Tornadoes swept through about ten miles from here in Dexter, Michigan, a few days ago.  The most damaging touched down for about seven miles and was ten football-fields wide.  By some miracle there were no casualties, not even an injury.  My understanding is that sirens went off and people took cover.  Over 100 houses were damaged with seven flatted.

Sirens went off here and my home was pounded by hail that lasted longer than I ever remember.  I did go into the basement with my dog, Henry, who completely ignores storms.  I took my iPad and watched a video conference hosted by travel photographer Trey Ratcliff of stuckincustoms.com.  A very pleasant way to wait for cancellation of the tornado warning.  We never lost power nor did I even see any major branches down the next day.

Here’s some video footage of the damage in Dexter:

This time of year my Birkenstocks call to me.  Today I answered, pulled them out of my closet, and put them on.  The weather was an amazing 60+ degrees and I practically strutted as I walked my dog Henry.   Nothing much better than having my favorite shoes on and not wearing a coat in the brilliant sunshine.

My Birkenstocks are exactly like the ones in the photo.  Nothing fancy, basic black.  They must be 20 years old.  I had them completely rebuilt a couple summers ago.  The leather was still like new and the size is perfect so I just had the bottoms replaced.  Good as new.

My feet and body feel fantastic in these shoes.  Seem to help my posture and my feet never get tired.  Unless it is pouring rain or winter, they are on my feet.  I did wear a pair of socks today to start toughening up my feet.  But boy, it felt great.  Soon I’ll be sporting Birkenstock tan lines and you’ll know life is good.

Source

Michigan is good at tricking us, but with pussy willows in bloom and seeing the first robin of the year this morning, I do have a touch of Spring Fever.  Indeed I’m anxious to get my new-to-me, lightly used Nikon D7000 out of the box and into the world taking photos.  Right now I’m juggling my juggling such that I can hardly see straight.  I am putting together a newsletter, workers are coming in and out to install kitchen counter tops and paint and such, I am taking three different classes, and more.

In a few days I’ll have the newsletter done and a couple other things behind me.  Then I’ll carefully open the box and learn the new features of this camera that replaces my trusty Nikon D70.  The D70–that captured thousands of images in amazing places like Paris and the south of France–now has a nice new home on the Gulf coast of Florida.  I imagine that the D70 will soon be capturing white pelicans nesting in trees and alligators snoozing in sunlight in Sanibel Island’s marvelous Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  Alas, I’ll have to be content to capture fuzzy gray pussy-willow blossoms and the next robin or two.  Once I open that box, the photos on this site soon will be mine instead of by others such as Bruce Macqueen’s robin above.