Moncrieff in Michigan

Summer has officially arrived, and baby animals are making their way in the world.  Sue reports the groundhog that terraformed the compost pile at her house has now populated it with babies.  Said babies are called pups, kits, or—the best one—chucklings.  They’re old enough now to come out to play, explore, and climb all over… Continue reading Chucklings and Peaches

Janice and I went to a drag revue at the library last Friday night.  The library advertised it as family friendly, and there were only four performers, so it may well not have been a representative sample of drag revues.  It was interesting.      The librarian on hand to introduce the event issued attendees with… Continue reading Drag Revue

There is so much construction going on in Ann Arbor right now that the common complaint is that the city doesn’t want us to go anywhere.  Fortunately, the route between our house and the downtown library is still passable, and I’ve traveled it three times in the last three days.       On Tuesday, the draw… Continue reading Library Concerts

Our house has been under siege for weeks now.  No matter what egress we choose, there is a guard.  We are delighted.  The guards are male cardinals.  Earlier this spring, our next-door neighbor reported five male cardinals having a sing-off in their yard and expressed doubt that the yard could support five cardinal families.     … Continue reading Scarlet Guardians

Before CoVid, the neighbors on our court got together for picnics on Memorial Day and Labor Day.  On Monday, we had the first court picnic since then.  It was great.  Also, the flier that went around announcing the event beforehand was a big improvement over the old one.      The old flier instructed everyone to… Continue reading Court Picnic

“Origami Exhibition,” the Ann Arbor Observer listing for last Saturday said.  “Public showcase of contemporary paper art, featuring nearly 50 of the world’s leading origami designers.”  That sounded worth braving the rain, and it was.  Regrettably, the exhibition was in the same room at the same time as after-lunch speakers, so the space was dimly… Continue reading Like Naming Children

My sister Carol, who lives four hours north of here, sees pileated woodpeckers all the time.  They even come to one of her feeders.  We’ve seen as many as nine of them chowing down there at once.  It’s quite a show.  You don’t see them much this far south, and they’re the sort of birds… Continue reading Pileated

My honey and I found ourselves commiserating over dinner this week, that walks are duller without our dog.  My selection process for Rascal included verifying that he was cheerful, and he was.  He was particularly upbeat about going for walks.  He was excited about them, every time.      Years ago, Dave Barry wrote a column… Continue reading Low and Large

My honey and I did a library run a couple days ago, to stock up on reading matter.  This is generally a joint affair that fills a Topo Designs bag.  Not so this time.  My sweetheart stayed in the car.  It’s not that he’s given up reading.  It’s just that he’s stuck in a book. … Continue reading Lynley and Chips

Our house is noisy.  It produces all sorts of odd sounds.  We’ve had dogs up until now, and thus didn’t know this about the house.  We have, it seems, attributed any small indoor disturbance to the dog.  Now that Rascal is no more, that doesn’t work, leading to conversations along the lines of, “I didn’t… Continue reading Noisy House