I named the littlest calf "Chip" and his momma "Berta."
Berta is the naggiest cow on the lot. I wanna pet them, but there is a bull in the pen. 

My backyard is a nature program

This time the cows are watching ME. 

I'm going on a rafting trip!

In about a month, I'm going on a 4 day rafting trip on the Green River in Colorado and Utah. Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur National Monument... here I come! Here is a preview courtesy of GoogleEarth. Yay yay yay yay yay! 

Salad Bowl

This place is changing me. Slowly.

I still smoke, but alone on the porch. Half a glass of merlot.
The stars shine brightly above me, the frog chirruping close by, the cows lying asleep in the field after a long day of grazing. I’ve spent the evening knitting, crocheting. I’ve been quilting again, but not obsessively.

I don’t watch much T.V. anymore, even though we have cable. Not even South Park. My parents can’t stomach it… a few design shows with my mom. Dateline. My vocabulary has changed, too. You know what I mean.

Sometimes we play scrabble or dominoes before bedtime. It doesn’t get dark until almost ten o’clock, and sleepiness claims me before midnight. Maybe it’s the quality of the mattress, air-conditioning flowing through the house, or the quiet of the countryside. I sleep restfully.

Yes. I sleep restfully.

I’m up before ten, to watch the frisky calves or the family of ducks, scolding at the snapping turtle that lurks in the pond. Mom makes me breakfast and coffee.

I still have to fight when I find myself alone and contemplative. But this place is changing me. Healing me. Slowly.

Tomorrow the rock tumbler will start a new phase. I’m searching for more rocks to polish.

More sights from my backyard

 

Michigan "suburb"

 

Rhymes with Strawberries

After a morning of picking strawberries in the hot sun, Mom and I listen to the Cranberries as we wash, stem, freeze, and put into pies, with fingers soaked and wrinkled with pink. The strawberry morning pleasantly washes away my culture shock of homegrown blonde families in khaki shorts and soccer-mom vests. This is Michigan. The strawberries are sweet.


The patio is decked with pansies, carnations, petunias, lilies, and fifteen other flowers I can’t name, and I can watch the hummingbirds feed. Across the pond, ducklings in a row, the cows are lolling in the shade or ambling among the bales of hay. Later, I think I'll go fishing from the back yard, behind the garden of squash, tomatoes, beans. There is no reason to tense up. There is no logic in my anxiety. This is Michigan. The summer is sweet.

I better start making babies

HUDSONVILLE IS STATE'S ONLY 'BEST' CITY FOR FAMILIES
Small-town flavor, arts and cost of living put it in book of top 100 places to raise kids

Hudsonville – Some may consider “top 100 city” lists to be the municipal equivalent of daily affirmation, but now Hudsonville has found out it’s good enough, smart enough and, doggone it, people like the town.

List czar Bert Sperling – whose lists include best cities, safest cities, best dating cities and cities with the most migraines – has included the suburb in his latest book, “Best Places to Raise Your Family.”

Hudsonville is the only Michigan city to make the list.

The book, co-authored by Peter Sander, notes Hudsonville’s “small-town flavor, arts and culture and the cost of living.” The cons include “cold, cloudy winters, urban sprawl and isolation.”

In its only appearance in the many sub-lists throughout the book, Hudsonville is listed among the 10 “best for the art(s) minded.”

However, most of the three pages devoted to Hudsonville heap praise on the suburb’s schools, affordable housing and access to amenities within a half-hour drive.

“Locals value this ‘oasis’ of country peace and quiet that’s so close to a vibrant city,” the book notes.

It all comes as no surprise to Don VanDoeselaar, who has lived his entire life in Hudsonville, serving first as the school superintendent and now as mayor.

“There’s always been a focus in this community on families,” said VanDoeselaar, noting that the listing is based on a ZIP code, which includes parts of surrounding townships. “We’re proud to be on a list of the best places for families in the U.S.”

He said the publicity could be helpful in attracting economic development and families to the area.

Chamber of Commerce Director Laurie VanHaitsma said the city has been working to create a “brand” for the area to sell it for development.

“This could be very useful,” she said. “I’ll have to bring I up at the next economic development meeting.”

reprinted without permission from The Grand Rapids Press, by Barton Deiters