Author: Nancy J. Moncrieff

Our neighbor Cory hailed me in the yard recently, and we met for a chat on our adjoining lawns.      “Public service announcement,” he said.  “New digging by the lilac bushes suggests groundhog or skunk activity between our back yards.”      I waited for the public-service portion of the program.  Cory, who recognizes cluelessness when… Continue reading Going About Our Lives

“What kind of bird do you think that is, sitting on the deck railing?” my friend Pat asked her husband this week.  She was in the kitchen looking out the window at the deck, which is one story above the back yard.  Len was in the dining room, looking out a window from which he… Continue reading Turkeys, Cable, and Happiness

There’s a hint of blue in the sky today.  Not much of a hint, but most welcome.  For a long time now, we’ve been dealing with the smoke of Canadian wildfires.  Our northern neighbor is battling fires that just won’t go out.  The smoke must be a breath-to-breath challenge near the fires, and it’s no… Continue reading Hint of Blue

It rained nearly five inches in Ypsilanti this Wednesday.  My friend Lee lives there and reports that there was three feet of water in the street in front of her house.  How did she know how deep the water was?  She and intrepid neighbors were out in it, making sure the drains were clear.      … Continue reading Bubbles of Happiness

The dog is writhing on the living room floor and punctuating that activity with long, high-pitched cries.  He is not sick, although he could be described as under the weather.  In short, he got rained on.      We’d gone a few blocks on our morning constitutional when the grey sky began to leak.  No problem. … Continue reading Wet Dog and Butterfly

Weather history was made right here in Ann Arbor today.  The Ann Arbor Art Fair is going on now.  It covers thirty city blocks and features a thousand artists.  By time-honored tradition, it also, seemingly without fail, features the worst weather of the summer.  The organizers even fiddled with the dates one year, to no… Continue reading Weather History

Mosey was the top speed Sue and I hit on our walk around the neighborhood today, as the weather continued hot and muggy.  Turns out mosey is a fine speed for admiring things.  On Georgetown, for instance, we stopped to admire a monarch butterfly feeding on the milkweed in someone’s garden.  It was picture perfect,… Continue reading Sue Takes Pictures

This morning’s walk was a double double.  Burrito was the first.  The neighbor’s two kids passed us, chugging up the hill as Rascal and I were going down it.  The kids were, ostensibly, walking the family’s puppy.  In truth, it wasn’t obvious who was walking whom.  The pup is a Great Dane that joined the… Continue reading Double Double

At this time of year every year, as we near the Fourth of July, flowers at our house turn red, white, and blue.  Or the floral equivalent thereof—blue is hard to come by in flowers.  Unlike the neighbor down the street, who plants a patriotically themed garden every year, I can take no credit for… Continue reading Summer Signs

     Some roads are scenic.  Some are direct.  In 1959, the city of Ann Arbor planned Huron Parkway to be both.   The boulevard links north to south on the city’s east side, traversing the Huron River and one of the city’s golf courses and passing various parks and nature areas.  For much of its length,… Continue reading The Human Thermometer