Ann Arbor by day!

Driving into the city I started noticing how it wakes up like any other and I started noticing the happiness in the air. The late summer temperatures are changing and life is starting to pick up in this college town.....

We started out at the farmers market where the colors all around were so bright and the offerings were a feast for all my senses....

I had not seen such a bright selection of vegetables like this in a long time....

Blueberries were nice and large.....

Plums of a different color.....

Can you just taste these in your salads?

I could just stare at all of the beautiful fruit for hours but we needed to keep moving. 

We then walked over to the world famous Zingermans Deli. 

Where I had to buy this shirt.... Life is what you make of it and mine is currently full of rainbows and unicorns!

As we continued this sign lured me to it!

Back through the farmers market and the flowers were blindingly beautiful!

Kevin had a surprise for me but we had to wait until twelve noon. My surprise was that I was going to get the opportunity to play the Kerrytown bells. Not many get this opportunity and I really enjoyed myself. 

Ann Arbor has so much color all around. 

There's so much energy all around and people looking forward to their day....

Creativity is all around and sometimes a little bit of silliness hits me as I walk along...

Inspiration to not care what anyone says and just enjoy what's in front of me...

Throw your hands up and enjoy life!

Just get out and walk or run....

Bring a smile to others faces...

Let them know how beautiful they are....

Make their day a little brighter. Maybe they will forget their worries for a moment...

Remember that life is colorful if you choose to look the brightness around us!

A story of love on The Moth radio show.

My friend Kevin had mentioned to me last week about going to a local club named The Circus in Ann Arbor and listen to some story telling. By now I think you know that I'm always up for a new adventure and since I had never been to such an event it peaked my interest. 

The Moth is a radio show produced locally by Michigan Public Radio where Kevin's husband Rusty works. He had mentioned to me that we might be asked to judge the stories. Well guess who was asked to judge, yep Kevin and I were one pair of three that were judging the contest. I'm sure he knew we were going to be judging before hand but he didn't want to scare me off!

The evening consists of ten stories which must be true and about five minutes long. If the person goes longer than five minutes they get a warning and then pretty much needs to close before six minutes. There were only a couple of people that went over the allotted time. 

The three judging couples are asked to name themselves for the scorekeeping. So Kevin and I decided to name ourselves 'White? Really!'  It seemed to be a good one because people laughed out loud!  The named needed to be related to weddings so the other two teams were named 'Mad Love' and 'Dearly Beloved'.

Since Kevin was the one taking this picture he couldn't be in it with Rusty and I.

The place was crowded with about three hundred paying attendees. I had no idea how popular this show is. There was no empty seats in the house. 

If there are more than ten stories to be told, then ten of them get pulled from a bag and the rest don't get to tell their stories unfortunately. 

After listening to five stories there was a fifteen minute intermission. While on this break I asked the host Satori Shakoor, herself a winner of a previous story telling session and now host, and Patricia Wheeler who is the producer of the show, if Kevin and I could take our picture with them? They are two beautiful ladies. Thank you for making me part of your night. 

When we came back the sixth person to go up was a gentleman named Bill Kreiger. Up to this point all of the stories had been good, they had held my interest and we had given good scores to everyone. Bill got up on stage and started telling his story about getting out of the shower one day and before he could reach for a towel he heard the following words "I just don't love you enough anymore!"  With that his current marriage of seventeen years ended. We were all feeling sorry for Bill. He said that he didn't believe in love anymore. He went through life on a daily basis having given up on love. Bill then continued his story and how he had been invited by a friends friend to attend a tailgate party. He went to this party with the female friend and once there he just enjoyed himself. At one point the friend came over and told him that her ride was there and left him at the tailgate party with a bunch of people he didn't know. The friend had left some stuff in his car and so he had to meet up with her to return the items. It seemed that it had become a habit for her to leave things in his car and then suddenly Bill realized they were dating. 

I'm not sure how long they dated but the next thing Bill did surprised everyone in attendance last night. He reached in his shirt pocket and asked his girlfriend to marry him in front of all of us. Fortunately they were seated about three rows in front of Us and I remembered to pull out my phone and video the part where he came down and got down on one knee. It was such an incredible moment to witness such happiness two people can have with each other. 

A beautiful marriage proposal!

http://youtu.be/04x-9g9bj1I

You know I had to ask if. Could take my picture with them because they were now part of my journey in Motel Miguel. 

Please join me in congratulating Bill Kreiger and his soon to be wife Alexis!  She is the sneaky one who kept on leaving items in his car, the one that made a middle aged man find love again and he is the lucky guy to have found such a beautiful lady to call his wife. 

Thank you Kevin and Rusty for giving me another incredible memory that now joins all the others in Motel Miguel. It's times like this that I'm so thankful for all of my friends and the stories they are helping me write in the story of my life!

Below The Belt!

This is another first for me. I had fun observing my friend Kevin's creative side at work doing a photo shoot for the Below The Belt men's underwear line company. BTB is a new company that is totally made in the USA. It is based in Lansing Michigan and I had the pleasure of meeting its young owner, creator and designer. 

I told Jerome he needed to take a picture with me because he was now part of my journey!

Sorry about this Jerome, next time bring me a pair of black please!

Kevin hard at work!

The models were so patient!

Yes, I'll take one of each color. Sorry about the lighting but my iPhone pictures are not the ones that matter!

This mans pictures are the ones that matter. 

Check out Below The Belt on the web at www.btbunderwear.com or on Facebook at Below The Belt underwear.

Pure Michigan!

It was a bit wet of a drive moving from Wolcotville, Indiana up to Manchester, Michigan. Even though it was only a two and a half hour drive up to my friend Kevin, and his husband Rusty, home the rain always makes it seem further. Once I got here this is the setting Motel Miguel will be enjoying for the next month. Kevin was kind to send me this picture he took from the kitchen window. I LOVE IT!

Since Rusty has been working very long hours, Kevin took me into downtown Ann Arbor to see a small part of it. We walked around and I couldn't believe how beautiful the campus is. 

It sure feels like I was on the set of Harry Potter!

This is such beautiful history. 

After walking around the campus we walked over to Main Street where there we had seen some sort of race going on. It turned out that the Plumbers Association was in town for the week and we just stumbled onto the final race. I asked the winners if I could take a picture and they were all smiles!

The requirement is that the bike includes a toilet and this was the winner!  HAHAHA

There were tons of plumbers from all over the country and Canada. 

After the races we continued to walk around and enjoying the architecture as well as some of the uniqueness of Ann Arbor. 

For me this was the first time I have seen a woman barber, this was a barber shop and not a beauty salon. 

Look at the pole holding the stop sign, it is wrapped with a crochet palm tree trunk that someone has been putting up around town. 

Kevin showed me some of the fairy doors around downtown as well. It looks exactly as the main door of the business but very tiny. 

On Tuesday we drove around to see more of the surrounding towns. We stopped at one of the old cemeteries because they have always attracted me to the history and the old headstones that used to have history and unlike modern ones which are so plain. Most of these were from the mid eighteen hundreds on up to today. 

Did I mention yet that Kevin is a top class chef?  No I haven't but trust me when I tell you his creations are as delicious as they look!

My Mother has nothing to worry about!

I've already been birding as well and besides finding another first for me of a solitary Black-billed Cuckoo sitting on the side of a dirt road. 

I also get the pleasure of holding court with Kevin and Rusty's own farmyard menagerie!

Last knight there was a meteor shower and no matter how much I tried I didn't get much. I did learn a few things about my camera and how to take nighttime shots. 

The sky was super clear and you could see millions of stars but no meteors. 

I kept practicing for a couple of hours and wanted to get some shots of Motel Miguel with the beautiful barn, and night sky behind it. 

Thank you Kevin and Rusty for the warm welcome. 

I know I'm going to enjoy, and experience.....