Squirl's Nest

Monday, May 28, 2007

Vacation post

Just wanted to post a little birthday greeting here for my wonderful little sister, Bucky. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I have been procrastinating in putting up this post. Now that I can finally go out and work in my yard, the computer doesn't hold the same appeal.

But, enough of my excuses. A couple of weeks ago we decided to head to over to Boston. I haven't seen my aunt and uncle since my mother's funeral in October. We didn't exactly get much time to visit then, as you can imagine.

So, we headed out on Saturday morning, going straight across from the lakeshore in West Michigan to Canada. We usually take this way across as it saves a lot of miles. It used to save time, too.

The skies were cloudy, but pretty on the way over.
DSCN3906

Going into Canada wasn't too time consuming. The guard asked us where we were going. When we told her we were going through Canada to get into New York she asked "How come?" This line cracked me up. Sounded like something a little kid would say. I didn't laugh about it until we were past, though. Not a prudent thing to do when crossing a post-9/11 border.

We made good time through Canada, stopping for lunch in Hamilton. We had hoped to have lunch with Effie, but her schedule didn't permit it.

Getting back into the States wasn't quite as quick, though. There were plenty of lanes open, but it still seemed forever. The two cars ahead of us had New York plates and were waved through. They made us turn off the car and hand over our keys. Passports aren't required yet, but he said having them helped. We had to pop the trunk, he hardly had time to look, but he came back gave us our keys and we were free to go. Thank goodness.

It was after 11:00 when we finally got to our hotel in Framingham. The next day my aunt and uncle came over to pick us up. We went to a lovely place in Framingham called Garden in the Woods.
DSCN3918

It was so beautiful there with all of the spring flowers blooming.

I loved the different trillium.
DSCN3915
DSCN3919
DSCN3914
DSCN3927

Virginia Bluebells.
DSCN3916

Dogwood and Redbud trees in bloom.
DSCN3921

Skunk Cabbage and ferns, I think Fiddlehead Ferns.
DSCN3931

Some kind of pitcher plants.
DSCN3932

These round things were just free floating. The silver spot on here is a turtle. I thought it was a statue until I saw it move.
DSCN3943

I'm not sure exactly what these are, but they must be in the lily family.
DSCN3945

On Monday we spent a lot of time driving around. Driving through Boston is quite a trip. I'm not used to the weird way the city is laid out. And the drivers are crazy, I swear. They'll cut right in with just barely enough room for their cars. Insurance must be sky-high there.

On Tuesday went to the Arnold Arboretum.

I loved these little Dog-toothed Violets.
DSCN3949

Here's my second picture of a redbud tree. Can you tell I like them?
DSCN3950

Here's another redbud in front of a beech.
DSCN3952

A little Wisteria for the Desperate Housewives fans. Or, as Bucky named this picture, Desperate Houseplants.
DSCN3954

I just liked this.
DSCN3956

Another Dogwood tree.
DSCN3960

Some pretty pink Azalea.
DSCN3968

There wasn't a picture of me that I really liked, but I disliked this one the least.
DSCN3961

My aunt and uncle.
DSCN3965

We went to movie that night. We like to check out independent films. The one we decided to see was The TV Set. It had an very open ending, but I still liked it.

On Wednesday morning we left for home. We had decided to stop in Centralia, PA, termed a ghost town on the way. It's a ghost town because of underground coal fires. It was an old town, built around coal mining. A fire, caused from burning garbage, started in the early 60's. The fire burned out the coal seam and started to cause sinkholes. Most of the people there took buyouts and moved. There is still a little downtown, but I guess not too many people still live there.

Here is a shot of smoke coming out from part of the fire.
DSCN3975

This was right next door to the cemetery. I would've loved to see the smoke coming up there. Must've been pretty eerie.
DSCN3976

There were a couple of Greek churches in town. I liked the look of this one. Unfortunately, it was too overcast for the silvery tops to really look like silver in my photo.
DSCN3977

I have an mpeg of the smoke. When I get that ready I'll post it.

Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, May 19, 2007

A little quiz

Okay, I need to post about my trip. The pictures are up at Flickr, but I just haven't got my act together yet to post them.

In the meantime, I stole this one from Eclectic. Not sure how I answered the questions to come up with this. I'm definitely not the same type as Eclectic. She sounds all cuddly and cute.









Friday, May 11, 2007

See y'all

We're leaving to head over to Boston first thing tomorrow morning. It will be the first time I've seen my aunt and uncle since my mom's funeral. We're all really looking forward to it.

We may be gone all week, maybe not. I hate it when there's too much structure in a vacation. But we might not have internet.

In case I'm not around, I wanted to wish a Happy Mothers Day to all of you wonderful women out there with children, who have helped raise children, who have loved children. I hope it's a wonderful day for you.

I'm going to leave you with a close-up of a tulip from my yard. You didn't think you were gonna get away without a picture here, did you?
:-D

Tulip

Labels: ,

Monday, May 07, 2007

Birthday trip

I finally uploaded all of my pictures so I have no excuse to put off posting any more.

Last week Monday was my birthday. I love the flowers at the Frederick Meijer Garden, though I only usually go in March when the butterfly show is going. But there are still lots of orchids and now there are outside flowers, too.

So, here are some pictures from the day. If you want to see the whole set you may go here

It always starts in the desert house.
DSCN3789

Then there was this cool flower.
DSCN3795

I love the pitcher plants.
DSCN3797

Of course, here are the orchids. Remember, you can click on any of these pictures, choose All Sizes, and see them in the larger version.
DSCN3805
DSCN3806
DSCN3808
DSCN3819
DSCN3820
DSCN3829
DSCN3833
DSCN3839
DSCN3845

Then I went outside.
DSCN3848
DSCN3851
DSCN3854
DSCN3861

Then, on the way out I decided I needed to photograph this one. There's a guy named Dale Chihuly who makes beautiful glass art. There was a full exhibition there a few years ago. I'm assuming this is a permanent piece now. This one's really worth a peak at the large size.
DSCN3865

Labels: ,

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Just one more picture

I've been busy/lazy lately. There are loads of pictures to upload. So here's one in the meantime. And thanks for the birthday wishes!

DSCN3764

Labels: