Detroit's Big Crush

Warning -- loaded with photos!

Yesterday my friend Eddie and I ventured down to the downtown area of Detroit.  This is an area full of revitalization and energy.  My roommate works there and loves it.  Despite what many people think, it's one of the safest areas.  Come to think of it, though, I don't remember seeing a single policeman -- isn't that odd considering we were down there for over 7 hours?  Here's a map of the area we covered.

The wine stroll began at the D-Hive on Woodward.  They are kind of a visitors center with information on activities, businesses, and housing.  There's a cute locally-produced gift shop that I'll have to go back to soon.

There were 11 establishments altogether on the tour and it covered several blocks.  Maybe I walked off some of the calories??  This area of the city experienced a lot of growth in the first quarter of the last century so a lot of the buildings have an Art Deco influence.  I took nearly 90 pictures and I won't post them all here (thank goodness!) but I did post a collage on my Facebook page if you want to see them there.

Here are some of my favorites.  I am amazed at the quality of pictures with my new Nikon Coolpix P510 camera, written about back on this post.  Some of the shots were of building features many stories up from the ground, including the first shot below.  The clarity is remarkable!

Here's another one of my favorite zoom shots, taken of the building that used to house Meyer Treasure Chest Jewelers:

These treasure chests wrapped around the building, about 4 stories up.  Amazing clarity!

We had plenty to drink:

It was super windy by the end of the stroll -- my hair was a wreck!  So much for my visit to the salon that morning.  Even heavy duty hair spray wouldn't have helped me!

Now do you believe me??

This light fixture was hanging above our heads at the Sky Bar.  I took the photo of its reflection in the mirror that ran along the bar wall.

Here are a few of the places on our route:

We ended up at Cliff Bell's for dinner.  A nice little jazz combo band was playing while we ate.  I had a bowl of cheddar ale soup and some delicious mac & cheese:

We left the restaurant, full and tired, and headed back to where I had parked my car.  I was still snapping away at the local sites as it began to rain.  Here is the shot of a building where they're saving only the façade, taken before dinner:

And here's the building, looking south, right through it, a bit later:

 Notice the building on the right advertises 'great views'.

The rain began to come down harder.  We dashed in and out of building entrance ways along Woodward:

It got so bad we finally had to duck into a bus stop shelter.  I took this shot while inside it, looking toward Comerica Park, where the Tigers were playing the Yankees:

I love this shot!  I also love my new camera and can't wait to see my grandson again so I can use it on him!

%&#@ Dog !

She did it again.  Miss Naughty Girl was bored and look what she found in my Craft Cave tonight:

Yep, $12 worth of pretty girly buttons, attacked and destroyed while I watched the evening news.  Only the little pink one appears unscathed.  Damn her anyway.  I was going to use these on a sweater for a little girl.  Now Miss Naughty Girl will have to spend the rest of the night in her crate.  Until and unless my roommate lets her out of her dungeon.  Arrgghh!

I took these pictures with my new Nikon Coolpix P510 camera.  Here's a picture of my first Nikon, a Coolpix S8000 camera:

Almost from the get-go I had trouble with the 'on' button of my first Nikon camera, something I found others on the Web experienced too.  Many times I'd press the button and it wouldn't turn on, or if it did it would turn off right away.  When you're trying to take a picture of the world's cutest grandson and the camera won't respond fast enough -- it's time to put it in the time-out corner too.  Before I do that, here's one last picture taken with it though:

It's a bridge camera.  I thought I wanted a Nikon DSLR but then I saw the Nikon J1 mirrorless camera at Costco.  After hemming and hawing about both of them for about 90 minutes I realized I really didn't want to bother changing lenses and fooling with either camera very much.  So I checked out the Nikon Coolpix  P510 because after all these years, I still like the point-and-shoot concept.  It's not very sophisticated but it works for me.  

I'm hoping to take many, many wonderful pictures with it and I'll start tomorrow when I attend the Detroit's Big Crush with my friend Eddie.  It's a wine/food stroll wrapped around a walking tour and architecture study in downtown Detroit, right near where my roommate works.  With any luck the rain that's been falling since last night will be gone by noon tomorrow and the sun will come out.  More pictures coming soon.

Have a great weekend!

Roots

Today I'm talking about two completely different kinds of roots.

First, I've been having issues lately getting my hair cut and colored.  The grey roots start popping out at me and I can't get to the 'groomer' fast enough.  For several years I was going to a nearby barber shop where Kyle coiffed my hair for me.  Things were going great until one day in April when I showed up for my appointment and he was no longer working there.  Not good.  I hate finding a new stylist the way I hate finding a new doctor.  Ugh.  But I looked around and decided on a shop close to my house.  The price was right and I got in the following week.

Ashley did a nice job on my hair so I made another appointment this month.  Last Friday I sat down in her chair, she put my cape on and left to mix my color.  She reappeared with tears in her eyes.  Her father had been taken to the local hospital by ambulance and she asked if she could leave.  She insisted on mixing my color up and said another stylist would take over.  Absolutely not, I said, you need to leave right now!  So she took off my cape and I left.  Right now every time I look in the mirror I swear those roots are getting longer and longer.  I'll try to get back over there later this week.

The other root issue I've been having has to do with my flower beds.  I bought a Groupon back in March to have a landscaping company send out three guys for three hours for $99.  Seemed like a bargain to me since my hands are so bad, gardening is completely out of the picture.  I called, waited, called, waited, called some more, waited some more, and finally today I had had it.  I called again at 4 pm only to find out they were already at my house!  So much for calling the Friday before they come out.

I wanted to be there to make sure everything I wanted out got removed and everything I wanted to stay stayed.  I bolted out of the office and zipped home.  Too late.  My beds were pilfered.  The sad thing is I had to ask them to remove the invasive grass and Snow on the Mountain that they had left in the beds -- something all too obvious to me!  Bleeding Hearts - gone, Columbines - gone, Japanese Balloon Flowers - gone.  Butterfly Bush -- cut down.  Arrgghh!

On the bright side -- the yard looks better, naked, but better.  Now I have to figure out what to put in its place.  I think I'll hire a different landscaper for that!

Changes Ahead

When you're overweight you often don't see yourself that way.  Or at least you don't think it's that bad.  Pictures don't lie, they say, and they're absolutely right.  One of my problems is that I don't have a full length mirror in my house so I never really see how bad I look.  In my mind's eye I'm the same as I was 30 years ago but in reality, that's far from the truth.  I'm disappointed in myself -- that I let myself get to this point.  It's so much harder to lose weight than it is to put it on.  Wouldn't it be great if you could just flip a switch and make it all go away??

I was talking to my next door neighbor today.  Her husband had a mild heart attack back in March.  For the last 6 weeks they've switched their diets to near-vegan and he's had an incredible turn-around in his 'numbers'.  His triglycerides were 683 and now it's dropped to 130; his overall cholesterol was 226 and now it's 90; and he's lost 15 pounds.  This is remarkable to me.  They no longer eat meat of any kind, sugar, white products, or alcohol.  In addition he quit smoking.  I'm so used to seeing them on their front porch in the summer evenings, he relaxing with a cigar while they each sip a glass of wine.

I can't imagine adopting their diet regimen -- it's so extreme for me.  I suppose if I was confronted with the same prognosis as him, I could buckle down and make the switch.  Right now I can't imagine going meat-less.  I love grilled meat in the summertime.  I enjoy a great piece of fish.  I just need to eat less meat, a bit more fish, and overall, less of everything.

One thing is for certain -- I can't keep packing on the pounds without having some serious consequences.

As If.....

...I have run out of crafty ideas, I spotted this project that might be leaping to the top of my list.  I love the idea of re-purposing vintage linens.  When I'm able to knit again, I might try this recipe for scrubbers.  Many thanks to the Haby Goddess for the instructions and inspiration.

Grillin' Time

Yesterday the weather was so nice but a bit on the warm side for me.  I guess I like it at 80º F or less to be comfortable and 87º is too much for me to do too many things outdoor.

I did buy a new Weber tabletop gas grill yesterday and got it put together in time to make a nice steak dinner.  I even cooked the mushrooms on the grill -- a first for me.  Usually I saute them in a pan with butter but I'm back to dieting again, so that's a no-no.

It's small but most of the time I'm just cooking for myself.  The steak and mushrooms came out great.  I also had some new-to-me Golden Beets, which were in my latest Door to Door Organics box:

I added a tossed salad, low fat Marzetti Ranch dressing, and called it good!

As for my latest attempt at losing weight, my doctor took one look at my latest stats and said 'Try Weight Watchers -- it really works'.  So since I usually listen to my doctors, I joined the online version along with a co-worker and together we hope to encourage each other.  So far I'm down 6 pounds so something's going right.  Must...keep...going....  I think the grill will help me cook more healthily too.

Another Quilt Show

Yesterday my friends Sue and Mary headed out to Lansing with me for the Capital City Quilt Guild show in Lansing.  It was a beautiful day and a lovely quilt show.  Road construction -- not so lovely!  Arghh!!  But I did have one driver honk at me and ask what my license plate meant.  Love my fiber, I said, and she motioned like someone taking a pill and I said No!, like quilting and knitting!  Gotta laugh when you can when you're stuck in a 6 mile long back up.

This was one of my favorites, a version of a Barb Adams design.

Scottie quilt for Joyce, who couldn't come with us.

This quilt was very interesting.  The bottom half, all quilting, is a reflection of the design on the top half!

Isn't this wild animals in shoes quilt a clever one?  Sassy monkey is not wearing their shoes!

Love the croc in Crocs!

Here's one of Mary's favorites:

Sue's favorite:

Another one of Mary's favorites:

Loved this one, could be good in wool, too.

Hmmm....this one could be great in wool too......ideas forming here!

I really enjoyed this quilt -- the bear's face is unbelievable -- be sure to click on the photos for more detail.

Inspiration for me to get my half square triangle blocks made up:

Round Robin quilt, done by one person -- interesting.

I like the piping in the binding edge of this quilt:

Hand appliqued, hand quilted beauty: