July Beginnings

The ridiculously hot weather and lack of rain has left the grass dry and crunchy. I hope it survives. I can't remember when we last had rain. Jack has been watering the flowers, veggies, and the new grass seed. All of these are doing well. The temps broke over the weekend so it is again pleasant walking about.

On July 4th after walking Sugar, we rode our bikes to the farmers' market.

By 9am most lawn areas were marked off for viewing the fireworks.

We went out to lunch and then spent the rest of the day at home. We skipped the fireworks show. Sugar was of course traumatized by all the booming. At least none of the amateurs setting off fireworks burned the dry town down. I hope they change the fireworks laws back before next year. Of course, there will be more fireworks for Coast Guard Fest at the end of the month.

The various flower beds around town are all in full bloom. This one in Central Park reminds me I want day lilies in the yard.

On July 5th it was clear that dry Dewey Hill survived the fireworks. Workers on the hill picking up left over trash from the night before.

There are more and more Arf Walk dogs out and about. I will share two. The first is outside the Chamber of Commerce. I like dogs and maps. A dog that is a map is excellent. The second one doesn't need an explanation.

Right now I'm between jobs so yesterday we decided to take a trip to Pentwater. It is about an hour north of Grand Haven. We picked it because Jack heard about a shop there - The Bitchen Kitchen. I'm always up for looking at kitchen gizmos. It is a great shop but it was really packed with people so hard to browse. It turns out that there are also several antique stores in town, too. In one I found some cookbooks. I'll have more on that in another blog. I have a plan for my cookbooks. All in all, Pentwater seems like a real nice little town. We've decided we'll go back in fall when it is less crowded.

Today we rode our bikes down to the beach. Yes the bike basket comes off for easy transport of items. I don't know how new of an invention that is but it was new to me when we bought the bikes.

Jack went swimming. Well mostly he walked about in the water as the water temperature had dropped to 48 degrees. He said it was colder than when he swam off Bermuda in December. I think probably not but who knows?

I on the other hand flew my dragon kite.

When he got out of the water, Jack had a go at kite flying.

The history of the beach can be found here:
http://www.grandhaven.org/recreation/parks/grand-haven-state-park-city-beach/

And finally, for the car lovers I give you two cars seen around town while out walking.