Sunday in the Park, Part 3, A Pretty Pontiac

We set off for one last park, Pontiac Park. This park is right in town, just across the bridge from the downtown area. It also runs along the river. There is a boat launch in this park, but we decided to stroll along the river path.

Pontiac park was named for a famous Indian. The sign says that it was named for an Ottawa Indian chief who was born here in 1742. This was also the site of the largest recorded apple tree.

Here was a garden called the Healing Hearts. The path leading to the bench has small marble stones with the names of children and babies who have died. How sad, but what a lovely memorial and peaceful spot for people to come and remember their loved ones.

Here is a close up of the beautiful angel. She has some bright red flowers at her feet, but not for much longer though as we had our first hard frost last night.
I finally found a tree with red leaves!
This bird bath was so lovely.

I thought the inside of the basin was even more interesting than the bird bath as a whole!

Here is a monument to one of our hometown heroes, Sam Hornish. For race fans, you'll probably recognize the name as the man who won the Indy 500 in 2007. He accepted the trophy here in our town after there was a parade in his honor. He and his wife live in the next town over. Their first child, a daughter, was born in our local hospital a few months ago. His father and other family members own a big trucking business here in town. He switched over to NASCAR though. Not sure yet if that was a mistake or not.

Monica's hubby Jon said that he once raced Sam and won! I told him he was full of it. He said that really he had...but that he beat him on a Big Wheel cycle when they were little boys. I rather doubt that Sam remembers though. Apparently Sam Hornish's grandmother lived right down the street from Jon's family, and they would play together sometimes.

Monica noticed these bright red berries and said she thought they would make a good picture. She was right! At this point, everyone was tired and ready to go home.

That night while I was out grocery shopping, I noticed a beautiful sunset. I was so lucky to still have the camera in my purse!

That's it for our day in the parks! It was so good to be out and about in the sunshine enjoying such a beautiful weekend! I don't know how many more weekends we have left like this! I'm going to savor every last bit of fall before the leaves fall off the trees and it starts getting nipply, I mean NIPPY.

See you Saturday for some pinkness!

Sunday in the Park, Part 2, A Dam Good Time

My friends and I still had more of the Independence State Park to explore! There were such lovely sights all around. Fall is in its glory! Just look at these beautiful leaves!
I thought this sycamore tree was rather striking. It had such an interesting shape. My son tried to jump up into it, but couldn't get a good footing. It's higher than you think!

Here is a branch from another sycamore tree that I thought looked interesting. It sort of makes me think of a python hiding in the tree!
I love the contrast between the white tree and the deep blue of the sky, spattered with these colorful fall leaves!
Jon and Monica found another place to take a picture. Here they are with the Maumee River in the background. Did I tell you that the park is between a canal and a river? Not sure how wide the river is at this point, but its a substantial waterway.I just love looking at rivers in the fall with the changing trees framing each side.

My son took this picture of the river with the water looking like glass. I like that he not only got a reflection of the clouds, but he got a great reflection of the sun too. Where does this lead?

A big dam! This is actually called Independence Dam State Park. And did we ever have a dam good time!

Look how still the water seems on one side of the dam, and how it races on the other side! You can't see it well in this shot, but there is a good drop there. In season, you will see fishermen standing in the water fishing for walleye.
I didn't realize when I took this picture that there was a rainbow effect from the water.
Awww, here is my cutie pie son! This is such a good picture of him.

Here is what you find on the other end of the dam. The river is kind of low right now, and there are shallow spots.

Such a pretty scene. What's that up ahead?

Besides the little island and the pretty trees, I think I see something else! What a beautiful bird!
Jared snuck closer with the camera to get a closer shot. Too cool!
Jared also went to the top of the end of the damn to get some good camera shots. Jon and Monica are in the forefront petting fur son Winston. He is such a good puppy!
Looks like Jared got all tuckered out from running and leaping through the park.
He didn't get much of a rest though. After this, we headed to another park on the river, this one right in the city. There were some different things to photograph there!

Come on back tomorrow for more fall fun!

Sunday at the Park, part 1

This Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day! The sun was shining, the leaves on the trees were changing, and the temp was in the high 50s, low 60s. One of my BFFs and her dear hubby wanted my son and I to take some pics of them for their Christmas cards. They decided to have pictures taken at a local state park, the Independence Dam State Park.



Here is a beautiful scene near the front of the park.

I thought this tree was so pretty against the blue sky!
Let's wander on into the park!

We noticed an interesting tree that had fallen. It looked like we might be able to take some interesting pictures here! My son Jared was first on the scene. Awww, see how cute this picture of Jon and Monica and sweet furchild Winston turned out?
Monica wanted to get some pictures of Jon too. So I took a pic of her taking pics of her hubby and Winnie!
They turned the tables on us and took a pic of Jared and I next to the tree.
Jon told me that I needed a new pic to show online suitors, lol. Notice that I am letting the hair down a little. It's not poodle poofy any more, but I still haven't had the guts to go straight.
I spotted an interesting mushroom on the tree trunk.

My son hopped up on the trunk to get a close up picture.

Then Jon headed down the hill to get a closer pic of these interesing spores. They all make me think of fairies! Couldn't you imagine fairies sitting on top of these mushrooms or using them like a giant umbrella for shelter? These were about 12" or more across.

I was also fascinated by this hollow tree! I could just imagine some woodland creature hiding deep inside. Perhaps elves lived in there!
Here is a vine on another tree. It's going to be all red eventually. I think it's poison ivy! So pretty to look at in the fall, but so itchy!
There is a canal on one side of the park. I thought it was so pretty behind these beautifu leaves.

My son was full of energy and was literally running through the park and also jumping and leaping. He decided to run...
...then jump on and balance on this post. What do you suppose he saw as he was upside down like this?
Aha, a daddy long legs! These are harmless spiders. I never have the heart to kill them unless they are in my shower.
I just heart my son!
There are even more pictures to come. This park is laid out between the canal and the beautiful Maumee River, which is a pretty substantial river. Can't wait to show you what it looked like!

I'll be back tomorrow!

Blue Monday/ No Blue Moods!

Can't believe it's Monday already! I had such a great weekend. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

Anyhow, I really don't have anything to be blue about. When I found out I was diabetic, there were some blue things that I decided to use to stay healthy!

First of all are these test strips in a blue box. Every morning when I wake up, I use these to test my blood sugar. I prick my finger and put a drop of blood on one end, and with the other end in the glucose monitor, my blood sugar level gets measured.
Then I use this blue cup to take my medicines to keep me healthy.
At least 3-4 times per week, I go walking. I'm supposed to do this 6 times per week, but it's hard when I work so late! I don't like to walk after dark. Here are the bottoms of my shoes which have turned blue...
...from walking on this blue track! Look at that blue sky too!
Well it must all be working, because here are my skinny blue jeans! I bought these about 4 years ago after I lost weight following a gall bladder attack. I put 10 of those pounds back on, and put these jeans back in the closet. Guess what, I'm wearing them again! Woohoo! When I wore them a few years ago, they were kind of tight. They gave my girl parts a wedgie.
No more wedgie though! I weigh even less than I did back then! When I went to visit the diabetes educator last week, I was so pleased to see that in 3 weeks, I had lost over 7 pounds! I had lost a few pounds even before that when I found out that my sugar was too high, so this makes a total of about 10-12 pounds all together! My weight hasn't been this low in probaby 15 years! My numbers were great too! My diabetes educator was so pleased!


My highest weight ever was 31 pounds more than I am now. That translates to two sizes bigger than these jeans are. I've been a big woman for most of my adult life and I have been comfortable in my size, and I never really tried to lose weight as long as I was healthy. Well, this diagnosis changed all that. I am on a mission to put this disease into remission!

I'm not feeling blue here!

To visit more Blue Monday posts, visit Sally at Smiling Sally.

Autumn has arrived at my front porch!

I have officially jumped on the autumn bandwagon! I have let go of summer and immersed myself in the joys of fall, and my posts this week will reflect that!

Not long ago, I posted some pics of my porch decorations from last year. I promised I would post when I added to it.

Here is my long, skinny porch. It's hard to know what to do with it. I can't put too much out, or we can't walk through here! This view is from the driveway.
Here is a straight on view of my red bench. I moved the star from next to the door to the window. It is almost a perfect match for the red bench!
Here is the bench up close. This was a great summer find! It cost me about $40-45. I had geraniums in a white basket and a birdhouse on it for summer. The birdhouse is sitting under the bench for now.
I still love this angel that I found at Joanne Fabrics for $17. She and the bench were featured in an earlier summer post.

I just love these white pumpkins! It coordinates really well with the angel. I love the contrast between the pumpkin and the deep red bench.
Here is a fall arrangment I made last weekend. I found the basket, the gourd, and the little pumpkin, and also the styrofoam for inside the basket and the moss at Dollar Tree for $1.00 each. I found three bundles of the flowers for a buck each at Meijer! Now I have a brand new arrangement for only $8 total!
The scarecrow is a repeat of last year, but with a new pumpkin and no mums this year. The trees are different as I bought them around Christmas last year.
And last but not least is my old chair with fall flowers. I still love it as much as I did last fall!

My son and I joined friends at a state park this weekend. I took bunches of pictures! I swear, I live in a most beautiful area and I can't wait to show it to you this week! Blue Monday comes first, then you'll see all the fall glory.

Stay tuned, same bat blog, same bat channel!