Hiking in Ludington State Park

Most of this last weekend was gorgeous, and warm weather is going to continue through most of the week. To take advantage of this, my friend, Jason, and I headed to Ludington State Park to go hiking. And hike we did, for over five hours! Now, this might not seem all that much to you, but I was quite impressed with ourselves. We also walked around the harbor and a bit by the beach.

Contemplating the trail map...

Mike and I hiked a bit in Ludington last July (see 2009 July posts) and went to the lighthouse. Jason and I took some different trails this time around.

I thought this piece of wood was twisted in an interesting way.

There was a strong breeze and good tree cover, which were most welcome given the heat.

New Facebook profile picture. Thanks, Jason! :-)

A Ludington institution: the SS Badger Lake Michigan car ferry (see http://www.ssbadger.com/home.aspx).

The harbor park had several statutes commemorating what seemed to be Ludington's more glorious past.

Thai Tea Set

One of my students who just graduated gave this tea set to me as a gift. Her parents brought it from Thailand (they are Thai) when they came for the graduation ceremony. I am amazed at how beautiful it is, and the detailed handiwork is particularly impressive.
And the box is not only sturdy but pretty, with the exterior covered in silk.

Taking on the Green Room

At Mike's house, one of the bedrooms was painted a dark green with a different colored green trim. On the right side of this photo, you can see our attempt at color selection. The new color is called "Soothing Aloe."

It's not a horrible set of colors, but we wanted to paint it a bit more neutral. The previous owners even painted the dark green with a lighter green pattern in the closet.

We've now started this project, but there's a lot of prep work. The ceiling has a lot of cracks, for example, and Mike has taken on the task of spackling.

My job today has been the closet; I've finished the first coat, and so far so good. I think "Soothing Aloe" is going to turn out nicely. I'll post more when the room is closer to finished!

Landscaping Work at Mike's

To clean up his yard a bit from the eclectic mix of the previous owner, Mike had some landscaping work done recently. I think it will look great once the grass grows in; it's so much neater and doesn't block the front of the house. Here are some before photos from last summer.

The bushes in the front had just become so big, and I think these smaller shrubs don't hide the house so much. Also, the flowers in front were pretty but a good amount of work to maintain. The landscaper moved some of the bushes around to save the pretty plants and bushes that the previous owner had, too.

For example, the azalea at the end (blooming pink right now) was in front of the house in the large flower area and was moved to a place where it still can be seen but doesn't block the house. And there's still a small flowerbed at the corner, which will still allow for pretty blooming.

The other azaleas (blooming pink and white right now) were moved next to the rhododendrum. All three are beautifully blooming.

I had heard of plants called azaleas and rhododendrums, but now I now what they are! :-)

On the side of the house, the landscaper cleaned up the numerous plants that were there to make it neater.

Some of these were transplanted from the front yard.

New Drywall & Fireplace Stripping

The drywall is up in the kitchen and the dining area (new drywall areas) now, and the floor will be done this coming week. It's coming along!

The wall to the left with the covered window is where the sink will go. The covered area is the look-through window between the kitchen and the family room. The family room was added in early 1990s.

In the corner is where the refrigerator used to be. I can't wait to see what the kitchen looks like with the full benefits of the windows there, without the refrigerator covering up one of them.

This is the new drywall area, where the new refrigerator will go.

The doorway between the living and dining rooms was moved over a bit to accommodate the longer wall to the left. Oh, and the overhead light in the dining room is a goner, to be replaced with something a bit more up-to-date. :-)

Using a soy gel product that we found, Mike has been stripping the 70+ years of paint from the fireplace to see what was underneath. He discovered a bit of a hodge-podge of wood types.

By the way, the soy gel product that Mike has been using is pretty good. It doesn't smell like traditional stripping products, and you can leave it on, covered with plastic, for up to 24-hours for maximum removal (e.g., 3+ layers of paint).

Mike's Kitchen Demolition

Mike is almost one month into his kitchen renovation, and these are the first photos of the demolition. We were both surprised at how quickly his kitchen was suddenly gone. Needless to say, he's had to camp upstairs, as there's dust everywhere downstairs.

Check out the old linoleum that was discovered. The corner part was under the corner pantry. Imagine the whole kitchen in this pattern! Mike will have hardwood put back in the kitchen (as hardwood was the original floor but was in poor shape to salvage) and will have wood put in the adjacent dining room, making one large room, which I think will be very attractive.

This is where the kitchen sink used to be. According to the new plan, it will return to this spot and will be moved over a bit.

The doorway has now been moved over a bit to accommodate the new placement of the refrigerator.

Here's the view of the new (albeit incomplete) doorway from the living room into the dining room.

Mike's Old Kitchen

In April, Mike embarked on a kitchen renovation project. Since I am "his" official blogger, I thought I would share some of the progress throughout this project. This post is dedicated to his old kitchen. While it wasn't absolutely horrible, the cabinets were cheap, the layout somewhat cumbersome (the refrigerator was in front of a window, for example), and a wall enclosed it unnecessarily.
We decided to take "before" photos the day before the demolition was to begin.

Notice the window to the left of the refrigerator. Because the refrigerator really didn't have enough space, we couldn't open all of its internal drawers.

As you can probably tell how Mike has to stand to see into the kitchen from the dining room, this cut-out was really cumbersome and not very useful. This whole wall came down.

Fred Meijer Gardens -- March 2010

In March, Mike and I went to see the butterflies at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids (see http://meijergardens.org/). It's a nice break from the winter, and taking photos of butterflies can be fun! It can also be frustrating; I had to delete quite a number of them because they were blurry.
Before we left, Mike took a little snooze on the sofa, and Anya decided to join him. Soooooo cute!

As we entered the part of the indoor gardens with the butterflies, there was a desert exhibit. Here's a javelina, about which I recently learned when we visited Mike's parents in Arizona.

The sculptures of the desert animals were very cool.

This is Mike, saying that he likes the warmth of the gardens, especially to the new snow we were getting that day. Look out the window behind him.

The Meijer Gardens are also known for sculptures.

As you can tell, there aren't just butterflies to take photos of...

There were feeders throughout to attract the butterflies.

The butterflies shared the spotlight with some beautifully colorful birds...

and some gorgeous flowers, which are easier to photograph. :-)

You might recognize our outfits; we went to the Gardens the same day we had our photographs taken.

The inside of the building gives you a forest-like feeling. See the trees?

The leaves in the floor are a great addition, too.

The glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly were also fantastic. There's a special exhibit all summer long featuring his glass sculptures, so stay tuned for a post on that one, as I'm definitely going to go at some point.