WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY

A “Walktober” to savor ….

Posted on November 1, 2026 by Linda Schaub

I’d give a resounding 10-4 to this meander that was taken on October 4th. There was a subtle hint of color for some of the trees, whereas the many Maples were already getting their glow-on, as you see above.

My trip to Heritage Park that lovely Fall day was two-fold: first to capture some of the scarecrow images and spooky pics from the Scarecrow Stroll event the day before, plus peep at the leaf colors.

I started off at the Botanical Gardens where the flavor of the harvest season was everywhere …

… and, as you can see, this lovely tropical-looking Hibiscus was alongside Chrysanthemums, a perennial favorite for Fall.

The rest of the blooming beauties at the Conservatory were still going strong as well – these are just some of them.

This insect was happy to hunker down inside this pretty rose.

Well, even though today is All Saints’ Day and we might be thinking about spirits, I don’t think this paver brick meant those types of spirits.

Mere steps away from the still-blooming Summertime flowers, there were some harvest vibes going on inside the Conservatory.

After I strolled around the Conservatory and grounds, I headed to the Woodland Garden and Trail to see their spooky stuff for my Halloween post which was last week.

I also strolled over to the “farming area” of the Community Gardens, thinking there may still be a pumpkin or squash hanging around that I might photograph for the Fall feel of this post. Fellow Michigan blogger Ruth had surprised me earlier that week by saying they had already harvested all their pumpkins and squash from their gardens.

It was the same at the Community Gardens where all that remained of the plots so carefully tended since Spring were Marigolds, no doubt planted to thwart the critters who were out to feed their respective faces and destroy the harvest of the Community Garden produce. The strong smell is good for deterring those critters, squirrels in particular.

I saw the geese were gathering beyond the caboose and boxcar.

The geese didn’t play favorites as they also hung out around the boxcar. The grass was about as bright green as that boxcar, which I’m sure delighted the geese.

I thought they looked a bit conflicted in this photo, like … “hey gang, where do we go next?”

I was hardly welcomed with open wings by the geese and my reward was not a ton of photo ops, but a few side-eye glimpses instead, so I just moseyed on.

It was a gorgeous Fall day, with the sun shining brightly, which just seemed to intensify the already-bright colors of the Little Red Schoolhouse …

… and the Water-Powered Mill.

The covered bridge had a perfect backdrop of green trees, but for one Maple tree that had erupted in a color which seemingly matched the roof of the bridge.

The Maple trees are my favorite when it comes to leaf peepin’.

The historical West Mound Church was touting their venue for weddings.

After leaving the church, I saw many ducks sleeping over by Coan Lake, so I went over to check them out. I saw they were all out of “eclipse phase” so they are no longer a blah brown, but have returned to their respective resplendent selves, so I can now distinguish the males from the females.

Check out these two Sleeping Beauties:

I tried not to startle them as I walked by, but I suspect some of the crispy leaves that were already littered along the path must have crunched beneath the soles of my heavy walking shoes and these ducks awoke, instantly alert and, without sounding as much as a quack as an alert to their brethren, most of the others soon opened their eyes as well …

Just as with the Canada Geese, they looked at me as an intrusion to their day and one by one they waddled down the slope to Coan Lake. Oops!

My trip past the Petting Farm did not yield a single photo op that day; nary a rooster antic, nor did I have a meet-up with chickens too chicken to cross the road. So, I decided to opt for a brief walk in the wooded area that is between Heritage Park and Wayne County Community College. This time, however, the route I chose was different than the trail I’ve taken in the past. (This straying from the beaten path would happen to me twice that week!) I only intended to top off this post with some woodsy shots, even though I was on the lookout for a doe and fawn that people had taken photos of. I realized they would have been out foraging much earlier in the day, but the morning drizzle dashed my plan to get there earlier. Taking that new trail in the woods yielded a ton of shots during the hour I spent there. I’ll save that tale for February as I plan to have a theme for that post in conjunction with my 14th Blogiversary, so stay tuned!

Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge this week is “Favorite Vacation Spots” and since I’ve shared a lot of former vacations earlier this year, I will use this Walktober post for Terri’s Flower Hour instead.

Posted in nature, walk, walking | Tagged Fall Foliage, nature, walk, walking, Walktober, | 2 Comments

Da Bones Brothers #Wordless Wednesday #Roamin’ Holiday! #Too many Bloody Marys = asleep at the wheel!

Posted on October 28, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #Wordless Wednesday, Halloween | Tagged #Wordless Wednesday, 1929 Ford Model AA Commercial Truck, Halloween, Yes, I know it's "Roman" Holiday :) | 15 Comments

Spooky vibes as we slide toward Halloween ….

Posted on October 25, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Halloween was on my mind when I hustled up to Heritage Park the day after this event was held there.

Every year I think that it might be fun to attend, but I wanted to get a flavor for Fall and the harvest season at the Botanical Gardens as well, thus less people photobombing my flower shots is preferable … so, Sunday, the 4th it was. I always try to go before it rains and ruins any of the décor, but, wouldn’t you know, we had a light, unexpected drizzle on Sunday morning. I waited until almost noon to visit this venue, knowing the sun would not be my friend as I’d have to contend with a lot of shadows.

So, today’s post will feature the “spooky stuff” at the Gardens and next week’s post will be about my wonderful “Walktober” stroll throughout Heritage Park and that post will have more of a harvest theme.

In the patio area outside the Conservatory, I admired the different shades of orange, a late-blooming Hibiscus with a fun name (Hollywood Hibiscus® Disco Diva) that was paired with a beautiful pale-orange Chrysanthemum.

While I was watching these flowers, the other flowers were watching me, courtesy of the eyeballs lurking in/around the plant.

Actually, there was a whole lotta staring going on at the Gardens that day. 🙂

Since the event was entitled “Scarecrow Stroll” I hoped to see a variety of scarecrows and there were 20 on display this year. (There may have been more than 20 entries if people took their scarecrow home after the event.) Last year when I visited, there was an event at the Gardens that afternoon, so unfortunately most of the scarecrows were tucked away in an area so not to interfere with the festivities and/or pictures.

These were a few of my favorite scarecrow entries.

I Googled around to see if these two women owned a candy store, or perhaps were caterers – no luck finding out anything, so suffice it to say this pretty-in-pink, broad-shouldered chef is offering you a few treats.

There were several entries from local elementary schools and later when I went to the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Facebook site, I saw the students had come away with some honors.

I’m not much of a sports fan, but even I knew this upside-down scarecrow represented when Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did an upside-down headstand touchdown celebration during a game against the Green Bay Packers on November 3, 2024. Fellow Michigan blogger Ruth will get a kick out of this scarecrow – she loves the Lions.

This is another elementary school entry – I’ll bet these kids will do well in Biology when they get to the dissecting portions of their studies – eww!

These young students were all about the value of reading with this scarecrow and a message to lift your spirits by reading.

This “fireman” scarecrow was at the ready with all his/her gear.

These two scarecrows represented judges in the City of Taylor.

The first judge-sponsored entry was by Judge Brittany Johnson. This scarecrow is quite a looker with all the sparkles and satin, isn’t she?

The second judge-sponsored scarecrow is by Judge Victoria Shackelford. I love the Ruth Bader Ginsburg collar. This scarecrow was also the featured image, but I had to show you the entire scarecrow with its lovely backdrop of the Gardens and Conservatory area in this photo.

Hopefully the below pics of the Honey Baked Ham scarecrow doesn’t make you lose your appetite for a nice ham sandwich. Yikes!

DTE, our local energy provider, is one of the sponsors of the Scarecrow Stroll, so their entry was a DTE lineman, er … let’s call it a DTE worker with a lightbulb in his hand and lots of bright ideas.

Wright’s Landscape Services was another event sponsor. This company does a lot of the beautiful landscaping at the Gardens. Although the scarecrow’s face isn’t friendly, at least the bouquet at his feet makes him a more-likeable figure.

The Masco Pavilion is a covered area on the fringe of the Gardens. It was enlarged earlier this year and can now accommodate 110 seated guests. There are lots of events held here, weddings or gatherings related to the venue, like the “Music and Art in the Gardens” series every Wednesday all Summer.

Now it was time to wander down the Woodland Trail.

Would the 2026 visit be spooktacular like last year’s visit?

If the below entrance to the Woodland Trail looks familiar, it is because I did my 2025 “Walktober” here, (found here in case you missed it), as part of my walk-around at Heritage Park.

Once you pass under the arch, you step onto the trail – so what awaits us?

As a kid who grew up watching the cartoon “Casper the Friendly Ghost” and even donned a costume one year in his likeness, I’m pretty sure Casper never had a spider on his forehead – just sayin’.

There were plenty of witches, some pictured below …

… and a few ghosts that donned witchy-looking hats.

I hope the witches were cool with that copycat look. I suspect the ghosts snagged their hats from the line above our heads where many witch hats wiggled in the wind.

There were some colorful witch hats as well – hmm, I wonder why the ghosts didn’t wear them? It’s not as if they would clash with white!

Of course, Halloween is dandy due to the candy and this year there was something new on the Woodland Trail. Huge suckers in different “flavors” appeared everywhere and they even had festive ribbons on each one.

Here are a couple of them.

This stroll wasn’t just about ghosts and witches – there was some spooky stuff as well.

I hesitated to look up as I passed these fellows.

Make no bones about it, this guy towered way over me! Judging from the smirk on his face, I’ll bet he’s the one plucking the witch hats from the wires!

All too quickly the spooky stroll was done and I was out in the daylight again, where I continued my walk, which you’ll read about next week.

Be sure to click here for your special e-card.

Terri’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge this week is “Scary Animal of the Month” and, since I couldn’t find a scary live animal to share from this venue, I will participate in Terri’s Flower Hour instead. I’ll have another spooky post on Wednesday.

Posted in nature, walk, walking | Tagged Halloween, Harvest,, nature, seasons,, walk, walking | 48 Comments

When beauty is unmarred by imperfection. #Wordless Wednesday #End-of-Summer tears and tatters on an Eyed-Brown Butterfly.

Posted on October 21, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, Butterflies, nature | Tagged #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, Butterflies, nature | 22 Comments

“Wild Horses” …

Posted on October 18, 2026 by Linda Schaub

… was blaring from someone’s car speaker just as I neared Memorial Park.

I swiveled my head at the wrong time and just missed a lime green VW bus with peace symbols all over it as it zoomed by me. It might have been a blurry shot anyway.

I mused that here I was amongst these beautiful Mustangs as Linda Schaub, Your Roving Reporter, not with the moniker of “Mustang Sally” nor “Long Tall Sally” (despite my shadow) – no, it’s not my thing for the latter two.

It was Cruisin’ Downriver, the 26th annual classic car cruise along M-85 a/k/a Fort Street, in the Downriver communities of Riverview, Southgate, Wyandotte and Lincoln Park. Officially, the cruise was Saturday, June 27th, but vehicles began cruising up and down Fort Street as early as Thursday evening.

Locally, it is billed as a celebration of cars and community and is one of many cruises held throughout the Summer in the Tri-County area, all leading up to the grandaddy cruise of them all, the Woodward Dream Cruise.

I decided to meander over as it might be a fun photo op with the 250 American flags for America 250 in residence at Memorial Park. You can see some of them around the marquee. If you missed my post about the flag display, you can find it here.

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the ducks and geese and look at some cool-looking, crayon-box-colored classic cars. I had fun at the Model A car show a few years ago and was excited to see the 1977 Clenet recently.

It was fairly early to glimpse the classic cars on Fort Street – they would be in abundance later in the day, but then it is more difficult to get good photos of them as they’re jam packed together and there are crowds along Fort Street … AND, it was going to be a scorcher later on.

Ponies in the Park.

Whenever I go to Cruisin’ Downriver, I always stop at “Ponies in the Park” our local version of “Mustang Alley” that is at the Woodward Dream Cruise. I was curious where the Mustangs would be corralled, er … gathered this year, since the America 250 display of the oversized Declaration of Independence was exactly where those classic cars usually park for the event.

So, this year they were parked at the side of Memorial Park and, just as I arrived, a few more of those classic ‘Stangs were pulling up, after rolling past the church parking lot, then behind the memorial pavilion to eventually join the others.

I’m not going to include all of the Mustangs, just a few that I could get close up to before it got crowded with cars, their owners and envious Mustang enthusiasts.

This was the first Mustang, rolling past the flags – you couldn’t miss that bright-orange color.

This “Pony” parked at the opposite end of the line-up.

It had a fun license plate, an abridged version of “Dreamsicle”.

Next in line was this fire-engine red Mustang GT, rounding the flag display near the church.

Yes, I could ID it as it had “GT” or “Mustang GT” in several places.

Most of these classic Mustangs have personalized license plates and occasionally you have to scratch your head to figure them out – not this one though, clearly “Dig a Pony”.

While I was admiring and photographing the above red Mustang, a black Mustang pulled in beside me. The owner jumped out and immediately raised the hood. Yes, clean as a whistle inside and I quipped that when I go for an oil change the guys at Lovedays marvel at how clean the engine is and I was nearing 14,800 miles on my 2009 Buick LaCrosse. I said eight more years and it’s a classic car.

We were chattin’ it up and I said “I know you have a personalized license plate!” Yep, he did: “Fastback”.

He pointed to his tee-shirt and said “I made this design for this cruise” so I asked to take a photo of the front …

… and he said “wait, I’ll turn around and you can get the back too!”

He said he also created this 3D V8 engine drink holder with his printer. He wanted it since his car has a V6 engine, so now he has a V8 engine. I said “you lost me there!” 🙂

I said “I’m not that high-tech nor car savvy to be honest” so he said “watch what I’ll do with my car on my phone – I’ll make it into a Transformer” …

… and then he made a Transformer figure holding up the Mustang logo from a nearby red Mustang.

I told him he was very high-tech, more so than me. (What I didn’t tell him was that up until that moment, I did not know what a Transformer was.)

I thanked him for our chat, then left to see a few more Mustangs that had pulled up while we were chatting.

It seemed like there were more red cars than other colors and I next honed in on the last red car to the right …

The hood was propped up like before so I stopped here and peered in (like I knew what I was looking at).

The owners were a very nice couple and the man said he washed under the hood to keep it so clean. I’m not sure if he was pulling my leg or not?

This car was the 26th anniversary Mustang and they told me they had a white 25th anniversary Mustang and decided to get rid of it – there are only so many months a year in Michigan to go cruising after all, but they missed going to car events and cruising, “so we bought another ‘Stang.”

And they got a fun license plate for it.

Several of the Mustangs had this emblem on their back window, or something else identifying them as members of this club.

This was the last car to join the other Ponies at the Park event. Seeing this turquoise Mustang convertible brought back memories. When I worked at Carter’s, Frank and Jeanie, who owned the pet shop across the street, often came in for breakfast. They always pulled their car, exact same color and a convertible, alongside the diner to keep an eye on it through the window. Google tells me this is a 1966 First Generation Mustang Convertible.

Off to see some other classic cars ….

I decided it was time to walk along Fort Street as traffic had picked up a little. I hoped to get a few photos of some vintage cars.

This was a 1936 Chrysler Airstream pulling up to the stoplight …

… and here it was pulling away.

This was a 1978 Ford Fairmont.

Another oldie but goodie was this modified vintage 1940 Ford Pickup Truck.

These classic and vintage vehicles drive a six-mile loop during the course of the Cruise event. There are canopies where people stake their spot the night before and there is a battle of the bands and food trucks in Memorial Park later in the day. The next day I drove along Fort Street and saw lots of tire marks from those classic cars burning rubber.

As I walked to Council Point Park, I saw this ’66 Chevy Chevelle in the ‘hood.

Thank you Google AI for helping me ID these cars.

The wild horses in the featured image and below are from my jacket.

I am joining Terri’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge: “Colors of Lava and Black” .

Posted in Street Photography, walk, walking | Tagged #One step at a time, #Sunday Stills Color Challenge, classic cars, Street Photography, walk, walking | 46 Comments

Harvest vibes! #Wordless Wednesday

Posted on October 14, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #Flower Hour,, #Wordless Wednesday | Tagged #Flower Hour Photo Challenge, #Wordless Wednesday, Harvest season | 58 Comments

When a walk goes afowl, er … afoul.

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Linda Schaub

It was a gorgeous Summer day, the third in a string of days that felt like the Summers I’d grown up with … the Summer days I dreamed about enjoying once I was retired and 100% of my time was my own.

On the third day, August 5th, I headed to Heritage Park, not to check on my chickens (if you’ll recall those antics from a previous post – please click here if you missed that one), but I was on the lookout for butterflies at the Botanical Gardens, or maybe some pretty flowers to grace my blogposts when the weather became frosty and unforgiving.

As I stepped onto the asphalt path, I was reminded that Summer can always be savored at this beautiful park.

So … where to start first?

I didn’t see anything going on at Coan Lake – once again, zero turtles on the ramp and unbelievably zero ducks and geese in the water. I attributed that to them still feeling listless and lethargic because of their annual molt.

However, I would soon learn where the majority of the waterfowl were.

Hmm – looks like the ducks have a treat angel.

The sun seemed extra-bright, almost blinding me, despite wearing sunglasses – what were all those brown blobs on the grass up ahead? Well, Your Roving Reporter’s nose for news led me right to a man, sitting in a very large, motorized scooter, throwing out a handful of corn to some eager Mallards.

He doled out several scoops which were gobbled down quickly …

The expectant faces of the ducks as they circled around him told me they were looking for more corn – yes, of course they were. The man and I chatted and he told me he lives near the park, accesses the walking path on his scooter and feeds the ducks every morning, just like clockwork.

Soon he shrugged and said “sorry, no more” and I told him how I tried that line with my squirrels to no avail as they’d follow me around looking for more peanuts.

I watched this duck waddle off – he was late to the corn party and seemed a bit pouty he missed it.

The man drove off and the rest of the ducks began leaving, BUT, about 15 geese evidently knew this morning routine well and they headed over.

The ducks had a change of heart and soon I had a passel of waterfowl coming toward me. Birdbrains … hardly! By association, they assumed I had treats too -yikes!

Well I wasn’t toting corn, so I backed up, turned on my heel and got out of Dodge.

Having successfully evaded the brigade of still-hungry ducks and geese, I headed toward the Botanical Gardens.

Enroute to the Gardens, as long-timer followers know, I must pass the Petting Farm as I walk along busy Pardee Road.

There were “escapees” once again ….

Well, this might be a lucky break for me – perhaps that very “chicken” chicken might cross Pardee this time?

I was serenaded by the rooster … first he gave me a side-eye, then he flew up to the top of the wooden fence and promptly turned his back to me, the photo you see up top.

Okay, I guess he showed me who was boss, right?

The rooster crowed incessantly, in between turning his head slightly to take a peek at me to ensure “his girls” were okay.

The chickens were just dandy, having sneaked out from under the barnyard fence, to either scratch in the dirt …

… or rest for a while.

Having taken about 20 shots of my feathered fowl friends, I continued on my way to the Botanical Gardens.

In the parking lot that is shared by the Farm and Gardens, I saw a bus and a big sign by the entrance that read “Field Trip”. They had a loudspeaker playing loud music and I heard kids’ voices.

“Aha!” I thought. The chickens and rooster escaped the noise from the kids on the field trip. Then I wondered if there would be any more “escapees” crossing my path.

I meandered around the Botanical Gardens, taking a few shots, mostly for future Wordless Wednesday posts.

But, I couldn’t help myself – I had to take this photo where the Petting Farm barnyard butts up against the Botanical Gardens. This sign tells us how much the animals enjoy seeing us. I beg to differ. 🙂

Tripping along the woodland path.

Rather than get the rooster and his girls agitated by going past them a second time, I decided to cut through the woodland trails. I hadn’t been there in a while.

These Snowballs graced the beginning of the trail.

The woods aren’t dense at all – you can see the sky through the trees. I rounded the bend to see something new, to me anyway.

There weren’t many plants, but these Coneflowers needed some of the TLC the volunteers give the flowers at the Botanical Gardens.

Suddenly I sensed some movement in the weeds at the end of the Pollinator Garden. Again … not to worry, as I mentioned before, the woods are not dense and besides … this was down low.

Now, had I heard any utterings from these two, I’d have known right away what was lurking in my path. These are Helmeted Guinea Fowl.

They were distracted while foraging and didn’t notice me at first. Then, once they saw me, they were on high alert …

… they both beat it into the bushes.

I was at Heritage Park back in 2022, when I saw four Guinea Fowl. I was told they were Lavender Guinea Fowl that live at the Farm, so I compared pics of those birds versus these birds. They look the same to me! This was my post about my first sighting of these unusual-looking-and-sounding birds.

I went to the Community Gardens and chatted it up with one of the gardeners while looking for photo ops. She was setting a trap for some groundhogs who have been ravaging everyone’s veggie gardens. I noticed many of the veggies were covered by netting to deter the beasts. I commiserated with her and, of course, I had to go into my own story about the groundhog who ate my Twist-and-Shout Hydrangeas, before burrowing into my backyard foundation. I hired a pest removal service to trap and relocate him/her, but all we got were two possums, which I had to pay $75.00 apiece to have them removed.

Splish-splash I was taking a bath ….

Back at the historical area of Heritage Park, a lot of honking was going on … no, not car horns, but geese. Well, as I paused on the grassy slopes around Coan Lake, I filled up the camera card a bit more as these Canada Geese splashed around, cooling off and likely relieving the itchiness of new feathers growing in during their annual molt.

They sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.

If some of the geese weren’t in the mood to be splashed, it looks like they had no choice as they got splashed anyway. This goose looks disgusted with the antics!

Of course a Summer splash is nice, but the geese don’t have a fluffy towel to dry off, so they have to flap their wings wildly. This first goose facing the seawall looks like a Cormorant, or maybe a flasher. The second goose takes a more elegant approach.

I am not joining Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge: “Stairs/Steps” this week, but I will join The Flower Hour and also Pepper’s Challenge One Step at a Time.

Posted in birds, nature, walk, walking | Tagged birds, nature, walk, walking | 45 Comments

A feather, a flower … but where’s the frog? #Wordless Wednesday #Pond Lily

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #Wordless Wednesday, Flowers, nature | Tagged #Wordless Wednesday, Flowers, nature | 32 Comments

Canal living and some culture too!

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Linda Schaub

As the sign above indicates, this excursion took place in Gibralter, Michigan, a quaint, waterfront community located along the Detroit River. I had not been to Gibralter since I was a teenager when our family visited my father’s coworker who lived right on one of the canals.

What is most unique about Gibralter is that it is built on and around a network of five miles of canals, so, for this reason, it is known as “Little Venice”.

I wish I could tell you that I had a gondola ride or did something exciting like I might do if I were in Venice, but truthfully, while this four-mile-wide city, with about 5,000 residents, has lots to see, you can only see most of it doing a ride-by in your vehicle. I had to park in the only residential area I could find without “private property” signs so that I could walk around and see some of the sights.

The reason I came to visit Gibralter was that it was still another of the 34 locations where the Detroit Institute of Arts had a 2026 art installation. There were only five paintings here, some which you’ve seen in other installations I’ve visited. This is the last of the DIA exhibits I’ve visited in 2026.

More on those paintings later – first, I want to give you a flavor for the City of Gibralter, Michigan, so I’m going to do this walk in reverse and tell you about the sights, then the paintings last.

Canal living – would it be for you?

I found the canal areas to be very picturesque as you’ll see in the following photos. Plus, I managed to get a little wildlife in this post, so that you’re not too bored with still more paintings.

I stood on a few of the street bridges to get the canal shots. This was the view from the first canal I walked over.

Do you see the wooden dock in the foreground? Apparently, the homeowner likes ducks (or perhaps the ducks just like hanging out here). If you look closely, you can see several ducks scattered about the deck and …

… one Mallard perched on the edge, ready to take the plunge, which he did and paddled fast and furiously away.

We’ll revisit this dock later.

I noticed many of the homes had nautical themes in their front yards, like lighthouses or boat planters.

These are a few more views of the canals.

Then, I crossed the bridge again, returning to this view of the home where I saw the Mallard duck earlier, but I was viewing it from the other side of the walkway.

While I was standing taking the photo of this house, a Mama duck and her two ducklings paddled from underneath the wooden steps, over to the dock and waddled onto it.

The first thing I noticed was Mama Duck’s coloring and her white chest. When I got online later and looked at my photos, I learned this was a Black Swedish duck, also called a “tuxedo duck” due to its white bib. This was a first sighting for me.

Moments after stepping out of the water, Mama and her two ducklings all stopped to preen their feathers, a task that took forever, while I waited patiently, hoping for a few more photo ops. Finally, after endless preening, I snapped this photo …

… and another one.

I smiled at Mama Duck looking down at her baby … but wait, where was the other duckling?

He or she had toddled off to the end of the deck mumbling “bye-bye, gotta fly!” 🙂

How ’bout a bit of culture with your canal story?

I had a hand-drawn map and started by parking at the Dairy Queen. The painting was in the middle of an empty lot, so not too exciting to get a shot of what was around the installation. I remembered this painting, “Seascape-Sunset” by Martin Johnson Heade from last year’s paintings at Grosse Ile – it was right along the Detroit River.

The second painting, “Cotopaxi” by Frederic Edwin Church, was on one side of the Cooke Community Center, a rather nondescript building, so I only took photos of the painting.

There was a little more activity and it was a tad more interesting at the Gibralter Community Center …

… as the painting was on the wall near an entrance – you couldn’t miss it. I remembered this painting as well from my trip to see the DIA installations at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. It is called “The Lily Pond” by Charles Harry Eaton.

Unlike the previous venue, this building was bustling with activity as it was August 4th, primary election voting day in Michigan and there was a steady stream of people going in and out.

I had parked over near the gazebo …

… and soon was on my way – just two more paintings to go!

The fourth painting was at still another City building …

… and it had a nautical theme going on, not only with its logo, but this boat anchor out front.

The painting, entitled “Solitude” by Jean-Léon Gérôme was a little different than the other DIA offerings I’ve seen around the last few years since I’ve been visiting and photographing their Inside/Out displays.

Using my trusty, hand-drawn map, I set out to find the fifth and final painting, but this time I hit a snag. I had to cross the 101-year-old Horse Island Concrete Bridge, a 20-foot wide structure, so narrow that only one vehicle was able to go across the bridge at a time. It was steep and I wouldn’t want to drive over it in snow and ice in the Wintertime.

Island Drive was reminiscent of my trips to Estral Beach and Grosse Ile where there are so few public places to park that I am discouraged from returning. To my left were large homes, along the shoreline of the Detroit River – their front yards looked out on the canal. On the other side of the canal you can see a neighborhood with smaller homes, but there was no parking allowed there either.

The painting was installed near the bridge, at Island Drive Park, which necessitated driving all along narrow Island Drive on Horse Island, then turning the car around so I could face the painting. No way was I going to park anywhere as all the primo waterfront property had “private property” signs, so I stopped, rolled down the window and snapped a few quick shots.

Well, here we go again, another painting seen recently at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, “Bank of the Oise at Auvers” by Vincent Van Gogh.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Gibralter, Michigan.

When I finished up here, I drove down Jefferson Avenue, just a few miles to Lake Erie Metropark, where I embarked on that delightful trek I wrote about last week. You can click here in case you missed it.

Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge this week is “Ephemeral” so I am participating in The Flower Hour instead. I’m also participating in Pepper’s One Step at a Time.