A Walk in the Woods

This weekend, Keith and I were able to get out early Sunday morning for a sunrise photo session at Proud Lake, it was great to discover parts of the park I've never seen before, and so close to my house.

It was nice to get out into the woods for a walk. I've left General Motors and I am now at Chrysler. The transition has been stressful, and I don't see the workload letting up any time soon. It was nice to have a quiet weekend enjoying the outdoors with friends engaged in a hobby I enjoy.

HDR

Fungi

Phish

Did a down and back to Cincinnati with Chris to see Phish Saturday night.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to see the band perform live...once.

Just about exactly as expected, lots of smoke, hippies and glow sticks.

Outdoor summer music festival seems like a better venue to see this band perform.  Seats weren't great, music did not overwhelm me, but the hippie smoke and crowded conditions did..

A day at the Zoo

It can be fun pretending to be a wildlife photographer.

From the Amazon Rain Forest

To the Canadian Rockies

To the wild Jungles of Congo

All for the price of admission to the Zoo on an otherwise cold and dreary October day in the D.

Great Lake Swimmers

Young girl just outside the line for the show

Saturday Night was the Great Lake Swimmers at the Ark in Ann Arbor. What a great, intimate, acoustic venue to hear world class musicians. It's been a very long time since I've been to the Ark, and I will be looking for more shows out of there in short order, it's just a great place to see artists perform up close.

The Great Lake Swimmers are a relatively new band to hit the national spotlight, and they reminded me a lot of the Fleet Foxes, with less harmony and more banjo. The GLS has that new sound that seems to be emerging as the rocky edgy whiny folky music. Some of their stuff I really enjoyed, and some of it left me flat, not really soaring or evoking a strong feel either way. The first set was very mellow, which left me with an initial impression of disappointment.

Tony Dekker opened the second set with three solo acoustic pieces which was the highlight of the night for me, that seemed to create a very intimate connection to the audience. The rest of the band came out for the second half of the set and the tempo was noticeably more upbeat, with a couple of songs off some of their older albums.

I really enjoyed the nights performance, but did not love it. They seemed to have a few moments of brilliance, with a lot of music in the middle that sounded alike, and just not moving enough to say it was great.

A very moody, mellow, even melancholy sound out of the boys from Toronto. They've really been getting a lot of buzz lately, I'll be interested in following their ascent. I don't see their sound appealing to the masses, but I do see a niche 'Neil Young' type crowd that would really connect to their music. Some really strong messages in their lyrics, delivered in a very subtle tone.

Tonight I was able to smuggle a camera into the show, with the bands permission, which gave me a chance to try out a new 35mm lens I just picked up for this very purpose.

Lake Winnipesaukee

Weekend was spent on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire with Chris and his boys. A lot of water skiing, hiking, and catching up. We get together about once a year, and really enjoy the time together. It was great getting to spend some time with Chris's boys as well.

Chris has invited me to his cottage for the last five years, and it was great to finally pull off a quick get away. Chris has a beautiful property on the lake, and this week he is closing on a second property right next door for his growing family of five.

Chris is a great host, and I know this was the first of many years to come sharing time together on the lake.

Las Vegas

Last week Susan and I travelled to Las Vegas to celebrate Charlie's 70th Birthday.

It was a nice opportunity to visit with family, however it seems there is never enough time to do all the catching up.

Most of my time was spent off the strip with Peter, while Susan spent her time visiting with the girls. Peter, Juliana and I spent one full day paddling the Colorado River from the Hoover Dam down, a total of around 20 miles in a mixed current and flat water trip. Very dramatic scenery in the river valley, a couple hundred feet down below the desert floor, and hot, very hot. We could have spent days exploring the caves and box canyons along the river, but we stopped only three or four times in a very rushed fashion. Some interesting Indian artifacts along the way as well. We really just scratched the surface.

The next day was spent exploring the Red Rocks National Conservation Area with Peter then walking the strip with Susan to see some of the new stuff since we had been there last.

It was good to see everybody, but not enough time.

Fleet Foxes

This was my MUST SEE concert of the summer. Right up to the point when I forgot that they were coming in concert..

Susan casually mentioned they were in town tonight as we were settling in after a long day. After much coercing on my part, we were on the road and eastbound with a distant destination. The Royal Oak Main was packed tonight, and we made it just in time, I was so pleased to find tickets were still available, and wouldn't be surprised to find that the show sold out.

They had me from the first chord, and the entire set just soared. Just beautiful music, with both a power and a subtlety in their songs. Very deliberate and thoughtful performance. The sound was as clean as I've ever heard out of the venue, and I could tell they put great care into the sound quality, with three full soundboards distributed between the audience and backstage.

A great night of music, this is a band we will be hearing more from in the coming years, very devoted and talented musicians for a bunch of hippies.

' Cause that's the way we roll

Weekend was spent with Jon, Garret and Ethan in his coach on the Thunder Bay River west of Alpena. The plan was to get some big paddles in, but the weather did not cooperate, as it rained on and off the entire weekend.

We managed to get in a small paddle Sat afternoon, with black skies and lightning behind us all the way down the river. Sunday, for a host of reasons, was less productive than Saturday. I had never heard of the Thunder Bay River before this weekend. It was a muddy river with some very remote stretches, and a light current.

With a little luck, we may get in another weekend yet this summer, and we will try for the Au Sable, which was our original destination last week.

My favorite line of the weekend was when Ethan asked our shuttle driver which side of the bridge is better to drop in on, and he replies, well if you drop in on the up river side it's a longer trip.

As we were rolling out Sunday night, a nice old couple next to us came by to say good bye, and let us know they were going to miss us. They also told us that there there was a rumor buzzing throughout the camp site that we were a rock band up for some R&R with all our toys and loud rock music.

I can't imagine how that rumor got started.

DMB

Last night was DMB at the DTE. I was able to meet up with Bill for some tailgating before the show. Bill and his wife Christine were with some friends from the neighborhood, who were celebrating the night with Julie. Julie is a huge Dave Mathews fan, and this will be her last show. Julie has terminal cancer.

Through some hard work by neighborhood friends, Julie was able to meet with Dave behind stage before the show, and she was given the opportunity to request a song.

The show was everything I had expected it to be, the touring saxophonist Jeff Coffin (from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones) even played a couple of songs with both an alto and a tenor sax at the same time, never seen that before.

About half way through the show, the band played an extended version of Warehouse, and the band just went off on an extended jam. I could only imagine what Julie was experiencing, as the band elevated the night's performance and the crowd's intensity, as they put their full energy into the song for her. This was her moment.

I feel fortunate to have been invited into this circle of friends on this special night, and to have had the privilege of meeting Julie.

This was Julie's night.

Lyle Lovett

Last Night Suz and I saw Lyle Lovett at the Meadowbrook Music festival. Lovett was introduced to me by a great friend, and I have never had a chance to see him perfrom.

I have just one of his albums, that Chris gave to me many years ago. Suz really loves that album, and last night we discovered he is just so much more of an artist than as we knew him.

Lyle shares his stage with another 10 musicians that really put out both a full and intricate sound at the same time. The focus of the night was constantly shifting between Lyle performing in more of an intimate story teller style to conducting the performers around him in a big band country blue grass gospel blues music style.

It was really funny to look over and see Susan bopping her head to a little bluegrass ditty with a big smile on her face.

He really is an entertaining performer, and absolutely worth seeing again. He's a very thoughtful performer with great subtlety in his guitar playing and voice. We really needed to be close to appreciate his talent.

Suz and I arrived late to the show, and were lucky enough to pick up some great seats ten rows back, front and center. The tickets were left at the box office by a couple that couldn't use them, so we scored them for free.

A great way to spend my birthday, the fact we had such great seats at no cost, and Susan really enjoyed the performance made the night just that much better.

I think my favorite part of the night was the knowledge that Lyle is a huge Ducatista!

4th of July

Once again this year I was able to get the first week of GM shutdown off.

Susan and I decided to drive the Lake Michigan shore line and see some areas we've never had a chance to explore. Last week I picked up an old Jeep Wrangler. I spent the first couple days of my break fixing small items and installing a new sound system to replace the head unit and speakers, which were completely blown out. While at Murray's picking up some items, I ran into an old friend with a YJ. He noticed my front fender was crooked where the previous owner hit a deer. He says "here, we can fix that right now" and we both started lifting on the drivers side fender for all we were worth. When we determine that was not enough combined lifting force, I continued to pull while he began delivering a karate style side kick to to the fender from the opposite direction, and it was enough to do the trick, we moved the bumper a good 6" back into place.

Susan and I started counting the Jeeps we've collectively owned just since we've been married, and we came up with nine. Considering my dad worked for American Motors when I was growing up, there was probably another 50 - 100 Jeeps in my family back in the 70's and 80's.

TJ

As a kid, I remember getting Jeeps stuck on sandbars 100 yards out from the shore, or getting stuck in sand miles from anywhere in a Canadian Military live ammunition area. Once, we completely destroyed a brand spanking new Grand Cherokee Orvis edition in the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. That was like a $40k truck. Another time we hooked a cable to the front axle to pull bushes out of front lawn. The bushes didn't move, but the entire front end of the Scrambler became dislocated from the frame.

It was a brighter time in the era of American Automotive, and each new mess was a badge of honor. This was back when Jeeps came standard with massive knobby rubber, and locking hubs, and no seat belts in the back, and had only one real purpose, driving off road. The AMC big wigs were regularly taking the trucks past the design limits to see how capable their products were. It was a time of large profitability and executive egos. What a different time it was, when you thought the future could only get brighter.

By Wed eve the truck was ready to go and Susan had taken off the rest of the week. We drove to Muskeegon in the evening, and planned to make our way up the coast, ending in Harbor Springs with family, as we have done together for the last 20 years on this holiday weekend.

Thursday morning we drove right past Rothbury as cars were beginning to queue up for the weekend. I really wanted to go to the event this year, but my time off is just so precious, and has to be planned with military like precision and timing. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park was a highlight of the drive, and we spent several hours hiking in the hills and along the shore. Thurs eve was spent in a nice B&B along the Grand Traverse shoreline.

Sleeping Bear National Park

The time in Harbor Springs was as nice as usual, and we were able to watch the fireworks this year with friends.

Little Traverse Bay

Susan and I were able to get up and see the chapel we were married in on top of Boyne Highlands. It's probably been ten years since we've been up there together, and it was nice being there, nothing has changed.

Chapel Cedar Shake roof - 35 yrs old

It was great fun taking Mitch out on the trails behind our house in the Jeep. We would climb a hill so steep that all you could see was sky out the windshield, then the front end would abruptly pitch downward as we crested the top of the hill, and start down the other side. It was all new experience to Mitch, and it was the first time I ever saw him sit quietly in a car and just take it all in. You could see the discomfort on his face, not really sure if everything was OK. When we were done and getting out of the car, he started to feel confident again being on solid ground, and then he asked me, do you think we could get the Durango up that hill? That's my boy.

Emma on the other hand, just wanted to plug in her iPod into the stero and listen to Hannah Montana as loud as I was willing to play it, as we boldly blazed though the trails, a sight to be witnessed by anyone else lucky enough to be out on the trail that day.

It's funny how we pass on our traditions to the younger generation.

It's been a difficult year for the family so far with everything going on in the economy, and particularly in automotive. It was great to come together and enjoy each other as we do each year this week.

Kennsington to Hudson Mills

This morning Jon and I, Ace and Gary did an eight mile paddle down river. Great trip, lots of people on the water right now, it's really great exploring new sections of the river each week.

Plans are in motion for a wknd trip in July.

Project Bandaloop

Saturday night Brian and Kelly invited Susan and I down for a DSO event featuring Project Bandaloop. A very interesting combination of dance, climbing and rapelling on a vertical plane, set to the music of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

I think the DSO could have selected a better venue than the side of a lit parking garage for the event, but it was really well put together none the less.

It was great to catch up with Kelly and Brian over dinner before the show. It's funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. The important things in life are not that complicated.

APBA Boat Race - Walled Lake

Sunday, Jon and I met early and paddled Walled lake. We paddled around the boat course, then stayed around to watch one of the smaller classes run after we pulled out of the water.

Jon and I walked the pits before they closed it off and I took some photos of the boats on trailers in very early morning light.

I think we had more fun people watching as we did watching the race.

Going nowhere Fast..

Bayside put on the event for the second year, the racers all say they love the event and hope to come back next year. This was Baysides sponsored boat, not sure how it did.

Officicial event welder.

Hydroplane enthusiast.

Carrie and family, we were great friends four jobs ago, it was great to see her, not much has changed for either of us.

Red Bull Air Race

The Red Bull Air Race was in town this weekend, and Friday I didn't get a lot of work done, as my office desk in the Ren Cen is right on the river.

Jason came down for the afternoon and we took alot of pictures. Jason said he burned through 10 memory cards, at around 100GB of pics. I didn't take quite that many, but I did do some substantial damage, the trick is to get a picture of a plane blowing through a pylon, so you just fire away at at 4fps. No luck this year, but I did capture a cool pic of Kiss watching the airshow from the Windsor side.

It was great to see Jason, and I really enjoyed watching the time trials Friday on a beautiful day in the D.

Kiss on the marquee.

Kirby Chambliss, the top US pilot.