LIFE: A Friday in Autumn

So on Friday we ended up having a picnic and a gorgeous walk around a couple of lakes to admire the gorgeous changes in colour of all the trees. But Friday didn't set out to be that way, Joe went to work, or at least he'd told me he was. In fact he'd booked the day off so we could have a long weekend together for my birthday and ended up knocking on our apartment door by 9:30 with a huge bunch of roses. We headed off to the Indian Springs Metropark and had a picnic all prepared by Joe too. He's certainly for keeps.

Metroparks are great for wildlife, especially at Indian Spring were we've already spotted wild turkeys on a previous visit but this time alongside seeing countless chipmunks we saw sunbathing frogs and turtles, all up for just lounging around while I grabbed their portraits.

Autumn has always been one of my favourite times of the year but the colours the leaves are changing here in Michigan is certainly something else. From burnt reds, oranges to yellows a single tree can be three colours. And just hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot is always a delight.

LIFE: As The Leaves Start to Change

Here in Michigan the leaves are slowly starting to turn. Their edges are turning burnt yellows and oranges and a few have found their way to the ground. Days are getting a little cooler, yet it can be humid and foggy and mornings have a crisper edge to them and yes, yesterday we stuck the heating back on. Autumn, or fall as they term it in the US has always been one of my favourite times of the year. The sound of crunching leaves, ripening apples and now the prospect of visiting local cider mills is exciting and my birthday in a few weeks. Butterflies are also a little easier to spy as the summer drifts slowly into autumn, just like this pretty beauty at the Kensington Metropark.

LIFE: Row Row Row Your Boat

On Saturday we took a trip back to Kensington Metropark to hire a rowing boat to get out onto Kent Lake. After my panics of getting into the boat [hate how it wobbles and moves and slides when you're stepping in] so much so that I clung onto the sides for dear life for the first couple of minutes it was rather a lot of fun. Joe rowed us out for an hour and a half across to one of the quiet bays, around an island and back into the dock. With it being another bright sunny day here in south east Michigan the reflections on the waters surface were amazing and luckily my camera was playing game in letting me capture some of it.

LIFE: Fireworks

Saturday night the Kensington Metropark held their Salute to America fireworks display. Being English I've grown up with firework displays although more often on a freezing cold November night [until like many bonfire nights they decreased in size or stopped all together because of councils refusing to shell out on something for Guy Fawkes night]. This display was their early July 4th celebration and masses turned out. We parked at Maple Beach and like many others, waited the two hours till 10PM and the display began taking our positions by the beach. These were like the fireworks you'd see on your TV that London put on on at New Years. They were insane, the colours were amazing, and was just non stop for a good 25 minutes. As the display was being launched from one end of the lake, the fireworks created amazing reflections over the water - that really added something. While we both took our cameras [I totally forgot my tripod] fireworks weren't the easiest thing to catch photographically but here's some to try and capture the event. In the end I took to videoing it with my camera to share with you the finale of the display.

And yes, American's even clap at the end of fireworks!

The one in which we go for another walk

Find a spare couple of hours at the weekend and we're becoming partial to stretching our legs and going for a walk [a longer walk each time]. The last trip was back to Stony Creek one of the closest Metroparks to us. While we didn't catch any glimpses of lots of crazy American wild animals like last time we did catch some photographs of some amazing wild flowers, heard rustling of chipmunks and saw swelling rivers from the last thunderstorm. When it comes to landscape photography I always feel my work is lacking somewhat. I always find it harder to take images of vast vistas in comparison to my micro work so I always end up tinkering endlessly with them in editing programs - yet I can never just find one to stick with. Here we have everything from the lomo to Polaroid plus. Do I use too many? Who knows.

Do you stick to one photo editing style or do you mix and match depending upon the subject matter? Would love to hear!

MICHIGAN: A Sunday at Indian Springs

I've finally got around to taking photographs with my bridge camera again, I'd somewhat abandoned it because it eats up way too many batteries so all my blog photographs lately have been taken on my guys camera. But with new lithium batteries in hand a a trip to a metropark I thought I'd return to my camera for a change. 

If you do go to any park in Michigan you'll see so much wildlife, but I'd never seen to many different species until we visited the Indian Springs Metropark on Sunday to take advantage of the sunshine. Not only were there butterflies but I spied wild turkeys, fishes, chipmunks to crazy looking beetles plus countless signs for rattlesnakes - but I'm glad we never saw them. We took a stroll on one of the nature walks and came across rusting farm machinery randomly placed along the walk, perhaps as art pieces or as a reminder of the former agricultural history of the area. Either way all the old parts were great to photograph. Inside the Nature Center they have an under water tunnel taking you under a lake to see all the fish swimming around - it was pretty cool looking out in the murky depths to try and catch a glimpse of the odd fish floating by. I even overheard one little boy saying how it was "like the zoo" with the girl, possibly his older sister arguing it was "even better". 

MICHIGAN: Sunset at Stony Creek

Last night [Wednesday] we took out to driving to Stony Creek again to enjoy the sunset over the lake stopping by at a different picnic site to our last visit. Granted we were slightly fooled by the sunshine with it being colder then it looked, but seeing it still light at 8.30PM is something I always miss in the winter months. Sunsets, reflections on water, spotting five deer, the orange of the sky, nearly being the weekend, buying stock for our little eBay adventure and hinting to the husband about forthcoming estate sales at the weekend makes me happy.

MICHIGAN: Stony Creek and a Talking Crow

Yes you heard that right - a talking crow. But more about that later. I was lucky enough that Joe booked off a long weekend so on Monday we were determined to get out and do something even if the weather has taken a turn back to being seasonal and not overwhelmingly warm. But we visited Stony Creek all the same. Out here in metro Detroit there's a lot of metro parks which are great places for walks, fishing, boating, golfing and picnics, it's only $5 a time to visit but we opted for the annual pass after decided they're going to be our places of choices for BBQs once it gets into the summer months.

We went for a little walk around some ponds along the creek, sadly it was far too chilly to go too far. Nevertheless we spotted some amazing wildlife - from squirrels, wood peckers, gorgeous coloured birds, fishes and ground hogs all running wild. They also give shelter to a blinded owl and even a talking crow which even has his own video on YouTube.

He was born with a broken wing so he's never been able to fly and he's been at Stony Creek for as long as Joe's been visiting which is a good seven years. Was so cute watching him talk and crows are apparently rather good at mimicking sounds in general. Don't you just love funny YouTube videos?!

MICHIGAN: A Winter Walk

While the homeland was on an amber weather watch because of the snow, Michigan was treated to a sunny and slightly unseasonably mild February Saturday. We spent the afternoon at one of the metro parks [kind of like a forestry commission place] full of huge lakes, a nature center, picnic areas and trails. We opted for one of the shorter walks through a boggy area and was treated to lots of wildlife, to the point were the birds were actually feeding off the hands of people, they were that tame.

PS as regards to the kitty I talked about yesterday sadly Big Red as he is named, was sadly adopted this weekend so we were a day late, just one day, in our application for him. I'm glad he's finally got a home but sad that it isn't ours. Now it's back to searching for that new kitty but after we get my insane rash sorted that I've acquired probably due to the antibiotics or a misdiagnosis. Whatever it is, it's so itchy.