Today

December 2cd is my favorite day of the year. On this day in 1991 I surrendered and my life got alot better. Thank you to all that have helped me along the way,

Fall Road Trip

Went on a fall road trip which involved riding my bicycle in the Hilly hundred tour of southern Indiana, 100 miles in 2 days on some pretty big hills. I then headed to the Great Smoky Mountains. Visited with my good friends and got to bicycle the Cades Cove area surrounded by fall colors.

A chilly start

Then some rain

Weather got better and the hills got bigger

About 8000 bicycles participated

Some really beautiful scenery

Yep , im still smiling about mile 80

Mt Tabor , the most grueling hill of the tour

Cades cove in the great smoky mountains

Up in the mountains

Nice fall walk

Took the dog for a walk in the woods today, Tagged some trees for tapping for syrup next spring. 

A Fall Bouquet

On the bridge facing west

On the bridge facing east

In the woods

Beauty at 70 mph

Here is a flower i picked from the side of the freeway today. I have driven by them plenty of times and never seen them up close. These perennial Sweet Peas ( Lathyrus latifolius ) are quite beautiful.

Leelanau Bicycle Ride

We went up to the Leelanau peninsula of michigan this weekend and rode bicycles. The ride was hard but we had fun.

Barn at Sleeping Bear Dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Sunset on Bass Lake

A Swan saying "HI"

An interesting find

I got this Estey children's reed organ from the 1950's at a garage sale for 10 bucks, , Haven't been able to find any online to compare it with. wasn't working but I found the problem and it works fine. 

Where I've Been all summer

 After my retreat i purchased a cyclocross bicycle to get healthier and enjoy the outdoors, We started to go to kensington park which has a very good paved bike trail every other day. Then we went north to Torch lake and did a group ride. I also went to Grand haven with my daughter for her birthday on the Harley. (I have something for 2 wheels) I went canoeing also down the Shiawassee river. All this time I had a pinched nerve in my lower back that was very painful and made it very difficult to walk but i could ride just fine. It finally left me 2 days ago. 2 months of pain!!!! Well thank God its gone. Here are some pics from all that.

Traverse Bay

My New Bike 

Redoute Rose

Canoeing the river

Love this sign

The shiawassee river

Stand of Lotus at Kensington park

Some Skull

The national Shiawassee wildlife refuge

A beautiful Egret at the refuge

Grand Haven beach

Having fun

A Great Blue Lobelia off the bike path

We see these cranes almost every time we ride at kensington park

Retreat House

Black raspberries are one of my favorite  foods

Nice bush of Hardy cactus

Closeup of cactus flower

Went on my annual mens retreat this past weekend. The grounds are beautiful and i go walking quite a bit. here are some pics from there.