Today I am channeling my late friend Marge Aubin, as I begin a limited series of posts about impromptu getaways made during the month of June. Frustrated by Mother Nature’s endless hot and sticky temps, plus incessant rain causing buggy hikes on soggy trails that I experienced every weekend throughout May and early June, I seized the opportunity, on seven weekday mornings, to head to my favorite weekend venues. The sun was up earlier, so why not seize the (week)day and get out to enjoy the welcome Canadian air mass of cool and dry conditions that settled in for three or four days, two weeks in a row? As you know, I usually do my bigger excursions on weekends when I don’t have to keep glancing at my watch, but I decided it was this way or no way. I just flip-flopped and relegated my weekend jaunts to Council Point Park instead. I also thought I could be productive at the house if I was not traipsing around and getting home mid-day exhausted from the heat. This Summer is winning no prizes in my humble opinion and I know many of my fellow bloggers have the same mindset.
It was four years ago today since Marge passed away after battling COPD for several years. She was the person who encouraged me to start a blog about walking, after suggesting, (more like insisting), that since I “report” to her on my daily walks, why not blog about them? Then it was Marge who told me never to leave the house without my camera. She would be shocked to see just how many photos I take and use in my posts these days, so I thank her every day for her wisdom.
Marge’s mantra was “Seize the Day!”
For many years, every day, rain or shine, ice or snow, Marge went to the Detroit River to watch the sun rise. She left well before the crack of dawn, parking her car right next to her side door, slipping out of the house in near-darkness, with only the glow of the sensor light for her to lock up the house and jump into her car. She did not go straight to the River though – she had a routine. She stopped at McDonald’s and got coffee and oatmeal, sometimes a breakfast sandwich. Then she drove straight to the River, parked and waited for each new day to begin. She always had her digital compact camera with her and later, when she was home, she often sent me an e-mail or Facebook message with that day’s sunrise shot. After the day had dawned and her breakfast was finished, Marge stayed and watched the morning unfold, the fishermen arrive, the seagulls hovering overhead and then she returned home.
I really want to be like my friend and creep out the door under cover of darkness, but that’s a wee bit out of my comfort level … there is crime, there are possums (okay … one) and in August, those icky-sticky spider webs that are spun overnight and make you claw and paw the air when you run into them – ugh!
On my first “Seize the (Week)Day” I went to Dingell Park.
So I compromised … I would NOT leave the house under cloak of darkness, but I would leave while the sun was still rising, then aim to be at the River shortly thereafter. Bishop Park in Wyandotte was a favorite early morning haunt for Marge and is a little over five miles/eight kilometers away. But on this day, I chose Dingell Park, half the mileage and a mere six minutes from my home.
The sun was still rising and that is the picture you see above. Here are a few more shots taken at the pavilion overlook.
I stayed there about a half-hour, walked the boardwalk, chatted it up with a fisherman or two, then watched a pensive seagull contemplating life. I thought of my friend Marge as she told me she said her prayers at the Riverfront and did all her heavy thinking while at this peaceful venue.
There were no seagull shenanigans that morning, which was a disappointment, so from there I returned to the car, then rolled down Biddle Avenue to Bishop Park, where I wanted to capture some fish fly photos. Believe me, they aren’t as cute as that fawn, nor my furry friends at the Park, but they’ll make a cameo appearance in an upcoming post.
In these seven early morning jaunts, I covered a lot of territory. I left early enough to enjoy the cool breezes at the River multiple times, or to meander amongst the Mallards at Heritage Park. I wandered around the wildflowers at the Southgate Nature Center. I took a ton of photos. I’m going to intersperse those excursions with other park venues over the next few months. It will be something different, because, say what you will, but 2021 is just as different and strange as 2020 was, as the pandemic lingers, climate change rips apart old records for heat, flooding, wildfires and continues to wreak havoc on nature and wildlife all around the globe. Stay tuned.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
That was a lovely tribute to Marge. She’d be proud of you for blogging and using lots of photos.
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Thank you Anne – I wanted to do something special for her and really wanted to go see the sunrise, but that was a bit out of my comfort zone. I wish she was here to see the many photos. She liked the longer stories of which I have plenty now. I took a ton of photos today as I was at three different parks – I made the most of a coolish day.
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You are good at taking advantage of good weather.
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I did today too Anne. I had Comcast at the house to swap modems and now, no more losing internet 20 times a day. The modem was four years old and I knew it was time. So, the tech left by 9:00 and I was out the door to walk a few minutes later. I even did some yard work when I came home. It was a gorgeous weekend and tomorrow starts a week of heat, humidity and rain nearly every day, mostly the afternoon. What a Summer!
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I’m glad you could get out today.
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I recognize that hue of the sun anywhere. That’s what smoke does,It makes the sun’s colour change to a more orangey/pinkish colour. If you had been there right at sunrise you would of seen a strange coloured sun.
This was a great way to honour your friends legacy Linda!
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Thanks Wayne – glad you liked the post and I’m happy to do this post for my good friend Marge. I got there maybe 7:20 I believe – yes, the sun was orangey-pink and made a nice reflection on the water.
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I checked the satellite feed and it shows smoke across most of North America!
https://weather.gc.ca/satellite/satellite_anim_e.html?sat=goes&area=wcan&type=visible
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That was interesting to see … I even picked a sunny day so I could leave earlier.
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Great tribute to your friend.
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Thank you Kate … she did love her sunrises at the River.
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Your conclusion almost makes me dread what 2022 has in store!
I admire your friend for having the gumption to do that every day. I get up before sunrise, but sure as heck don’t want to get out of my jammies then!
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Maybe I was too harsh Eilene? I thought (and hoped) we were on the right track with our pandemic, but somehow that hope is fading fast with the Delta variant … we just passed the 20,000 death marked here in Michigan yesterday. And that recent report on global warming, weather events is so disheartening – look at today’s devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Alaska. I am an early riser too, but would not be keen on that agenda either, though in the Wintertime, when I still worked downtown, I left for work and returned from work by bus and really didn’t think anything of being out in the dark – things have changed now though crime wise and I’ve worked from home since 2011. That was my friend/neighbor Marge’s routine for years and she was still doing it at 78 years old – the last year she was on a full-size oxygen tank and did not do her morning escape to the River as she did not trust the portable oxygen, having had an issue with it malfunctioning one time.
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Miss Linda…………………………..that was great of you to honor this blog for Marge your good friend for many years…………………………..She’s watching you and smiling…………………………thank you for the peaceful message
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Ann Marie – thank you. I am glad you liked this little tribute to Marge. She derived much peace from her morning forays to the Detroit River. I am glad I captured that in this post.
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That was a wonderful tribute!
— Not so your last sentences. We’ll see what 2022 has to offer …
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Thank you Jeanine – she was very special and I would not be here in this forum if not for Marge. I tried to duplicate her daily trip but that’s the best I could do. I was being frank … I hope that 2022 is better, I really do, but hearing the stat that our state had its 20,000th death the other day and cases shooting up 90% in a week’s time is very disheartening. I hope we rally back like we did post-vaccines and just a month or so ago.
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I like Marge. She had what used to be called “the right attitude” and if she got you to start this blog, then I like her double much. I like your early morning photos. They seem in keeping with Marge.
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Thank you for saying that Ally. Marge was game for anything and I often wished I had half of her energy and enthusiasm for everything. She followed a couple of blogs and kept sending me posts to read and asking why I couldn’t do that too? She really insisted and I reluctantly agreed, mostly just to humor her at the time.
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Nice to know how your blog got started, Linda. I hope we’ll hear more tidbits about Marge as we hear more about your weekday jaunts.
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Yes, that is the origin of my blog Dave and I mostly started it to appease Marge since she insisted and because she was a good friend to my mom and me, especially after my mom passed away in early 2010. I packed a lot of walking and photo-taking into those seven days. We just had a glorious weather weekend. I walked a lot of miles and took a lot of photos; the yard said “thank you” for the extra time I spent out there since it was not hot and humid for a change.
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Thank you to Marge for inspiring you to join the early morning club. I just smiled when I saw your photo right away. Well done Linda, I love the reflection on the water even though it looks hazy out. It is a magical time of the day I believe and Marge new that as well. The quiet moments of just you and nature. I hope you can enjoy more of these early morning times.
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Yes Sanda, Marge did inspire me to enjoy the early morning club. She was pretty fearless about going out to enjoy her sunrises. It was a little hazy from the wildfire smoke, but I figured it was cool and no rain, so I was just going to go. I got two missions accomplished that morning – I saw a late sunrise, plus something else I could cross off my bucket list, but I’ll save that for another post. I’m going to eke out a couple of posts from each excursion … at least that is how I divided my photos up. There were ducks in that little alcove, but it is hard to see them paddling in the semi-darkness. I hope I can enjoy many more early morning times as well Sandra. I went down here early one morning in February – it was freezing, but I was looking for eagles that have nests on Mud Island across the channel from where I was standing. They fish on the ice in February and March. Lots of photographers go to photograph them with their long lenses and post on the Dingell Park Facebook site. I didn’t see eagles that day, just a lot of seagulls and ducks who had been roosting on the ice-covered River.
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That was a lovely tribute to Marge! I admire her and you for getting up early enough to catch a sunrise. I haven’t seen one in years…..
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Thank you Joni. I wrote a tribute the day she passed away as well and included one of her sunrise shots in the post, but I thought I’d try my hand at a sunrise like that, but decided late sunrise was better for me. I figured it was better to leave in Summer when the sun was still getting up so early … all of a sudden the sun stays in bed until almost 6:45 a.m. … and on cloudy days, it’s even worse. Marge was really all about her sunrise!
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Marge gave you some great advice and she’d be pleased that you’ve continued to follow it. Your last sentence also sums up my feelings about the future – the near future and the far. I’m not a pessimist by nature but I wonder if we humans can make the changes that are needed to change our path.
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Yes, I am glad for her wisdom Janis and as to the blog, I really balked at undertaking such a task and now I laugh that I asked “but why?” She was my first follower and then my friend Ann Marie, a fellow walker, long before I entered the blogosphere here at WP (four years later until I interacted with other bloggers). I’m not usually a pessimist either, but every newscast there is something else more dire than the last newscast and the sad thing is humans need to step up to the plate and make it better before it is irreversible.
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Oh Linda, I’m sorry about losing your friend, Marge, but she left you some very valuable advice and you have not wasted it. Thanks for sharing. xo, pam
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Thanks so much for your thoughts Pam. Marge was a good friend and neighbor to both my mom and me and it was a devastating loss when she died. Though she battled COPD and had just spent a week in the hospital recovering from some breathing issues, she was cleared to come home and was awaiting her son to pick her up, when she died of heart failure. So her death was unexpected and sudden. She was adamant about taking the camera with me – she’d be shocked how many photos I take and use in my blog.
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A wonderful legacy for her and you.♥️
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Yes, thank you Pam. ♥️ ♥️
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Marge had some excellent suggestions for you! That’s great that you listened! 🙂
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Yes she did Tom … and I’m glad I listened too, though I really only started the blog to appease her as she was so insistent, plus she was a good friend and neighbor. The first four years of my blog, only Marge and a woman I used to walk with occasionally at the Park (but has since moved) were the only commenters. I have left the house without the camera a few times – maybe it was foggy or damp so I purposely left it at home, only to return to get it. A few weeks ago there was some great chalk art, which I’m going to use for my 10th walking anniversary. It was supposed to rain that day, so I knew I had to return for the camera to get those shots before the rain washed away the drawings. 🙂
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Beautiful photos, Linda, and a lovely tribute to Marge. I bet she would be pleased with the way your blog has evolved, weaving your photos and stories in such an engaging way. Love the gull doing his heavy thinking, too. It will be interesting to see how this rapidly changing climate and pandemic will affect our lives and our blog posts.
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Thanks Barbara. That was the best I could do for leaving early … it was so still with just a few ducks paddling around right near the pavilion. I think Marge would be pleased with the blog too because I did one long post when I started it, then after that I did what I thought would be my style: one-word title and one-paragraph of text and one picture. I thought you might like the gull staring out to sea and pondering life. No seagull shenanigans this time. We both had hoped that 2021 would transition into a more-normal 2022 but I don’t see it. The booster shots may help, but we’re still only at 49% fully vaccinated, so I think the pandemic will linger on. Climate change will alter our retirement – I feel sad, not only for what it’s going to our environment and its flora and fauna, but I’m a little selfish in that I envisioned spending much more time outdoors enjoying longer walks, more nature – the direction we’re headed with this volatile weather makes it seem like that may not happen.
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I share your sense of sadness about our uncertain future. Sometimes I think the pandemic is Mother Nature’s way of culling the herd, awful as that sounds. Overpopulation, in my humble opinion, is at the root of most of humanity’s problems, and if we’re not willing to reduce it ourselves it might be done for us. Viruses are well known agents for controlling population outbreaks and spillovers in many other species. Sigh…
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What you say makes a lot of sense Barbara. I never thought of it that way, but I do like that theory. I look at the things I see on social media, hear on the radio and look at trends today and just wonder what has become of people? They’ve lost their senses and it’s like there is no way to reign all the madness in.
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Hi
– I agree that 2021 is just as crazy and different from 2020
And in my opinion this year is worse because it feels never ending and people are divided (seems more than before) but it is exhausting in some ways
On a better note
Your photos from early morning excursions sounds like they have e you lots for the archives ☀️☀️☀️
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Yes, I don’t think I was too harsh in ending my post that way – it is different and not for the better. I’d be hard-pressed to think of anything that was better in this world than 2020 … yes, we have a vaccine, but the pandemic is bubbling up again. I did have fun on those excursions Yvette. I really got a lot of photos in the approximately two hours’ walking time for each of the excursions. Then went to three parks last Saturday. Lots of blog fodder. 🙂
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☀️☀️☀️
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Marge saw your talent for noticing things that others miss, as well as your talent for describing them in a winsome way. And then there are the compelling photos to boot. Glad you listened!
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Thanks for your nice comments Nancy. I sure am glad I listened to Marge about starting a blog, though I was so skeptical at first. I’m not usually a person who has to be coaxed, but she did her darnedest. When she was feeling better, we went out a few times to the River or to Elizabeth Park (which I will be writing about this Monday). We stayed in the car but it was nice to share time with another nature lover.
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Marge is looking down at you and smiling! That was a very nice tribute Linda.
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I think so Diane. Thank you – I am glad you liked the tribute to Marge. She was a very special person and I am grateful she came into our lives. She was close to my mom as well.
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I almost missed this lovely post Linda my computer does odd things as well at times! A true tribute to your friend Marge and a reminder to make the most of every day.
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Thanks Andy – Marge was a true inspiration and I will be forever grateful for her encouragement. In these troubling times, I am thankful for a daily respite in nature just like you. Computers are great sometimes; other times like that blip last night … not so much
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Pingback: Seize the (Week)Day #2 – Escape to Elizabeth Park. | WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY
I so enjoyed reading this post, Linda. Marge sounded like a great friend and person- I love her mantra and the fact that she encouraged you to start the blog. That’s a really special back story!
I do understand not wanting to go out while it’s still dark out- even when I go on runs super early in the morning I have to expect to run through a few webs- not a great feeling! Your sunrise pictures are beautiful!
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Glad you enjoyed this post Mackenzie. Marge was really a special person and I thought the world of her. I am glad she encouraged me to begin a blog. She was fearless and thought nothing of going out at 4:00 a.m. down to the Detroit River. She was parked right next to her side door of her house, so that made it easier. I am leery of any forays in the dark. I don’t like the spider webs and I found a possum foraging in the yard one morning and I haven’t felt the same about going into the backyard since. 🙂
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Marge sounds amazing ❤ Thank you for sharing about her.
Also— I understand why you would be hesitant going back out after seeing that possum. That reminds me, we went way back in the woods on a hike today, and I almost stepped on a snake- that's not a great feeling.
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Glad you enjoyed it Mackenzie. That possum looked a little prehistoric to me and I would have liked to see the look on my face when I discovered it in the backyard. It was pretty porky too! I will tell you that I’m not as keen about visiting the woodsy areas at the Detroit River Wildlife Refuge since I read about the Eastern Fox Snakes that inhabit the forest. I go down to the Delta area and along the cement paths now. I have never seen a snake in the wild and I’d be right out of my comfort zone believe me!
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