Closed up my work laptop, drove home, put all my work stuff away, processed the mail, walked over to the Plum Market and back, and talked to my neighbor — baby in March plus phd stuff. I definitely understand the baby stuff but I don’t understand the phd stuff, being a lowly info-tech worker with a dusty old music degree. Anyway. Whew! One hour! It definitely helps that the portion of Jackson that snarled up my commute all summer is largely done done done and they have installed a SECOND LEFT TURN SIGNAL for those of us who exit the I94 18-wheel Slogway, hang a right and then *try* to hang a louie onto N. Maple. Thank you Zeus!

You guys? What the heck am I gonna do about winter tennies this year? Besides stretch another year out of my moth-eaten old LL Beans ones, that is. The ones that they don’t make [correctly] any more. I have very specific requirements. They have to be comfortable. They have to be comfortable. They cannot have laces that you have to tie. I cannot abide laces. They have to be comfortable. They have to be comfortable. They have to be warm. They have to be lightweight. Iyam not climbing mountains around here. They have to be comfortable. They have to be comfortable. I need to be able to strap YakTrax (and sometimes snowshoes) onto them. They have to be comfortable. Did I say that they have to be comfortable. I HATE to shop. I especially hate to shop in person but I may have to. Old Man Winter is showing us glimpses of his grizzled old face. Lows in the upper 20s tonight? I need to be ready. Note to self: order some YakTrax! Now!

I had to laugh. I spent a sniggly little bit of time over the weekend “helping” demo an old storefront in Detroit so that my daughter’s friend could renovate it and move a pie-baking (etc.) business into it. Lots of young folks were helping and a few baggy old kayak women. At one point, there were some inquiries into introductions among the young folks and I wasn’t exactly included. That was okay with me. It isn’t even the nitsy-est nit. I was into the zen of peeling old wallpaper off a wall and I am almost never a social butterfly and these were all really nice people and I was with my daughter and I had a *great* time even though I didn’t feel like I was a whole lot of help. Then my beach urchin asked me the question, “Moom, do you think we’ll have another Polar Vortex this winter?” The only answer I can give to that is, “I don’t know.” But then, somehow we got on to typical winters in the southeastern Great Lake State and I *can* speak to that and, when I mentioned that I had grown up in the Yooperland, I sensed that people took a wee bit of notice. Because last year’s winter was much like the ones we had up there in the Yooperland. The ones where we could walk on top of the snowbanks to get to school.

Oh yeah, the Sandhill Cranes. Ho-hum. Walked outside this afternoon to put something in the Ninja (or take something out of it, I don’t remember). Three of these guys! Sorry about the pixelated photo. You know I only use an iPhone camera and you know that you get what you get.

Oh, did I give the young man next door any advice about having a baby? I don’t think so. I did tell him that I wouldn’t give him any advice but then I think I talked about how it’s easy to take the first baby anywhere you want to go but once you have two (or more) it gets challenging. If I could revisit the conversation, I think I would say something like, “My advice to you is to not listen to any advice from baggy old kayak women like me.”

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