Author Archives: PhotoGeek

Thursday Tales

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Today was a very good, but very long day!  I signed my new lease!  I went to Cheboygan!  I ate Thai food that was super yummy!  Then I went to my dad’s for the late afternoon and evening!

However, before we talk about any of that, or I show you my photos!  I have to tell on myself !  I definitely DERPED today!  We started our trip into Cheboygan with a visit to our  Chiropracter like always!  When it was my turn, I went into the room and put my things on a bench like I always do!  When I was done I gathered up my things and left like I always do!  We had been gone about 2 hours when we got a call from the receptionist asking if we had seen the Dr’s keys!  I looked into my purse and saw my keys!  We all said “No”! We forgot about it and finished up our day!  As we pulled into my apartment complex in Pellston, she called again because they had not yet found the keys, so she was double checking!  It was really bothering Gary (our Chiropracter,) that he had lost his keys!  I then had a weird feeling in the pit of stomach and looked into my purse again!  I again saw my keys!  I picked them up almost on instinct this time and under my keys were his! They had been on the bench beside my purse and when I gathered my things I thought they were mine and just pushed them into my bag!  So … COLOR ME RED!!!  I was so embarrased!  My brother had to drive back to Cheboygan and give back the keys!  Thankfully, he had other reasons for going back too, and it wasn’t just because I am a complete idiot!  I am NEVER going to live this down!  I may have to find a new Chiropracter! :(

Here are a few of the photos I shot while my brother went back to Cheboygan!

We finally have DAISIES!!!  I even caught a few bees and little bugs enjoying them too!  I love daisies because they mean we have moved from spring into summer!  Although it was only 39 degrees when we got up this morning!

I don’t know what kind of flowers these are, but JJ probably does! (:

I am not good at multi tasking!  I can’t hold the flowers and get a decent photo at the same time!  A few years ago JJ told me what these are, but I don’t remember what it was!  They grow all over up here!  If you open the round pod like things they are full of tiny, white, moist seeds!  They remind me of Cream Of Wheat! (:

The sky was so blue with pretty white clouds at about 5pm!  This is outlooking the field that used to be part of my grandparent’s farm!  I have run all over those fields with my cousins creating mischief as we went! (:

I keep mentioning my bestie JJ!  I have to bring her up again, because she has likes that lone funny shaped tree that I photograph at dusk every summer!  This was after the sunset, but the sky was still illuminated!  Am I correct in calling it “dusk”?

I hope you have had a great week too, with no stupid stunts like me!!!  I haven’t been here much because it is not only the holiday week, but Jordan is home!  That means LOTS of family time and outings!  We have been super busy, and have a few more days to go before life gets back to normal!

I want to wish a Happy 4th of July to all my American friends and followers!  I am all geared up for firework photos!  If you are outside the US, I hope you are having a wonderful week where you are!

I have missed you all so much!  Catch me up on what you have been doing this week?

Airport Day For Kay

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Hi there family and friends!  I warned you that I would be posting photo blogs!  Today Andy and I took Kay to the airport in Traverse City so that she could fly to Peoria, Illinois for her best friend’s birthday and graduation party!  She couldn’t get a flight out of Pellston, as it is our busy tourist season up here!  So, her loving Uncle Buck got her tickets out of the next closest airport over at Cherry Capital Airport and volunteered to drive her there!  Traverse City is about 113 miles southwest of Pellston!  Most of it is 2 lane too, so traffic can be crazy when you go through Petoskey and Charlevoix!

This is a very eccletic set of photos!  I just shot whatever looked interesting to me!  Let’s see if you think they are interesting too! (:

I didn’t know that any of these were still in service!  This one is on the side of a 7/11 party mart!

There was a bit of landscaping on the side of the 7/11, and I was impressed with this antique cream can and this birdhouse!  I am not sure how the birdhouse ended up being on the pole sideways, but still it was cool to me!

We ate a yummy brunch at the Flap Jack Shack!  I love the architecture of their restaurants! (:

Their prices are very reasonable, and the food was delish!  I was also impressed with the coffee creamer in the giant Coffee-mate mug!

I shot this crooked, but I had to post it and make an Airplane the movie reference!  Someone might remember that movie!  I find it hilarious!

Cherry Capital Airport is GORGEOUS!!!  I have never been in the terminal before!  I have flown in before and then immediately back out landing in Pellston!  They used to be owned by the same people, I think!  Anyhoots, I am so in love with that light fixture and the fireplace!  It is all very Frank Lloyd Wright looking!  Don’t I sound like a smarty pants?! (:  I actually stole that from Andy who knows architecture and interior design much better than I do!   After all, he is married to the best architect in the US!!!  I was sufficiently impressed with my surroundings!  I was expecting it to be closer to the size of the Pellston Regional Airport!  It is not!

I had Andy take a shot of us before she went through security!  I love you Kay Keiser! (:

A few more shots of girlfriend! (:

I will end with my favorite shot of the day!  They are both SO MUCH FUN!!!  I love them both with all of my heart !  I hope that Kay will have a great time with Vane, and return to us safely next week!

THANK YOU ANDY!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Shooting Some Hoops

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Saturday night before Kay got cut, I went with Trevor to play basketball and get a work out!  Of course, I had to take my camera and work on my action shot skills which are rather poor!  I usually blur them!  I am pretty happy with how these turned out!  So check out my AMAZING son!

The boy can jump!  I actually caught a few shots of him with both feet off the ground!  Annie does that with Hovis on the beach all the time, and I have always admired her skills! (:  However, I have never been able to focus fast enough!  Well, until now anyways! (:

The art of dribbling!  I should probably add, for what it is worth, both his dad and I played basketball in middle school and high school!  My brother played basketball too!  It kind of runs in the family!  Trevor, since his weight loss, has been playing at college with his friends for exercise!  He is trying to keep that going this summer! Luckily right behind our complex lies the elementary school!  School is out for the summer, so the playground is open to use! (:

I am SO incredibly proud of him!

He can even shoot it backwards! This made me laugh! (:

Like always, I will end with my favorite shot!  I hope to do this again sometime!  We can see how much we have both improved!

How was your weekend?

Happy Birthday Gracie!

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My Gracie just turned 13 years old !  You know what that means? You got it right! … BIRTHDAY BLOG time!!!  We didn’t have dinner for Grace, just cake and ice cream because her actual birthday was spent at an invitational figure skating competition!  She got a really sweet jacket/coat made in Italy from her parents while at the competition, and she placed 4th overall !  Way to go Grace!  Okay, lets get started!

Of course, she had to wear The Most Awesome Birthday Hat Ever! ( :

Her Mom and Dad bought her this AMAZING gourmet birthday cake!  I wish I knew the name of the place where they got it so I could give you a link!  That place is pretty impressive!  The cake was DELISCIOUS!!!

And … the little brothers all enthused!  They were either making faces for the camera or wouldn’t look at the camera at all!  So, I just took a shot of them as they were! ( :  Gary is wearing a tshirt that says “I tried to be good, but I got bored”!  I thought that was very cute and very appropriate for this little boy! (:

I tried to get a shot of all 4 of them together, but that didn’t work out too well! (:

Here we are singing Happy Birthday, and Grace decided to join in, singing Happy Birthday to herself ! (:

Make a wish and blow out the candles!  I wonder what she wished for!?!

Now it is time for the prezzies!  Gary thought maybe he could help her out! (:

It wouldn’t be a family birthday party if Jewels didn’t photo bomb at least once! (:

I bought her “teen magazines” since she is now officially a teen!  Plus, one of them had a big poster of One Direction in it!  I knew she would love that! Harry is her favorite!  I also got her candy, but it isn’t in the photos!  She didn’t want her little brother’s to open it up and eat it all!  Neither did the grown ups! (:

She got a matching handmade wallet and purse from her family, along with some crafting supplies, and the Duggar girl’s new book about how they grew up!  Again, her “big” present was her Italian coat that I never thought to photograph when she was showing it to us!  Bad Auntie! (:  I will try to get a shot of her in it the next time I see her!  It is really cool!  Those Italians are VERY classy! ( :

Here are a few more shots of the opening of the presents!

I will end with my favorite shot of the night!  I just can’t believe that beautiful little baby girl who gave me the great privilege of becoming an aunt for the very first time, is already a teenager!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY GRACIE!  I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!

My Visit To The Pellston Fire Department

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 I got to visit our local firehouse here in Pellston, Michigan where I happen to live!  My brother was doing computer work for them, and he invited me over to have a look around!  Our firefighters are all volunteers, so there isn’t always a crew in the building!  I got a look at everything without disrupting anyone and was able to photograph everything that caught my eye!

So here we go…PHOTOBLOG time!

I took these as I was walking up to the firehouse!  I think it is a very pretty building, and one that we can be very proud of!

I thought I would get a few shots of the signs that were around the building!

I ventured into the upstairs of the building, and found that it had a rather eerie feel to it!  There was dust on the floor and my shoes left prints!  That tells me that no one else has been up there in some time!  I thought this cracking paint looked like something from a haunted house, so I took a quick shot of it!  It was dark so I had to use a flash!  There is a basement in the building, but I wasn’t brave enough to go down there!  Basements often have mice, and I just don’t do mice! (:

Now for the AMAZING fire and rescue equipment:

This fire engine looked so pretty!  Just seeing it makes me feel safe in my decision to live in the beautiful village of Pellston!

This is my favorite shot of the day!

Here are some of the brave firefighter’s lockers where they have their gear ready to go the next time a call for help goes out!

This antique toy fire truck is sitting on top of someone’s desk area in the main office!  I absolutely love it! One day I hope to actually meet the fire chief and photograph his office too!  I could see through the window that he has a collection of antique clocks!  That would mean another photoblog! (:

A photo of a photo! (:  On the bulletin board they have a group photo of our volunteer firefighters posing with the big fire engine!

Just before we headed off to lunch and shopping, Andy took my camera and got this shot of me sitting on my new favorite engine!

So what is fire and rescue like where you live?  Have you ever been inside your firehouse?  If so, what was your favorite part?

THANK YOU TO EVERY PELLSTON FIREFIGHTER FOR THEIR SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY!!

Precious #7

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As you all know, I have had a crappy few weeks! Today is my first day back babysitting after being sick and having a tooth extracted !  I can’t think of a better way to share how I am feeling today, other than through the attempted words and antics of my little man!  I will post the photo and then narrate as I go!  Just wanted to let you know how this here blog is goin’ down!

On with the narration:

I spilled my morning snack on my shirt, so I took it off! I didn’t want a clean one, and it is warm enough inside that Auntie let me go without one! Speaking of Aunt Lory,  I don’t want her to take photos of me!  So I will run and hide under the coat rack in our mud room, laughing all the way!

I pinched my finger in the hinge on David’s sunglasses that I insist on playing with!  It hurted and I cried!  Aunt Lory kept snapping away at me!  Someday I am going to steal that camera!

I got hugs and kisses from Aunt Lory and a BooBoo Bag and that made it all better!

I did eventually put on the evil sunglasses that pinched my finger!  Don’t I look rad?  I definitely got it goin’ on!

Here is me looking all cute, so you will comment on my current state of blonde curls and overall cuteness!  So, yeah, leave your comments below! ( :

I hope you have a good rest of the week!

Shoe Tree

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Yesterday was Thursday, and we all know what that means … shopping day in Cheboygan!  As my dad and I were finishing up our shopping and errands, we were headed out of town and saw this tree!  It is just full of shoes thrown over the branches!

I have seen shoes thrown over an electrical or cable wire over a city streets, but never have I seen anything like this!

I have no idea what this is for, or what it means!  There was no explanation that I could find!  My dad is used to me and a very good sport, so he pulled over and waited while I shot a few photos!  Thanks Dad! ( :

You can also see in this shot, that the snow is almost gone!  WAHOO!!!  There are more piles of it yet to melt in Pellston, but Cheboygan is mostly clear!

Based on the fact that this tree is about 4 or 5 blocks from the highschool, and the style of the shoes in the tree, I am assuming it was done by teenagers!  No matter who put them up there, for whatever reasons, I thought it was rather cool and wanted to share it with you!  If, per chance, you know what this is about, please fill me in! (:

I also got to eat lunch at Your Spirit, Your Place and it was YUMMY!!!  The owner came up to me, even though they were BUSY, and gave me a big hug and thanked me for my blog about her restaurant!  It made me feel so good!  Someone was pleased with my efforts, and that is just the best feeling ever!  Most places they wouldn’t even remember me!  Not Dominique!  She recognized me right away!

SO MUCH HAPPY!!!

HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

A New Hangout

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This silly little girl kitty has now taken to hanging out in my laundry basket!  I had just done my laundry, so there isn’t much in there besides her!  She prefers having a basket full so she has a comfy place to lounge around! (:

Kay had to work today, so I went up and spent the day with my dad!  It was a good time!  We chatted about anything and everything!  We watched Let’s Make A Deal !  We both love that show!  We talked somemore and my dad made dinner!  YUM! I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I have 4 men who will now cook for me!  I love it because I hate cooking!!!  After dinner, we were watching the evening news when Kay called and said that she was ready to be picked up!  Now I am at home watching tv and hanging out on Buzznet!  I also have 2 kitty cats vying for my attention while I type this!  I love all of my girls so much! (:

 

Your Spirit, Your Place

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Our family has a new favorite lunch spot when we are in Cheboygan to do our shopping!  It is a wonderful little restaurant named Your Spirit, Your Place!  We have truly come to love it!  The food is all homemade, and the positive messages that they put out are quirky and completely amazing!  You will love it too, I promise!  I asked the owner if I could take photos of her business when we were there last week, and she said that I could!  I did take a few, and I shared one in a photo blog on my Buzznet account!  I also asked if I could write a full photo blog about the place, and she was nice enough to say that I could!  I can’t tell you how happy this made me!

Let’s get started with these hand painted and really fun tables !

Well Behaved Cowgirls Rarely Make History

A Coffee Shared With A Friend Is Happiness Tasted And Time Well Spent

Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of Yours And Mine Are The Same

Is It Time For Your Medication, Or Mine?

The Best Things In Life Are Furry

Do I Look Like A People Person?

To Gnome Me Is To Love Me

I couldn’t shoot them all because some were in use, but here are a few!  The one with my precious nephew, Gary, at the table was ours, obviously!  It is also upside down, but you can still clearly see the painted horse!

The work of several artists adorn the walls!  It is like a diner and an art exhibit all in one place! I am really impressed by the pretty paint scheme on the walls!  They are two colors that I would never think to put together, but they compliment each other so well!  I love it! (you are going to hear me say that often)

One wall even has a chalk board where you are welcome to share your thoughts!  I love this so much!  However, I couldn’t think of anything clever to share at the time!  I am sharing my photos now instead! Photos are my own contribution to the art world no matter how amateurish they may be!

The daily specials are written in chalk too!  I love this! (:

These lovely ladies were kind enough to let me take a shot of them while they were finishing up their lunch!

This is where the magic happens!  My favorite drink is their vanilla latte, and it is AMAZING!!!  If you are a fan of lattes, you definitely want to give this one a try!

Even the women’s lavatory is cheerful and fun!

Now for the important part … the FOOD!!!  Gary was having fun chewing on his straw after he finished his chocolate milk! (:  He enjoyed his scrambled eggs and bacon so much that we had to order him a second plate of eggs!  The staff were very generous and served him extra bacon as well!  He really appreciated this, and so did we!

They serve a very healthy menu that includes Vegan and Vegetarian dishes!  They even serve Australian Meat Pies!  You can see that I ordered my very favorite , the peanut butter chocolate chip french toast!  Words cannot describe how YUMMY it is!  I have also had their oatmeal, and it is real whole rolled oats, served with raisins, dried fruit, and slivered almonds!  I can’t say enough about a good bowl of oatmeal!  It can be very hard to find these days!

They serve both breakfast and lunch! Their Facebook page says that they serve Italian food too!  I didn’t know that!  I, obviously, have more things to learn about Your Spirit, Your Place!  Yet, I tend to be a creature of habit and will most likely order the french toast or the oatmeal! (:

For further information, be sure to visit their lovely Facebook page!  If you are pleased with what you find, be sure to hit that Like button while you are there!

There is a back room near the restrooms that has all of these pretty frames and other decorations!  I was traveling with a 2 year old, so I was out of time!  I will investigate these items further when I am there next week, and I will be sure to let you know exactly what I find!

After the other customers were done eating, I was able to get this larger shot of the dining room!

This is how cute it is from the outside, sitting on an old fashioned downtown block!

Well there you have it!  Your Spirit, Your Place is THE place to eat in Northern Michigan!  It has a little bit of absolutely  everything!  They have a menu with so many GREAT choices!  They have the most delightful and cheerful decor!  The food is absolutely delicious!  The owners and staff are so friendly and wonderful to chat with! They really create a welcoming atmosphere!

If you find yourself in downtown Cheboygan, Michigan, be sure to stop by and give Your Spirit, Your Place a try! You have my word that it will be a rewarding experience for your family and friends!

THANK YOU to Your Spirit, Your Place for allowing me to do this blog!

See you next time!

Smoochie

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This is our newest addition to our little family!  She is a precious little kitten that Kay named Smoochie!  We have had her 7 weeks now!  She has tripled her size because she eats constantly!  In addition to being precious and cute, she is also a little terror!  She torments our other cat, Robyn, who is getting older and definitely does NOT want to play!  Smoochie just doesn’t understand why!

Tonight I got up out of my bed where I was watching tv, and when I returned, I found that Smoochie had kept my spot warm for me!  Thank you Smoochie!