Vacuum

May 2013 Peony Bloom Countdown, The Peony Garden, Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor

The peonies bloom every year in the Peony Garden at the Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor. This year's prediction for the first bloom date is May 20-25, 2013, and for the peak season at about June 1, 2013; that according to the garden's Peony Bloom Countdown as of May 1. By midsummers night the blooming is over and the garden is all green.

More seasonal blooming information at the arb's spring, summer, fall, and winter pages.

UPDATE from the Peony Bloom Countdown:

Our current prediction was made on May 6:

   Earliest bloom starting before May 25. Very early peonies as 'Red Charm' are already showing leaves while some of the very late peonies are only just showing buds breaking the surface.

   Peak season to begin after Memorial Day Weekend.

Our current prediction as of May 14:

   Earliest bloom starting before May 25. Very early peonies as 'Red Charm'are already showing leaves while some of the very late peonies are only just showing buds breaking the surface.

   Peak season to begin after Memorial Day Weekend.

Kids Read Comics 2013, June 22 & 23, 2013 at the Ann Arbor District Library

Mark your calendars. More details at the Kids Read Comics web site, or on Facebook.

 

Walking Around: bonus points

I walked a lot more today than I normally would have walked, thanks to my new game Walking Around. Here's some of the bonus points I scored that I wouldn't have scored in my previous quest, Sitting Around Typing.

Pedestrian Path (+1). It's always good to find a way to get from here to there that's not on any map. The pedestrian path I found connects Needham Road to Amelia Place. I've added that little segment to Open Street Map so that I can find it again, and so that I can cut through one more neighborhood with confidence. My son and I took this route to his summer camp today, and he suggested one more point for Unfamiliar Route (+1).

Unexpected Lunch Companions (+2). If you wait for the bus at a bus stop near a restaurant, and if someone you know happens to be driving to that restaurant, then not only can you have an unexpectedly pleasant lunch but you can also get a ride downtown. Thanks to the Toziers for the happy coincidence and for a beginning of a discussion of annexation and township islands.

Urban Foraging (+1). Juneberries are in season, which means that a carefully selected path will take you past some delicious snacks, right out there in the open, where thousands of people walk each day but none notice except the birds and a few brave souls who appreciate Amalanchier. For more berrypicking ideas, I follow Linda Diane Feldt's @wildcrafting Twitter account. For lots more detail on Amalanchier, the 1946 American Species of Amalachier has ranges and keys for native species.

Park Benches (+2). If, at the end of your trek, you stop to wait for the bus - then it's useful to note that sometimes the bus stop is close to a park which has a park bench in the shade. Douglas Park is a nice place to wait for the #4, especially if you have RideTrak running on your cell phone to tell you when to get up and walk to the stop 1/2 block south of the park. My walk the next morning circled around all the way back to this park bench.

North Star (+1). A nice night walk on a clear night gives you all of the directions you need when Polaris is visible in the north sky. The drawing is from H. A. Rey's The Stars, my all time favorite book about the night sky.

 

How do I come up with this bonus point structure? If you walk around enough, something that you see or do is bound to make you happy. Give yourself points for those happy places, and know where they are so that you can revisit them.

Strawberry season, 2011 report

I went strawberry picking with my boys on Father's Day at Rowe's in Rawsonville. We picked two full trays of berries in what seemed like no time flat. The sun was not too hot, and the berries were not too ripe, and I think we nailed the right day to pick pretty much perfectly.

The challenge now is what to do with all of those berries. Some have been frozen, others are under sugar and hopefully will end up as sorbet, and still more get stored in the bellies of friends.

The boys are at the age where they are quick at berry picking and accurate enough not to pick bad berries. They are capable of picking more than they can eat. I'm looking forward to more berrypicking with them!

What are you doing on Father's Day in Ann Arbor? Take our poll.

The poll is provided through All Our Ideas, which unlike most other polling software is actually useful for writing in that it lets readers come up with their own suggestions and not just pick from a pre-packaged list.

If you are wondering what to cook for dear old Dad, last week's Pancakes? poll might give you some recipe ideas. It generated 21 ideas with over 200 votes.

 

West Park grand opening, June 19 2011

More Father's Day events! West Park had a major construction project over the last year, and it's now being unveiled complete with a grand ribbon cutting and the unveiling of the sculpture in the park.

If you were at West Park during the recent monsoon rains you'll appreciate that quite a bit of work went into stormwater handling, with very visible results.

Tour de Kids bicycle race, Sunday June 19, 2011, South U and East U in Ann Arbor

The Tour de Kids is an annual bicycle race for kids 3-12 held on South University on Father's Day. This year it's June 19. The poster and race map is below; details including registration information at www.tourdekids.org. Here's a chance to run a loop around the Diag!

Sponsors include St. Joe's, IHA, Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society, and Wheels in Motion.

The cost is $10 for an individual and $20 for a family (up to 5 kids).

a2b3 meeting non-summary, June 2, 2011

The a2b3 group met at Eastern Accents this Thursday, June 2, 2011. Here's a summary of sorts.

I took notes in a quadrille notebook for the meeting, as an exercise in trying to keep better track of what was happening. The book is similar to what became popular on the University of Michigan campus during the 1980s, when university president and nuclear engineer James Duderstadt would bring quad notebooks to meetings, and everyone else followed suit quickly.

There was a sign in, again which is unusual, and I tried to introduce people rather than having them introduce themselves. That's hard, but I think it's totally doable. I'll eventually learn people's short self-descriptions to the point where I can do them all myself, a goal in my preparation for the next event.

The meeting ran long, and I missed one of the cardinal principles of a lunch meeting: if people need to leave at a precise time, know that ahead of time so that they can be first to introduce themselves. Apologies to the three people at a table of 18 who didn't get a chance to speak up.

In the way of meaningless indicators of progress (a recurring theme), there were 3 people new at the table, 1 person newly moved to the area, and 1 person visiting from out of town. As far as I know, there was no one there who was currently a college student, which is unusual and must mean either that it is summertime or that the kids are enjoying Sonic Lunch.

Thanks to everyone for coming; I feel like I was perhaps a bit over-prepared this time, but I have a lab notebook to record the next meeting as well so I can make things a little better and smoother next time.

Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire 2011, Saturday June 4

Here's the event poster; the web site is www.a2makerfaire.com/2011/ Hope to see you there.

Sand County Almanac, June: "The Alder Fork - A Fishing Idyl"

We found the main stream to law that the teeter-snipe pattered about in what last year were trout riffles, and so warm that we could duck in its deepest pool without a shout. Even after our cooling swim, waders felt like hot tar paper in the sun.

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac. This 1989 Oxford Paperbacks edition, ISBN 0-19-505928-X, as an introductory essay from Robert Finch commemorating the 100th anniversary of Leopold's birth.

We see Leopold, the rural sage, tracking a sunk in January, cutting a venerable dead oak, stalking a legendary fish on Alder Fork or an elusive grouse on an abandoned farm, surveying his private unofficial domain before dawn, wrestling with god-like decisions about tree-thinning, or experiencing a "curious transfusion of courage" from his pines in deep winter.

Sand County Almanac is a good book to come back to every month year round.