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| Beside a small lake outside Ann Arbor: a kingfisher. |
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| A heron near the water. We drove our visitors out to see them. Miriam has recently developed an interest in bird watching.. |
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| The swans again — the cygnets are growing up. |
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| After we saw the swans, Miriam cooked dinner. |
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| Dinner: baked salmon, purple rice, braised cabbage, and sautéed cabbage. |
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| Dessert that Alice brought from Cannelle Ann Arbor |
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| These turkeys are wild, but they seem to like to graze on well-tended lawns. |
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| A visitor to my kitchen landed on the kitchen sink faucet. |
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| Graffiti under the bridge in Gallup Park. |
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| At the canoe livery |
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| Keeping the river clean. |
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| Swallows nesting on the bridge. |
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| A paddle boat. |
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| Damaged viewing platform further up the river. |
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| Alice brought treats from White Lotus Bakery. |
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| Upper left: cold chicken platter. Upper right: the chicken on the grill. Lower photos: the fully cooked chicken being carved. |
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| Spaghetti all'assassina (Assassin's Spaghetti) is a famous pasta dish from Bari, Italy. Instead of boiling the pasta, you cook it in a frying pan with successive additions of olive oil, garlic, chili, water and tomato paste. The pasta becomes charred and (we thought) quite delicious. The origin of the name is disputed — maybe the cook is trying to kill you with the hot chili peppers! Len didn’t use an excess of hot pepper, and we enjoyed the result. |
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| Breakfast: A muffin from Trader Joe’s |
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| Grilling pork chops… |
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| The pork chops, beautifully seared and cooked. It’s definitely grilling season! |
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| This pair of trumpeter swans at a pond outside of town have quite a little brood of cygnets! |
Photos © 2026 mae sander
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| Alice cooked chicken and vegetables for a delicious dinner. Ice cream bars for dessert. |
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| One Sandhill Crane was wading in the pond. Michigan is now home to around 25,000 cranes, with many more present during migration. Cranes were almost extinct 60 years ago, with a dramatic turnaround in the 1970s. |
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| Spring flowers were beautiful. |
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| A sale of garden plants was taking place in one of the greenhouses. |
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| We didn’t want to plant sneezeweed, but it’s a great plant name. |
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| A robin is nesting next to our porch. |
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| Our big school event at the end of May up to sixth grade was always held at the Forest Park Highlands, a big amusement park. Each clild received several tickets for the most popular rides. I rarely went on the Ferris Wheel. Too scary! |
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| I was happier on the merry-go-round. (Note the murals on the center post. Shared with Sami.) |
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| The roller coaster really challenged me. I never liked heights or fast downward motion! |
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| Those who love the rollercoaster would wave their arms during descent. The one or two times I was convinced to take this ride, I hid my eys. |
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| My mother and my two aunts always accompanied us to the school picnic. They brought lunch for us to eat, always including strawberries and pineapple in a jar. |
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| Lettuce topped with a cheeseburger and chilli. |
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| Bagels with smoked salmon, hummus, and cream cheese. Also cherries. |
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| Chicken on the barbcue. |
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| Dinner with friends. |
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| I’m not making much progress on this book — I might switch to another one! |
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| Also read part of this book. I hope to do better next week! |
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| Rhubarb sauce — a spring favorite! |
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| We decided to make this Israeli specialty for lunch one day, as I noted in an earlier blog post. |
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| I had the Greek salad. My friend Elaine had a bacon & egg sandwich. Nothing was exceptionally good. The fries were served cold. Note to self and Elaine: eat lunch elsewhere. |
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| I met my friend Abby at the Argus cafe for coffee and a long conversation. I also bought the rhubarb here. Argus has two store fronts in one block, one with coffee and the other with farmers’ produce on consignment. |
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| Little goslings are cute, but unfortunately they grow up to be geese. Filthy creatures! |
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| Graffiti along the river walk. For Sami’s murals and graffiti. |
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| Further down the river: a mallard duck inspects a swan’s nest. |
