"Guerilla Gardening"- or community volunteerism

Excitement is not always about traveling far away and going to exotic places, sometimes its just a few blocks from your house. I had a wonderful opportunity just the other day and it was only down the street from where I live. I was able to offer my services (basically my body) for some serious planting. 

Here in Grand Rapids there are a lot of vacant lots. I think most cites probably have these. They used to be play grounds or they are where buildings were leveled and sometimes they are abandoned schools or warehouses. The unused land offers us an opportunity and thankfully there are people in my community who recognize this. The particular community organization I was volunteering for is called "Amplify GR" ( Home - Amplify GR). My lovely neighbor Joan is very much into community gardening. A friend of hers called it "Guerilla Gardening" because unused lots can be wonderful places to bring community together and make something beautiful where nothing was before. It not only has the potential to provide food, but it could also be just a wonderful green space for ornamental plants to help the surrounding eco system when the right plants are placed in it. 

I was unclear what this particular lot used to be used for, but like all of Grand Rapids it's part of the Plaster Creek Watershed. The watershed is part of 58 miles where water collects and drains.  A person from Calvin College spoke about the watershed and explained that all the plants we were planting were native plants to the area and this helps the eco system.  (Plaster Creek Watershed - Plaster Creek Stewards | Calvin University) Plaster Creek is actually one of the most polluted watersheds in Michigan and this branch of Calvin College is helping to try to correct this. The plants we planted will help to filter out the air and the ground water. 

The volunteering was very organized and we had groups: perennial planters, sunflower crew (we laid down growing tarps for sunflowers), Mulching, and signage installation. I was on the perennial planting. My best friend and room mate Anna came with me and we dug holes. Lots and lots of holes. More holes that I ever thought a person could dig. The ground had been an abandoned lot so we found lots of glass and some other odd things (like the old shoe pictured above).  As Anna and I dug holes someone would go behind us and put the plants in, sometimes we'd stop and fill the holes with the perennials that were waiting for a home. One particular shrub got me in the eye, just a reminder to wear sunglasses while planting. 

When we finished our perennial planting I moved on to Sunflowers and Anna went to mulching. The area is going to have 3 giant fields of sunflowers which are a variety of different colors.  The Sunflower part is my favorite part. We laid down giant tarps (Which was very labor intensive) then holes get poked in them and seeds dropped in (Less labor intensive). 

At the end of this adventure I realized I should have taken more pictures, but I didn't realize how fascinating this entire process was and how much fun it would be to plant things and make new friends in the community. Honestly I feel really special to have been able to take part in this event and I hope there will be more to come! 

Horseback Riding: Bucket List Item

This has been a crazy year, but I decided it shouldn't stop me from doing new and exciting things, albeit being limited on what those things are.... obviously traveling and eating out has been very limited. One thing I had never done: Horseback riding, I decided this needed to be done. Despite all the dangers of 2020, I was pretty confident I'd be ok and was willing to take the chance. 

So, on a crisp, sunny day on a Sunday in Early November, I went riding. My friend Angee came with me and it was exciting. First they let us get to know our horses, hers was named Caspian and mine was named Windy. Angee's horse was huge. It is a horse used for vaulting. The place we went to is called Legacy Stables in Caledonia, MI and it is also a place where children come and they learn to vault off of horses. They have a lot of programs for children with horses. 

We learned a lot about horses. It's completely unnatural to have someone riding them. It's the only way predators can attack them, so people being on top of them really freaks them out. It takes years of training and it's taken thousands of years to get them to this point. We got to get to know our horses a little before the lesson started. 

First we learned to walk the horse. We walked the horse into this stadium like area, (it was a large barn with a platform to get on the horse), where we could practice walking the horse and then learn to ride the horse. When you walk a horse you have to walk in front and lead them. They will not respond to you if they think you're not in control. Horses are really smart. They follow direction really well, but if they think they can have the upper hand, they will take it. 

After we mounted our horses we learned how to have them walk, turn, and stop. We had two different kinds of saddles, Western and English.  Windy was already equip with an English saddle and I didn't really know the difference so I let them keep it on her. Angee's horse had a Western saddle. The main differences are how much there is to hold onto. Western Saddles are made for wrestling cattle, so there is a lot more to hold on to and English saddles have a lot less.  It was not easy at first. I could not steer the horse and it didn't really seem like she was listening, because she wasn't. You have to tell show the horse you are in charge and you can not be gentle. This was difficult for me, but it was necessary and after a while I was able to soften up on her. 

Then we walked the trail. It is very important when you start on the trail to pull back on the reigns if the horse starts to eat. Horses like to snack along the way and if you let them they will eat constantly (The phrase "eat like a horse" comes to mind). Angee and I learned the hard way and at one point her horse decided he didn't like being told when to snack and jerked the reigns right out of her hands. We had to stop while our guide dismounted and got Angee her reigns back. 

When we arrived back at the stadium we dismounted and walked the horses back to the barn. We were able to feed them horse treats and say goodbye. It was an excellent experience and I might even do it again. It's basically like renting a horse and they teach you how to ride it. 

Here is where we went: 

Legacy Stables & Karin's Horse Connection (karinshorses.com)

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Empire, Michigan

 When I was ten years old my Grandpa and Grandma took me to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes in Empire, Michigan. Their ability to find interesting places (even nearby) was astounding considering they didn't have the internet. They were epic travelers in the last stage of life. They went to Peru, Cairo, Japan, and even Australia. Their propensity to travel has fueled my love of it. So last week when I was lamenting my "Staycation" and basically just feeling sorry for myself for having "no where to go" I thought about this lovely place and the wonderful memory I had of my grandparents.

The drive was 2 1/2 hours. So it was a very long day trip. Upon arrival in Empire there were signs, but it almost seemed like you had to walk to the dunes. You don't. I didn't remember walking to them, nonetheless I needed the exercise and I wanted a walk, so I stopped along on of the trails and went on my way. There were signs to the dune climbs and it was a walk of about 2 miles. As I traveled along the trail I periodically stopped to fly my drone in the air and take beautiful pictures of the Michigan Skyline.

When I got close enough I could see the dunes and the parking area. I was sure there was a parking area and if I had driven far enough I could have just parked, but as I said, the walk was good for me. The woods were calming and I needed some peace. Michigan woods are the best place to find peace. 



When I got to the dunes I flew the drone as high as it could go and looked around the top of it. As I was flying it, I climbed. In a world of social distancing it was a great place to be. There were people on the dunes (not as many as I remembered when I was 10-) but there was lots of space and no one was anywhere near each other.  The sun beat down on the hot sand and I continued to climb until I came to the top. I discovered, 30 years later, the walk was not as easy, but it was just as satisfying. It was also more fun to run back down. 

Austria: Land of a Thousand Pastries

On our jaunt around Europe we stopped in Vienna. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I thought "Music, Culture" sure lots of great composers were from and lived in Vienna. The name also conjures up a desert we used to have in the 80's with some crunchy ice cream- but I'm sure it's just a phonetic similarity.


Anyway- It was not at all how I was expecting. (I don't know how I could expect much because I didn't even know they spoke German) To me, Vienna is like France and Germany got married, Italy catered and they had a baby made of Swiss chocolate. Hopefully it's not offensive to anyone in Austria, but it's a beautiful fusion of culture and it really does create it's own unique place. I loved it. Everything I saw reminded me of something and touched me in a completely new way. The streets were old and cobbled, the people were distant, but accommodating, and the food, honestly, the food was mostly Italian. The wieners were delicious and the pastries were unbeatable. Every where we turned there were delicious pastries and cakes, followed quickly by amazing coffees. It was so European and it was so wonderful.




We saw palaces and we even went into a shopping district where we found really old buildings that had been converted into shops. Everything was lovely, even the tour of the plague pits. We went on a tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral, famous for its plague pits. This old Catholic church is the resting place of Habsburg's family organs. Yes, organs. There were sealed barrels in the basement containing the remains of the families of this Austrian nobility. It also houses plague pits and many of the former clergy. The tour was given in German and English, but only because there were two people (My sister and I) who only spoke English. Vienna has seen 12 plagues over the centuries (I don't know if our current situation counts as 13...) and the problem of where to put the bodies was solved by using pits under the church.

We also found a concert. Vienna is full of concerts. Having been the home to so many famous composers the city seems to pride itself on all the musical talent it has living in the area. The concert we found was in a church and it was beautiful. Small seating, probably only 100 people and it was a string Quartet. The entire church was golden and amazing. We were lucky to find such a place.

Even the McDonald's is fancy here. 

We also found the "Butterfly House". Its a botanical garden filled with butterflies. I think it runs year round. The air was warm and there were butterflies everywhere.

Someday I hope to return. It is an amazing place with more to explore.

The shopping district 

Prague, capital of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic (Czechia) used to be part of a bigger country, Czecholovokia. Then they quietly spilt into two countries, Czechia and Slovokia. Prague is a jewel. It is the capital of the Czechia and the city of a thousand spires. It is nicknamed this because of all the spires on all the buildings and cathedrals. Just walking around was amazing. There were a thousand things to see and I feel like I barely scratched the surface.


The most delicious thing we found in Prague were these funnel cakes filled with ice cream. The entire city was like one giant carnival surrounded by cathedrals and gothic architecture. (Seriously people were walking around with the ice cream funnel cakes, corn cobs, and other delicious looking carnival-ish treats.)




The alchemist, the hotel we stayed in, was amazing and in the center of a great deal of the older architecture. We were able to walk to the giant astronomical clock, which is an amazing site. It is the oldest working astronomical clock in the world and has a great story behind it. Anyone who tries to fix it or change it goes mad or dies. So no one has done any work on it in a very long time, but if it's not broke why fix it?



Crossing bridges and walking down ancient footpaths we found our way easily. The cobble stones are not the most gentle on feet and my calves were feeling the punishment for days. It's probably a good way to lose weight and tone up if it weren't for all the ice cream/funnel cake stops. The natural landscape is very hilly and there were a lot of inclines on top of all the cobble stones. It is not a good place for bad footwear.


We had dinner one night in a tavern. It was actually built inside the rock, like a cave, (More like a cavern than a tavern... haha) During dinner this establishment put on a show, medieval fighting (with swords, axes, maces), a belly dancer, and a very talented juggler/comedian who could do amazing things with fire. It was exciting and the food was really great.


We also went to the top of a really tall tower. We had to walk up really crazy spiral staircase, (it was like 200 steps). The view was completely worth it. We wandered into Cathedrals and castle. The artwork, woodwork, and stained glass was breath taking.

There were a million things to do and we didn't even get time to see the new buildings. There is an entire city life we didn't even get to touch. We weren't there as long as we would've like to be, but just being there at all was amazing and a check off my bucket list.

Where we went and stayed:

http://www.alchymisthotel.com/en/home.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_astronomical_clock

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge

http://www.krcmabrabant.cz/

Glass Fusion: Studio 8 Bermuda

While on vacation in Bermuda I learned something new. I learned to fuse glass. In the dockyard mall there is a shop named Studio 8 Glass. This shop offers a glass fusing class, it was a lot of fun.  I love making jewelry and I loved blowing glass, so this experience actually "fused" those two together in a way I did not expect.

My teacher was a woman named Heidi. She was extremely helpful and allowed the class to look at the pieces already made for inspiration in making our own pieces. (proving she is also a good manager because it inspired me to buy something!) She showed us how glass looks when you stack it and put it in the kiln. The kiln is ultra hot and it melts the glass so it is all together.

When the class started we all had spots on a large table with tubs of pieces of glass. The glass was beautiful. Our spots were set out with various tools to cut the glass, break the glass into shapes, and help design the pieces. As I looked around the shop I saw many pieces that gave me some idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something colorful and bright. I made four pieces. One for my mother, because mother's day was approaching, one for my mother-in-law, one for a friend of mine, and one for myself. It was honestly easier to make the pieces for other people because I know what they wanted, what colors they like, pink, green, orange, and myself I had a difficult time with, but because the first piece of glass for practice was purple, I went with that color.


Digging through the various pieces of glass was fun. The colors were so vibrant and the choices were so exciting it was hard to choose. Honestly, I could have sat there all day and designed pendants, earrings, and sun catchers. The interactions with the other people were pleasant too because we were all learning together.



After finally making my designs and stacking the glass Heidi told us about how the glass fuses together in the Kiln. We set out glass atop a brick and the brick goes into the kiln. The kiln heats to 1200-1500 (F) degrees. After the glass is fused it cools for a day and the studio places a bale on it so it can hang from a necklace. You don't have to make a necklace, some people made earrings or suncatchers.

When the piece is finished fusing it was not exactly how I imagined it. You have to remember any edges are softened by the heat and the glass, so any of the triangles I tried to make got a little rounded. They still ended up beautiful and I still got amazing results from the colors. It's exciting to have something you have made yourself.

The class was $120 and it was worth every single penny. It was a fun social opportunity and a great learning experience. If you are ever in Bermuda- via cruise ship or resort- this is a place to check out. You can usually book it as an excursion on the ship or come in the store directly. It does take a day for the glass to cool, so make sure you are staying more than one day!








This was where we went:
Studio 8 Glass- Facebook page

Driving on the left side of the road......

Now that the dust has settled and my credit card bills have all come in (BTW, I should've saved more money for this trip) I would like share with you the experience of renting a car in Ireland. First of all, they do not accept any kind of American insurance. You have to buy your own insurance, or as in my case, I put down a deposit. It was a $3,000 deposit. This was to protect me against any damage. When I got the car I didn't inspect it like I should have, that was my fault. You should always inspect your vehicle. And take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Anyway, the car rental was 447.00 plus the $3,000 deposit for possible damage. I also did not read through the agreement thoroughly. Also, my fault.

When we arrived in the airport it was 6am and dark. I had slept on the plane, but I work 3rd shift, so my body was completely and totally wrecked. Luckily, my friend Sherry is very calm and helpful. We checked the car out, with this fantastic Irish Hertz rental person, who gave us a "Free" upgrade, (more on this later, you can see the picture of the receipt). We walked down through the airport to get the car on level 0- it was a tan BMW. We loaded up the bags and prepared to drive to our hotel. We didn't even leave the parking structure without getting lost. The navigation system was confusing. So, we had to stop and check in with another, fantastic Hertz employee (who, like the first one, flirted with me and seemed overly helpful).


Me, being American, I am used to driving on the right side of the road. I am also not used to a steering wheel on the right side of the car. Once we got on the road it was a little bit easier. We had to take the highway to get into Dublin. We went though tolls, which was awkward because I'm not used to being on that side of the car, or having to pay the toll on that side either. When we reached the first one we realized we hadn't gotten any Euros so we had no way to pay the toll. This seemed like a total disaster. The toll booth operator, an older, very friendly man, like our first two encounters, flirted with me and was overly friendly, made a bunch of jokes and then took my credit card as payment. It seemed the Irish are just really, really friendly.

We drove around Dublin for close to an hour looking for our hotel. The navigation system kept taking us around the block of our hotel and we could not find it. Going up and down one way streets was terrifying. Especially in the dark and with no traffic to follow. It was good practice.

We finally called the hotel and they had us back up the one way street and told us to go into a parking garage. We did and we parked, with great difficulty. (Probably because I was so tired.) 

When we got into the hotel they checked us in early (super nice people at the Spencer, the man at the desk didn't flirt at all, he was just really, really great).  Then we also got to have breakfast because we were starving from the plane ride, the hotel people were just the kindest people I've ever met. I set up my phone to take a time lapse of the sunrise, it was just coming up, and then we took a nap before setting off the explore Dublin.

The next day we drove the car to Schull, Ireland to look for Sherry's dead relatives, which was neat. We found a Stonehenge thing, which was super cool, but the country roads are super narrow and only one car can get through, which is a bit scary. We drove through Cork, Waterford, and we stopped at a gas station and talked to the most charming gas station attendant. She was adorable, she said she's lived there since she "was a little baby". This was when I decided that Irish people are the friendliest, nicest people on earth.

Anyway, back to the car. We drove all over Ireland, then parked the car in a parking garage at our hotel for two days. We went on a tour of Northern Ireland (by bus) and did some other stuff. When it came time to take the car back to the airport and leave we found out we had been parked in fire lane in the parking garage (I've never heard of such a thing and I feel like it was not very well labeled, but then again I'm American and our warnings on things are very loud and well marked to prevent lawsuits). We did not get any tickets, or a boot, but we did have a bunch of stickers on the car and the windshield, they were difficult to peel off, but I think that's the point of them.

When we returned the car we had a very different experience from picking the car up. The woman who took it back saw scratches on the passenger side, which according the photos I was sent, looked like they were already there and there was a spot on the front of the car with blue paint, that I did not recognize at all. She said it wasn't in the pictures, but they didn't even have their own pictures, just the ones from my email that I showed her. So we filled out a paper and she said I may get part of my deposit back or I might not. It ended up charging my card $2,402.10 in damages. The car had some scratches on it before I got it and lets be honest, they don't always fix those things anyway, they keep the money. I have the email pictures of the scratches, but I may have added to them, I really don't know, but in any case it was a very expensive lesson and in my opinion, totally worth it.

So, my advice to you, if you are renting a car in Ireland:
1) Take lots of pictures of the vehicle before you drive it.
2) Don't let flirty cute Irish people trick you into "Free" upgrades and if they do offer it, look at the bill before signing.
3) Know the exchange rates, because if they charge you in Euros you may not have a fee on it. I was charged in US dollars, which they then had to convert into Euros. It was not very well explained by the handsome Hertz rental employee who in the end, lets be honest, kinda ripped me off, but hey, that's his job and I should have been paying closer attention.

In conclusion, it's all very expensive, even if you return the car in pristine condition your credit card will have that huge charge on it for at least ten days until they take it off, but it's really worth it. I thought it was a fun and interesting experience driving on that side of the road and it was neat to explore the countryside which I would not have seen on a bus tour. However my wallet says, "Hertz, Don't it?".