and I'll have it done in short order. Jack's favorite pattern - basket weave.

You can see Jack's gifts to me - final additions for my kitchen. Perfect. He said doesn't know what he'll do next year as my kitchen is about complete. We're talking charities.

In the bag under the tree - treats for Sugar.

Then a couple hours of work for me.. and then our now traditional dinner of lentil shepherds pie with Jack's canned cranberry sauce. I added gravy this year - now tradition. Jack helped with one handed potato mashing.

Snow on our palatial estate.

Happy New Year!

Art Walk and Coal Plant

First I'll share some pictures from Art Walk. There was art all over town. In the galleries of course, but also at the library, parks, shops and restaurants.

The A cone outside a shop or restaurant lets you know art is on display inside.

Some of my favorites.

A very nice day during Art Walk. The motorcycles and convertibles were out in force.

On Saturday we went on the coal plant tour. Very nice. We took the free shuttle bus over and walked back. There were workers at various spots to explain the operations.

Muskegon Heritage Museum and Irish Music Festival

On Saturday we traveled north to Muskegon. We knew to book months in advance so we had a hotel room for the night about 5 or 6 blocks from the fest. We started out by checking out the neighborhood.

Nice park full of Civil War memorials and statues.

Fake store fronts.

Another nice park.

We didn't know about the museum until we came across the sign. I'm sure glad we did. It is an amazing museum. It is all about the various industries that were in Muskegon for decades and decades. Were is the important word - they are gone now. Muskegon is one of those Midwestern industrial towns that lost all the good paying manufacturing jobs that went overseas. The volunteer that walked us around the museum worked at the paper mill for over thirty years.

Muskegon had several breweries and even brewed Guinness at one time.

The knitting mill is now condos.

My dad was the guy who held the stick.

Bowling anyone?

There is lots more but you get the idea. I guess they close for the winter but they are open until October 19th, Friday and Saturday 11 - 4. http://muskegonheritage.org/

Then it was off to...

Can't miss the College Football games.

We had a great time!

Agricultural Expo 2013

On Saturday we walked over to check out the Agricultural Expo at the Historical Museum.

Jack loves tractors.

Wool on the hoof.

That's all. It was fun.