Best Halloween moment: Toddler holds out his Elmo candy bucket, says nothing. I expected the usual “Trick or Treat!”

Me: “What do you say?”
He: “Please?”

Friend and reader Irene traveled north not long ago. She went up to Mackinac Island, a very special place for folks in the Midwest.

On the island, there are no personal vehicles. They have bicycles, horses, and good old shoe leather for getting around. There is an old-style charm which many appreciate.

Irene knows I collect photos of purple houses. She took this photo to share with me. I’m in turn sharing it with you.

Thanks, Irene!

Cynthia spotted this unintentional urban sculpture during one of our walks. It sure looks as though someone in a vehicle hit a light post. This is what is left after the light post was removed from the scene. (I sure hope that person is still alive to tell about it.)

Here it is in standard, “natural” color.

What i notice there is the rust and what looks like a little spray paint on the metal plate at right. I spot a bit of yellow-green in a leaf at the top right of the tube.

Now, a saturation-intensified version of the same image:

I am fascinated by the green shadowy front edges of the bricks at the very back. It’s also rather wonderful how the cement at front right is orange with purple-blue gravel in it.

Isn’t the intense blue-purple of the lightpost  and street, a beautiful contrast to the yellow-oranges and deep oranges in the sidewalk, bricks and metal pieces? I just love this.

And the first photo looks like gray and gray and gray…

During the CAYSC Lansing-area knitting shop hop, I offered a few drop in/make it and take it projects for shop hoppers. Most of them were intent on getting to four shops in a short while and did not hang out. Sarah-Ashley came in to do Felted Soaps with me, however.

I find these extremely satisfying to make. The freedom to play with colors, translucence, shape, texture… it’s very joyful and freeing. Each one turns out differently, and they are a bit addictive.

Yes, they really do work as soap for washing. The soft wool is a gentle texture on the skin, and the wool shrinks as the bar of soap shrinks. The felt makes the soap last longer, probably because it slows down friction on the soap’s surface.

We had a fine time! Thanks for coming around and experimenting with me, Sarah-Ashley!

My nephew, Dan, posted an intriguing short bit on Twitter a week ago. He wrote:

Probably my favorite UM classroom memory.

(He linked to the image I show below.)

In case you can’t read the chalkboard, it says: “DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE. OR WORRY BUT KNOW THAT WORRYING IS AS EFFECTIVE AS SOLVING AN ALGEBRA PROBLEM BY CHEWING BUBBLE GUM! – FEEL GOOD – SHAKE IT SHAKE IT”

I wrote back, assuming his professor had written that for the class. His quick response at the time:

Actually! that was waiting for us in this room when we got there- my prof didn’t ever erase it though.

I wrote him last night to ask permission to post it here on my blog. He liked that idea. Then he wrote (in Twitter, so I’m piecing together several small notes) to explain it further:

…the boards that we have in those lecture halls have multiple layers so that the profs can keep writing out- so this means that often layers are kept hidden from view.

My prof started teaching one day, and got to the point in which he needed to shift the board, and then THAT was waiting for us…

The hall is used for multiple different classes, my guess to the cause of this message was from a random encouraging stranger, or a graduate assistant that just wanted to encourage and lighten the load of his students. Either way, I loved this.

Thank you, Dan, for the inspiration. It gives me hope in more than one way.

Today I’m grateful that Dan had a camera on his phone, and chose to use it.  I hope it encourages you, as well.