Been a busy couple
weeks. Classes have started and there is the usual initial rush that will
hopefully die back a little. I’m teaching two classes at LCC and co-teaching
one at MSU. The two LCC classes I have done before and I pretty much have them
down pat. Not so the MSU class. This is with the English Dept. and very
different from what I normally do. We are mapping novels and examining the role
of the mapped space in the novels. There is a good bit on the theory of space
and mapping thrown in too. So I have been crazy busy.
Not that there hasn’t
been some fun in the mix. We’ve been getting in some birding and hiking. I hit
a stretch of the Huron River in Island Lake State Recreation Area to do some
dragonfly photography. I wade in the diver wearing waders and pull a rubber
raft holding the camera equipment. Not too many cooperative dragonflies but I
got a few damselfly pictures. More importantly, I got to play on the river.
Can’t beat that.
American rubyspot
male.
American rubyspot
female.
Mating stream bluets.
Unknown damselflies
mating.
Unknown damselflies
ovapositing.
Unknown female
spreadwing damselfly.
And I got a little black and white time in. My neighbors saw me laying on my back in the driveway to take this.
Tree of Heavan. An obnoxious invasive but it looks kind of neat with back light.
We also did a trip to
drink a Moscow Mule. The Moscow Mule was invented many moons ago at a bar in
Harrisburg Pa. A proper Moscow Mule consists of vodka, ginger beer, and lime
juice, served over ice in a chilled copper mug. For a while Dad worked up in in
Harrisburg and I believe the drink had quite a local following when he worked
there.
When I was about
four, Dad got a job back down in Lebanon. I don’t think he had a Moscow Mule
after that. I don’t know that ginger beer was ever a commonly stocked item and
copper mugs were even harder to find. I remember him getting excited when he
would find ginger beer, saying all he needed now was to find copper mugs. I’m
pretty sure he went a long time without a Moscow Mule.
I’ve never heard much
of the drink anywhere else and I believe it generally fell out of favor. Well
the Moscow Mule has become a bit trendy again. Zoobies, a bar in Lansing’s Old
Town, makes a traditional Moscow Mule. Complete with chilled copper mugs. So
Lise and I did a little trip there and drank a toast to Dad.
The Moscow Mule.
Here’s to a good man.
Jumping to a
completely different topic, since Fido died we don’t have a pet in the house
for the first time in many years. I’m not opposed to getting another bearded
dragon but Molly is putting on pressure to get a hedgehog. So now every time I
turn on a computer the background has been changed to a new hedgehog picture.
Like Sebastian, the flying hedgehog.
A potato with feet
and a nose.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 