Blessings to You and Yours...

Let It Snow....man

Winter has come! And in celebration, here's an homage to the ever infamous snowman that we all know and love......

Mackinac is Mackinaw.....

Many have heard of Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel. Most of those not from Up North will pronounce this word with an 'ack' on the end, but alas.... it actually is pronounced with an 'aw'. It just is.


Some have said it's because the Indians pronounced it that way in their language. I'm not so sure... I think the English (or French?) just spelled it wrong, and didn't want to admit to their mistake afterwards.


To make it even more interesting, there is a Mackinac Island with a town on it, and across the water on the mainland is a city called Mackinaw City. Mackinaw City is newer. One might think we Americans named the newer town 'Mackinaw' to right the previous wrong, but the story I got while visiting was the spelling was different to simplify mail delivery.


We had a fun visit to both places while Erika was here in October. Here's several photos of the Island and the city on the island.... (by the way, the only transportation on the island is by foot, bicycle or horse.... quite fun!).

Fall and Family- Good Times

We just finished a lovely 2 week visit with our daughter Erika, who flew over the pond from her home in Edinburgh, Scotland. My parents came up to see her, since it had been 2 years since they were together.

We all became a bunch of 'leaf peepers', and the leaves were beautiful!

Cheers to you and best wishes for a lovely Autumn season....

More About Sakena Yacoobi

I got to meet Dr. Yacoobi, or 'Ustad' as she is called from her employees with the Afghan Institute of Learning. (I think 'ustad' means 'teacher'.)
She has won a number of national and international awards for leadership and human rights. Her travel schedule is punishing- she is traveling almost non-stop to conferences, forums, and back and forth between Afghanistan and the United States.

She is a quiet, unassuming woman with iron-hard determination. Her passion and dream is a future Afghanistan where women and children are literate, have good health care, and can learn skills to maintain a family lifestyle. She is Muslim, and believes in the equality of men and women that is referred to in the Quran.

Here is a great video that shows a bit of what Sakena is accomplishing:

More About My Job....

I work for Creating Hope International. It's a nonprofit that is the USA partner for an Afghanistan nonprofit called Afghan Institute of Learning. Their purpose is to give educational and health improvement options for Afghan women and children. CHI also does work for a group of Tibetan Bon refugees in India.

Toc Dunlap is my boss and the executive director of CHI. She worked in the Peace Corps years ago and served in Afghanistan. While there, she met the Afghan family of Sakena Yacoobi. Sakena wanted to go to a university in the USA, and Toc worked with her to overcome the challenges to get there. After that, Toc went back to law school and then spent several years working as a lawyer. Toc then spent a number of years working in Pakistan with the International Rescue Committee.

In the ensuing years, Sakena got her degrees at 2 universities and was a health consultant and teacher in the US. She then spent three years in Pakistan working with Afghan refugees for a couple of organizations.

In 1995, Sakena founded the Afghan Institute of Learning. In addition to education, AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training for Afghan women. AIL supported 80 underground home schools for 3000 girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban closed girls’ schools in the 1990s. AIL was the first organization that opened Women’s Learning Centers for Afghan women—a concept now copied by many organizations throughout Afghanistan.

Using their grassroots strategies and holistic approach, AIL now serves 350,000 women and children each year through its training programs, Educational Learning Centers, schools and clinics in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since 1996, over 6,700,000 Afghans have benefited from AIL’s education and health programs.

In 1996, Toc and Sakena worked together to form Creating Hope International. CHI works on behalf of AIL to prepare grant proposals and reports for existing grants from companies that support the work of Sakena and AIL. The Afghan Institute of Learning funds all its programs from private and corporate donors. Organizations like Nike, the Oprah Network, and Abbot have allowed AIL to continue their important work for the Afghan women and children.

Two interesting and dedicated women, two nonprofits that do great work. I learn more everyday, and I only become more impressed....

Autumn is a' coming......

On September 2nd, I noticed a funny thing.

Our firebush by the deck was starting to have a reddish tinge in its leaves.

Over the next couple of days, flickers of color started to pop up in singular trees among the forests of green.

Fall is here in the 'up north' country.

Today, the Sunday before Labor day, I saw the oranges, red, and golds beginning to creep along in earnest among the tree population.

Wow! I'd heard from a number of people that Northeners love their summers, even if they are short. And this summer the grumble has been "what summer?" since it's been rainier and cooler than normal. But I'm only now starting to realize how fleeting and brief summer really is......

A Perfect Afternoon

Today was finally sunshine... after days and days of drizzling rain.

(Is this normal? No. Since we moved up here last January, I've consistently heard "I've never seen weather quite like this!" The winter was unusual, the spring was unusual, and the summer is unusual. I'm trying not to take this personally; it seems since our arrival the weather has been 'different'. No one has looked at us suspiciously...yet; I'm sure it's all coincidental.)

The weather was glorious- golden sunshine, a breeze blowing through the trees, at high of 65 degrees. The perfect day to...... take a nap.

"What?!?" you say, "but the weather..... the fresh air, the wonderful opportunities to enjoy the outside!"

Aaah, yes..... but it was also the day for a Perfect Nap. That rare combination of cool breezes and refreshing slumber, with clear refreshing dreams. When you wake up and feel like a new person. At peace with the world and ready to take the world on. Yahoo!

Then.... we watched a classic movie: The Devil and Miss Jones. Lots of fun and worth every minute of being a bum.

On to a grilled steak dinner on the deck with the sunlight dappling on the table, and a bit of wine, and Tucker dashing after the latest toy.

A Perfect Afternoon.....

Mama Deer and Her Two Fawns

We like to feed the critters outside the deck by our family room doors and watch the wildlife come by. The squirrels and chipmunks are regulars here, and we occasionally get turkey, raccoons, crows, and deer. While Paul was here visiting, he managed to make this video of a mama deer and her two fawns:

And just for Paul Skinner in merry Scotland (Dan says hi), here is a photo of turkeys just outside our door:

Tucker is Getting Bigger...

Several of you have asked for updated photos of our yorkie-poo Tucker. He's 3 1/2 months old now, and his ears have gone from floppy to upright. Here he is....

Shortly after getting Tucker, I got a job as a contracts administrator for a non-profit with an office in Bellaire called Creating Hope International. They do the administrative work needed in the USA for an Afghani-based non-profit called the Afghan Institute of Learning, whose focus is to support and develop schools, learning centers, and health clinics for Afghan women and children. It's pretty neat stuff, and it's rewarding to be a part of a group that's making a real difference in the world.

Since Tucker is so little, I had to find doggy day care for him. Between that and house breaking, I have to chuckle to myself as I've been carried back to the 'baby' stage in life in many ways....

Cherries in Cherry World....

Traverse City is the cherry capital 'of the world'- that's right, the world.

And if TC is the cherry capital, then we are living in the Cherry Kingdom.

There are acres and acres of cherry orchards, cherry fruit stands, cherry juice, cherry pie, cherry pills, cherry salad dressing.... this list goes on and on. AND right now it's prime cherry pickin' season.

Rachel and Paul spent a good day plucking the little beauties......cheers!

More 4th July Parade Photos....

Welcome to a new family member...

Say hello to Tucker, our new puppy! He's a wee little thing, and so far, absolutely adorable....

Good Ole Fashioned July 4th

The Central Lake parade on the 4th was the heart of Americana- lots of fun floats, a single marching band, and anxious kids waiting for candy that was thrown to the crowd.


Armor Express had their own float honoring all the divisions of the military....

The Ladies Were in Drag....

OK, I stand corrected again.

The turkeys weren't 'ladies', they were actually young boy turkeys (called Jakes).

They had me fooled...... I guess I should have looked for their adam's apple...

Three Ladies Come A' Visiting

We may have mentioned to some of you while talking on the phone that wild turkeys are plentiful up here. Dan sees them just about every day while driving to work.


These three fine ladies have visited our wild animal food stash a couple of times, and were definitely having a good time on this grey day.....

AND Let's Talk About The Wildlife...

When we first saw our home, it was winter, and it was covered with snow.

Then we started working on it in (what was up here) very early spring, and I noticed the woods were absolutely quiet- no animal sounds.

As time went on, we started to hear birds, etc..... and there I had hope that there would be wildlife.

After we moved in, we put out birdfeeders with food- unfortunately, the birds never got to it. We started getting visitors... first chipmunks, and black squirrels, then gray squirrels, then..... this visitor:

A very canny raccoon indeed- she quickly figured out how to dump ALL the birdseed onto the ground, and then the party of critters began.

We gave up on the birdfeeders, and just scattered seed/corn/etc for all visitors. Over the days, we had the squirrel/chipmunk contingent, wild turkey, Missy Raccoon, 2 porcupines, deer, a hawk (more interested in the chipmunks than the seed), and other critters? in the dead of night. It's been a lot of fun watching them.

Today, we got an awesome treat- Missy Raccoon stopped by with her 4 babies. The photos are terrible (taken through a door), but the babies were precious.

That's the mammal category. Here's a cute photo of a little frog in the garden:

And of course, let's not forget the insect world. This year has been a record outbreak of tent/gypsy/canopy caterpillars. We've had thousands of the latter crawling around- they start out in the tops of tall trees, and will soon become white butterflies/moths. It's been pretty creepy.

And the latest are the dragonfly hordes. They are harmless, and avoid humans, and actually not too pesty, but there are literally hundreds flying around...

Last of all, this was not on our property, but here's a photo of a pileated woodpecker- they are big suckers! They are in our area, and we hear them knocking on the trees. This was one we saw alongside a road when taking a drive:

FINALLY... House Photos!

Finally, finally, finally! I know it's been over a month- my apologies. Unpacking (for the 3rd time in a year), organizing, and having family visit just left me tuckered out. AND getting the paraphernalia found to get the photos from the camera to the computer... whew! Here you go...

Front of the home

View from the driveway

Side view of house

View from front deck

View from side deck

Living room

Living room from stairway

Dining area

Kitchen

Kitchen... and yes! Wallpaper!

View towards living room

My office area

Upstairs hallway

Our bedroom

Dan made our headboard- solid cherry

Second bedroom

Third bedroom/storage

Dan's office/space/"man-cave"

It's a walk out basement area

View of lower deck/bath

Total of 3.5 baths-good for company!

Love the fireplace!

We spend most of our time in the family room

View of second deck where we feed the wildlife and watch them

Looking back through the home- great open floor plan

We're surrounded by trees and really enjoy the quiet. Lots of wildlife here... squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, porcupine, wild turkey, hawk, and deer have all come to visit our daily scattering of wild feed off the side of the house. About 1/2 mile away is the Shanty Creek lodge with ski slopes and an 18 hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer (too bad I don't ski or golf!)

It's mid-June up here, and the iris and phlox are still in bloom. It's been a cool spring, and we're wa-a-ay behind the cycle of things further south.

Let me know how you're doing... would love to hear from everyone! :)