#71: Walk on the beach, 20x

First, let me say that I am posting this from a fort! It's a pretty grey, sad looking day, so I built myself a fort, taking over a corner of the living room, and blocking off the bathroom from Robert (bwahahaha, there's no way his giant self can crawl through this fort!). It's complete with couch cushions to lay on, lots of pillows, and twinkle lights strung up to make it extra-cozy. I'm loving this thing.

In the past few weeks I have gone on two camping trips on Lake Huron. One with my friend Jess and her 2-year-old daughter, Lively to East Tawas ("The Cape Cod of the Great Lakes", apparently). We hung out on the beach, I flew a kite, and we went swimming in the lake, but didn't necessarily go for a walk on the beach.

The lake was beautiful there, we were sort of in a bay, and the water was so clear. We walked out probably about 1/4 mile and the water was barely up to our hips, and we could still clearly see our feet.



Then, the next week, I went camping with my mom in her RV, to Sleeper State Park, in the thumb, right outside of Caseville. (Okay, so, Michigan is shaped like a hand, right? I think everyone knows that. Us Michiganders use our hands as maps quite often, pointing to places on our palms and fingers. So, the area that is in what looks like the thumb, we literally refer to it as "The Thumb".) We went for a walk on the beach both nights that we were there.





That's Mom explaining to me the scientific theory of arches. She was such a scientist on these walks. On the other walk she explained to me that zebra muscles are bad because, "They eat something or do something." But seriously, Lake Huron, in most places, is pretty murky these days, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the invasion of the zebra muscles. Just another reason why Lake Superior is the best Great Lake, we didn't have zebra muscles, and our water was very clear!


That's Professor Debbie herself.

We also went to a farmer's market while we were in the thumb, thereby checking off another one from list item #60: go to 50 farmer's markets. (I really gotta pick up the pace on this one! I've only got 8 down)


I think we did it wrong. First of all, it was the weirdest farmer's market I've ever been too, because there were way more flea market/antiques/sunglasses/knock-off louis vitton handbag booths than there were actual produce booths. Plus, puppies for sale! We spent time wandering around all the booths, not looking at much, other than antiques and a book/cigar box booth that kept us occupied for awhile. By the time we got to the actual food booths, they sounded the horn that the vendors could start packing up. To top it off, we had brought a lot of produce with us on the trip, so we didn't need any more for our trip, and we couldn't remember what we had at home or what we'd need. So, by the time we left, I had bought a cigar box, and Mom had bought two cigar boxes, a few books as gifts (including one for me about airplanes in the '40s. Let me tell you, that is all sorts of right up my alley), a plate of brownies, and a cinnamon roll. Oh well.

Here's a couple more cute pictures from Mom and I's trip, mostly on a walk through the hiking trails in the park. (I went for a jog through them at dusk...I was doing my cooldown walk until I looked over and saw a deer staring at me...and promptly screamed and ran! I'm not interested in talking to any wildlife at nighttime! If there's a deer looking at me, there's probably also a bear or bigfoot with its eye on me.)

#31 & #32: Making and selling journals on etsy

31. Make 12 new book journals (2/12)
32. Get etsy shop back up and running and sell 12 journals (3/12)

So, I had gotten this up and running last year, and then I got busy and all of the listings lapsed, but I have recently started making new journals (I've only completed 2, but I have about 5 half-done) and listing everything again. I've also started making some felt kindle cases and have listed those in the shop as well. Go ahead and check out my esty shop, Literary Ruin.

I sold this journal and I've been featured in a few treasuries--here's the latest one, Upcycled Nerd.

#73: Read 30 books, Part IV.

The next five....




#16: Island in the City: How Belle Isle changed Detroit forever by Janet Anderson
This was a Christmas gift from my mother. Belle Isle is my favorite place in Detroit. The conservatory is a must-visit. This book contained a history of the island, from it's use by Native Americans, to trappers using it to breed pigs (because predators couldn't get on the island, hence its French name Ile aux Cochons--Hog Island), to private ownership, and it eventually being given to the city of Detroit and turned into a public park. I know the island is still popular among residents of Detroit and suburbs alike, but you wouldn't believe some of the photos in this book where all four or five lanes of traffic were bumper to bumper with all the weekend swimmers, fishers, gamblers, etc. This book was fresh in my mind when I came up with my derby name--Belle Isle Hurtya (say it out loud)--and my number--1879--is the year that the city acquired the park. I couldn't find a photo of the cover, I found this picture here.






#17: The Lake, the River and the Other Lake by Steve Amick.
I picked this up on a whim at the library, mostly because I liked the cover, and then because it was set in a Northern (Lower Peninsula) Michigan town. But, honestly, I just wasn't wowed as I thought I would be. There were so many different characters that it focused on mostly separately, that it felt like I was always getting backstory, and then when it all came together, it just wasn't all that exciting. And that one part about the priest...well that just creeped me right out.




#18: Zapotec Women: Gender, Class and Ethnicity in Globalized Oaxaca by Lynn Stephen
This was a gift from my friend Blair. I was super excited by the title, but most of the lengthy book is a detailed description of the inner workings of the textile industry in one specific city. It's really an ethnographical study of that city, and textiles, not Zapotec Women as a whole. About halfway through the book it did get in to more discussion of class and gender, and a lot about how the tourism industry affects portrayals of their ethnicity.




#19: Down and Derby: The Insider's Guide to Roller Derby by Kasey Bomber and Axel Rose
I borrowed this book from my friend Sam. It was good, I learned a lot about this history of roller derby. One of my favorite parts was a quote from a newspaper reporting one of the original roller skating marathons (the winner died after skating for six days straight!), saying that the skating rink was, "...a place where good-looking scoundrels do a great deal of damage." I couldn't agree more! It also took you through the birth of modern roller derby. It's good, but had a distinct lack of any mention of the Detroit Derby Girls, whatsoever! They had a whole section on Whip It, and they talked about the girls that trained the actresses, and some of the girls from other popular leagues that skated in the movie, but nothing about DDG eventhough it was filmed in Detroit/Ypsi, and featured a lot of DDGs! I mean, c'mon, Racer McChaseHer got punched in the face by Drew Barrymore! Total oversight.




#20: Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Dog Problems by Cesar Milan.
My mom's beau recently adopted a puppy, and since my mom lives with him most of the time, she's navigating her way through the new role of dog owner. Guys, my mom never really liked dogs. She's been scared of big dogs since childhood, and didn't seem to mind small dogs, but wasn't all that in to them. But once my dog learned not to jump all over her when she came over, she's been softening to them. And now she's totally a dog person! It's great to see how much she loves Chance, and that new puppy! (Whose name is Sugar and has a super-sweet face to go along with the name.) After having the puppy at her house for a few nights, she decided she was ready to have Chance over, so we had a little sleepover, and now we have a dog-sitter! At one point, she even had her own dog park, with three dogs running around her backyard. Bonkers. Anyways, she checked out a few of Cesar's books from the library, and had me borrow one. I watched his show Dog Whisperer before I had a dog, and I do love his personality and his humor. And so when I was preparing for dog ownership I looked up a lot of articles on being a "pack leader". But some of the things were just ridiculous and made life way too difficult. Like, the pack leader eats first...but what if we ate awhile after his dinner time? Was I supposed to eat a snack in front of him and then feed him? Or, you can't ever loose a staring contest with yr dog? So every time we lock eyes, I can't look away until he does? Anyways, I just kept getting really frustrated and angry when he wasn't accepting my dominance or whatever, and when I took a dog training class, I realized how ridiculous that approach was and found that positive reinforcement worked so much better for us (just like students!), and kept me from getting frustrated so much. But, I still read this book with a open mind, and certainly learned a few things. I don't doubt what he says, it's just not the right approach for me I guess?