Gorgeous

Mackinac is gorgeous in any season...

Positive Vibes

Today, as I was riding home from school, I was overwhelmed with happiness. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever just been filled with joy at the thought of being alive? It may be a little on the sappy side, but that was really how I was feeling today.

I hope your day was every bit as wonderful!

Scary

The horses on Mackinac Island are generally considered "safe." While accidents do happen, they don't happen very frequently. That said, we do have close calls every now and again because horses are creatures of habit. They can get spooked and will try to run away if something scares them; something as innocuous as a bale of hay near the side of the road can terrify a horse.

That innocent little hay bale just sat there after falling off a dray. I watched multiple teams of horses get upset: ears back, trying to move off to the side, slowing down - very clearly not wanting to get anywhere near that spooky, out-of-place item. (If you've lived on the island for a while you learn to recognize the sound of an agitated team.) To their credit, each driver maintained control over their teams and there were no accidents due to that hay.

Within 15 minutes the hay was collected and all the horses (and their drivers) were happy again.

Mackinac Moments

The leaves are starting to turn in Northern Michigan. It's been beautiful this week, and they're calling for temps in the high 70s this weekend. It's going to be perfect!

The Mackinac Way

Since we can't just hop in the car on Mackinac, we have to get creative. Sometimes that means you bungie a sewing machine to the back of your bicycle.

Other times it means moving your tools in a garden cart.

You'll see lots of garden carts on Mackinac Island. Sometimes a garden cart just isn't big enough and you need to call in a friend for help.

 

No matter what, we find a way to get the job done without cars.

Look No Further

Where's Waldo?

Why, he's on Mackinac Island of course.

I have absolutely no idea who this young man really is, but he was super sweet when I asked to take his picture. I'm choosing to believe that I really did meet the one and only Waldo. 

Off to a Good Start

This was our first week of school art project - Minecraft selfies. Each of the kids created a pixelated version of themselves, and was it ever a hoot! (The bulletin board at school also had the students' names by their drawing, but for privacy reasons I blurred the names here.) It was a fun way to start the year. As you can see I have nine students in my classroom:

• three fifth graders & six sixth graders
• five girls &  four boys
• two sets of twins & five singletons

They're a fun group!

And So it Begins...

Today was the first day of school on Mackinac for the 2025-2026 school year. Today, behind that window, my class of nine 5th and 6th graders got to work. (I don't have signed permission slips letting me share their pictures yet, but in a few days I'll be able to share photos.) Let me tell you, they are off to a great start!

Happy

I walk over this valve cover every time I go up Grand Hill. Today I realized he's a little pervert who likes looking up ladies' skirts. Good thing I'm more of a shorts kind of girl.

Illegal?

As my husband pulled this bill out of his wallet recently, he noticed the "In SCIENCE we trust" stamp and showed it to me. I always thought it was illegal to deface American money, but he disagreed. Of course, I had to look it up. Title 18, Section 333, of the Unites States Code states: "It is unlawful to mutilate, cut, deface, disfigure, perforate, or otherwise damage drafts, notes, or other evidence of debt that has been issued by a national banking association with the intent to render the bill, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued." 

So, as long as the intent isn't to make the bills unusable, stamping messages on U.S. money is perfectly legal. Looking at the list of no-nos (mutilate, cut, deface, disfigure, perforate, and otherwise damage) it makes me wonder - just how much disfigurement would it take to make a bill no longer fit to be reused? Not that I'm going to try, however. If a person is found guilty of this crime, the punishment is a fine and up to six month in jail, though proving you had intent might be tricky.

August

Nothing says late summer on Mackinac more than hollyhocks. These look stunning growing along the fence in the yard of Little Stone Church's Parsonage.

Things Could be Worse

I completely agree - trying on swimsuits in a Goodwill that doesn't have changing rooms would be worse than, well, many many things. 

But finding this mug, with two of my 30+ year besties, was an absolute hoot. (We were laughing so hard, people were staring.)

You know what was even better? The one holding the mug took it home! (Yes, she paid for it.) Now we get to laugh all over again every time were having our morning coffee at her cottage.

Special Delivery

My husband brought me flowers - an entire cartload of flowers!

There's a house on the corner of Market Street that is being renovated, so I asked if they had plan for the plants currently growing in the yard. The owner told me they were changing the landscaping and I should help myself to whatever I wanted- whoop whoop! Yesterday, after my voice lesson, I stopped by and started digging. (Yes, I rode through downtown with a shovel in my bike basket!) My darling husband met me with his cart and then hauled everything up the hill and back up to the house. 

Besties

Not much beats spending the weekend with 30+ year friends.

I can't begin to imagine my life without these amazing women! Having a friend with a backyard pool is just icing on the cake. One guess which one is the girl (A.K.A. me) with blonde hair, freckles, and a family history of skin cancer.

Hazy

We've been having more smoky days lately.  It's really bothering people, like Allen, who suffer from allergies. Some days, it's just a bit hazy, but other days it actually smells like wood smoke.

 

Derpy?

Here's another critter we found hanging out around Mann Lake (near Sheridan, MI.) There's just something about that little snakey face, isn't there? "Derpy" was the word my daughter used to describe it, which I had to look up. I found several different meanings ranging between foolish or weird to lovingly stupid. And looking at that face, I can see how the word fits. Guess I'm going to have to add derpy to my slang vocabulary, though with my luck it's not "in" anymore.

Um...

While I was waiting for my friend to purchase some fishing supplies the other day, I noticed this little gem for sale. I'm sure it serves an incredibly important fishing purpose, but it didn't get any better when I read the packaging...

Finally

One of my student's parents started a painting company, so we hired him to paint and stain our front porch this summer. (Trust me; it needed it!) It's finally finished, so tomorrow Allen and I can return to our favorite spot for morning coffee. It looks amazing - definitely worth the wait! 

Caption This

I took this picture while our extended family was together at Mann Lake, near Sheridan, Michigan. What do you think he's thinking about? Wrong answers only!

Missing

There should be a bridge in this picture, but there is so much smoke coming down from the Canadian wildfires we can't see it.