I don’t think it’s a Fountain of Youth. Just a regular fountain…

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Photo #281: Burbling FountainLocation Taken: Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, Illinois
Time Taken: April 2008

You know, I don’t actually run across that many fountains.

It seems odd. I mean, you see them in movies and games and books, but really, how many times do you regularly encounter a fountain in real life?

Sure, there’s usually one at a big park, or in a fancy upscale mall, but even those I don’t visit that often. You’d think, with as pretty as they are, that they’d be far more common.

Though I do know part of why every house doesn’t have one. My mom has a pond with a waterfall, you see. It’s not a full fountain, but it’s got most of the trappings. And my goodness is it a pain to maintain. It’s full of sodden rotting leaves every fall, it evaporates in summer, and has to be turned off in winter lest the tubing break. And that’s if everything’s working, which is rarely the case. Either the filter is clogged or the lining is leaking or the waterfall got a bit misaligned and is losing water off the side…

So perhaps it makes sense that only places with a significant landscaping budget maintain fountains. Still, I’d really like for them to be far more common. If only because you can get fantastic photographs of burbling water off of them.

  

Guess I’m getting older. Got only “practical” gifts this year…

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Photo #280: Christmas PoleLocation Taken: Frankfort, Michigan
Time Taken: December 2007

Another Christmas has come and gone.

I got one and a half presents!

Yes, that’s total. The “one” is a food processor that I picked out myself and handed to my Mom saying “You want a present for me? Here, buy this.”

The half was a pair of socks that was an impromptu gift swap after the presents were opened. Mom bought alpaca wool socks for her parents and herself, but had forgotten that Grandpa doesn’t wear socks that go above his ankles. So those were handed back to Mom, who was still quite happy with them (they’re good socks, and fit her). So she had two pairs until I made interested noises in the pair she’d bought herself (she was getting unsure about having two pairs of socks that were identical except for size, one pair being XL and the other L), which is when she gave those to me.

I haven’t broken out the food processor yet, but I’m wearing the socks.

At least this year I didn’t have to wrap my own present. Unlike the last two, both of which I also picked out my present for that year on my own as well.

I’m actually not bummed at all. Neither from the small quantity of presents nor the cheap cost (the food processor was $25, and the socks were probably $10-$15). I’ve mostly stopped caring about such things. If I want to buy a present for someone else, I buy it on the spot and give it to them the next time I see them. I don’t wait for birthdays or Christmas or anything, nor do I expect them to give me anything at those times either. Not that I buy too many gifts, mind you. I’m firmly in the belief that if it’s not something you’re going to actually like and use, it’s not a good choice as a present. It would just get tossed out, returned, or just sit around collecting dust and cluttering spaces.

Might just be because I’ve gotten very few presents over the years, and even with the small number, far too many of them were of the type I didn’t use. Or, in some cases, something I’m actively allergic to. Seriously, don’t buy shampoo or perfume for someone you don’t really know, even if it’s in a pretty gift set. They might be like me and get a headache from just being in the same room as the present…

  

Mmmm… Birdseed….

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Photo #279: Hungry SquirrelLocation Taken: Arcadia, Michigan
Time Taken: January 2011

It’s not too often I get animals being kind enough to sit still for me. But when I do, I will take the opportunity to grab some photos.

Even if, say, the light is poor and the squirrel doesn’t stay around long enough for me to make sure I got a clear shot.

I like squirrels, in an odd way. But then, I like common spiders, mice, pigeons, and a whole host of run-of-the-mill critters. They’re both familiar and a reminder that there’s a whole world outside the constructed reality we humans have crafted for ourselves.

Well, that and that there are some animals who do just fine in human lands.

Like this squirrel, munching away at the bird seed my grandma sets out every morning.

  

Snow-filled Bowls-on-Wires? No, that sounds dumb…

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Photo #278: Snow Bowls?Location Taken: Arcadia, Michigan
Time Taken: January 2011

I’m not sure quite what to call these things. Deelie-boppers? Thing-a-ma-jigs? Clinky-things?

Whatever they are, they’re part of my Grandma’s impressive collection of outdoor ornaments. These particular ones are hollow half-spheres on top of long flexible wires. They move around in the wind and clink together.

In the winter, on the other hand, they fill up with snow. The bowl-shapes open upwards, after all, and the thick heavy lake effect snow is quite happy to find a niche and stay in it.

The clinky-things don’t clink when there’s too much snow in them. They’re too heavy to move far.

I guess that makes them not-so-clinky-things in winter, then.

  

The Rough Ice of Lake Huron

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Photo #277: Ice RidgeLocation Taken: Caseville, Michigan
Time Taken: January 2011

Along the shore of the Saginaw Bay, the large bay between the “thumb” and “index finger” of the lower peninsula that makes Michigan look like a mitten, the ice piles up against the shore in large sheets.

Or at least it does at my Grandma Schram’s place.  She’s one of the few people in her elderly community who just stays at home all year long rather than flee to Florida or something for the winter.

I don’t visit her often.  You can tell just because I think of my Grandmothers as “Grandma” and “Grandma Schram”.  The grandfathers are a lot easier to tell apart since my Dad’s Dad died when I was a little kid, so it’s just “Grandpa”.

Still, once a year at Christmas we go and visit.  And the frozen ice is frequently all the way to the horizon when we get there.  She lives right on the shore, with beach access and everything, but I’ve only gone swimming there a bare handful of times, none within the last decade and a half.  The water’s just a bit too cold and, well, solid for that.

I have gone out on the lake multiple times, though.  That’s quite literal, by the way.  If the ice is out to the horizon, the stuff by the shore is solid enough to walk on without much worry.  We still have to be careful when walking there, though, as the surface is quite uneven.  The freezing water gets pushed up onto the ice sheet in odd patterns, and there are frequent ridges to climb over.

As the lake freezes, the usual pattern is for a ridge to form for a bit at the various sandbars.  The deeper water sheds its heat a lot slower than shallow water, so the ice will reach a sandbar and not be able to establish itself further until the temperature drops some more.  The ridges are just as perilous as the rough surface, with the added problem of having to climb them.  This one’s not too bad, but some of the others are five feet tall or so, with steep sides.

There’s no real purpose for going out on the ice.  There’s nothing you learn from it that you can’t tell from land.  And all you see by going out there is more water between you and the horizon.  The joy is in the challenge.

Maybe that’s why the only other people I see out there are snowmobilers running their machines quickly across the surface.  They don’t go for this rough ice, mind you.  They’re on the half-frozen stuff at the edge of the ice.  If you go fast enough, you won’t sink, and it’s probably quite similar to jet skiing on water.  Which, mind you, is also a common thing there.  Probably the same people too…