This was my second time to participate in the virtual Run for the Trees 5K event, which was sponsored by the Bob Ross Inc. Foundation and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The premise was simple: participants chose any time between April 22nd (Earth Day) and April 29th (Arbor Day) to run, walk or hike 3.2 miles/5 kilometers at the woodsy venue of their choice. All proceeds from registration fees support the “Happy Little Trees” planting and preservation efforts, like invasive plant species and pest management, in Michigan’s state parks and recreation areas. In recent years, our state has had widespread devastation from tree pests and diseases like the Emerald Ash Borer, a beetle now in its 20th year of destroying our Ash trees and Oak Wilt, a fungal disease which decimates Oak trees.
Though the threat of wildfires and resulting widespread devastation is not as prevalent here in the Mitten State as in other states, this invaluable reforestation program is responsible for sustaining our natural forests. Department of Corrections inmates raise native saplings that are later planted by volunteers at the aforementioned state parks and recreation areas. In its first two years, 2020 and 2021, this 5K event, coined “Happy Little Trees” for painter Bob Ross’ love of painting nature, has raised more than $600,000.00 for reforestation efforts. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources vows to plant 50 million trees by 2030!
Whew – it was a hot one!
There is nothing like that first balmy Spring day when the bare trees finally leaf out and form a canopy across the forest, or in your neighborhood if you’re lucky. Shortly thereafter the blossoming trees, wearing their pretty pastel hues, erupt everywhere. But, Spring 2022 here in Southeast Michigan, as well as many cities and states across the U.S., was NOT business as usual.
So, on the 23rd of April, for the most part, there were leafless trees, buds were still wrapped tightly, yet the oppressive heat and humidity made it feel like an August day. Before sunset we had climbed to nearly 80F (26C), yet unbelievably, a mere four days before we had a two-inch snowfall. Sigh.
I originally intended to finally venture to Sterling State Park in Monroe to complete this 5K event. That venue, one of Michigan’s 101 state parks, has seven miles (11 kilometers) of hiking trails within the park, but, thanks to Mother Nature’s snow and some rain in the preceding days, I was stopped in my tracks. Since I’ve not been to this venue since visiting with my parents as a pre-teen, I wondered about the trails … were they rustic or paved and would I be slogging through water and/or mud? So, I made alternate plans and decided to venture to two other woodsy parks instead.
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I purposely chose this quote as there are an abundance of oak trees at Elizabeth Park. Every Autumn, after oohing and aahing over the beautiful foliage, a week or so later, you’ll find a carpet of oak leaves throughout the entire park.
So, although Elizabeth Park has its own flooding issues when the canal spills over its banks, there is a long and scenic boardwalk and paved perimeter road, so this was my first stop on my trek for the trees.
Here are some photos with captions of what I saw that morning:
I returned to the car, a little weary from the heat. Who could have predicted this much heat in April? As luck would have it, I had not yet scheduled my car for the A/C repair so, even with the windows down, I felt like a wilted flower on that five-minute drive to the 300-year-old forest at Humbug Marsh at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.
Well, I never made it to the ancient forest and here is why …
Long-time followers of this blog may recall I took an interpretive walk called “Walk, Talk & Sketch” at Oakwoods Metropark back in the Summer of 2019. Our small group walked and occasionally paused to sketch items along the trail. I’d sure not win any prizes with those simple pencil sketches. I’d taken some sketching classes as a teenager and enjoyed them. Also, on a trek at Heritage Park I encountered a couple of women painting a historical home and a garden respectively. I wrote about them and took their photos and in the comments section of that post, the subject of plein air painting came up. Plein air painting is simply painting outdoors. That topic piqued my interest, not for now, as I struggle to maintain a work-life balance with walking and blogging, but down the road when I’m retired.
In Googling around to learn more about plein air painting, I discovered John Vassallo, a local artist, who also leads a plein air painting group on different excursions to park venues where I frequent. So I followed John on Facebook and noted he and his group would kick off their 2022 get-togethers on April 2nd at Heritage Park. I wanted to meet John and the group members, so I headed to Heritage Park for a meet and greet on that day. I took some photos, shared them with John and received the schedule of venues the group would visit in 2022 and I said I’d be occasionally stopping by to say “hi” and otherwise lurking, but not participating – not just yet.
So, with that backstory in mind, once at Humbug Marsh, it was not difficult for me to find John and a few members of his group, at that chosen venue of the day.
I located John near the entrance to Humbug Marsh. We chitchatted a bit and, while I knew why John and the others were at this venue, I said I was here as part of a 5K event to help Michigan’s trees. I asked John if I could use his photos of his painting for this post. He was happy to let me do so and those are the images you see below and a smiling photo of the artist as well.
Here is a close-up of plein art painting in progress.
Here is the actual landscape scene.
Group members Chris and Diana had ventured off on their own to paint their respective oil-painting views of nearby Humbug Island …
… while Jim worked on a watercolor of trees at another location.
I never made it to the ancient forest and that was okay too. Visiting with the plein air painting group was fun – Humbug Marsh and its 300-year-old trees will always be there and by then it was really hot, so I headed to the car (where it was even hotter).
I would be remiss if I didn’t include a few photos of my race swag. As mentioned above, Bob Ross is our mascot of sorts, so his image is emblazoned on the tee-shirt and finishing medal for the event, along with a few quotes about painting and life.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
LOVE this post, Linda. The “race” sounded fun, the painters even more so. I want to join a plein air painting group! Happy little trees!
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Glad you liked the post Pam. This is such a worthwhile cause and the DNR’s aspirations are big for their reforestation efforts! I am looking forward to joining the plein air painters once I am retired and can devote time to that hobby. But first, I have to get back into sketching first, before venturing into painting, so I have a long way to go. But it was fun meeting them and seeing them paint. You should look around for a group near you.
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I definitely will, Linda, but also waiting until I retire!
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That’s better Pam – then we’ll have leisure time galore by then to devote to new adventures!
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💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻👏👏👏
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Yay for another walking event for your record book! Great job, Linda. I remember your 2019 painting posts, I’m so happy to read you found the Plein Air Painting group and took photos of them in action. Their smiles and pride in their efforts are a delight to see.
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Yes yay for finishing this one Shelley – I hope the next 5K is a little cooler, though it is in June. It is an in-person or virtual 5K for Fish & Loaves Food Pantry and will be my fifth time for their annual event. I plan on doing the event virtually like the last two years – they never suspended it due to COVID as the need is great at this local food pantry.
I am glad you remembered the post and I’ve bought some supplies after the first time meeting the group, but I know I won’t get a chance to try anything now until Winter, but more likely when I am retired. They looked happy with their work and I should have mentioned in the post they meet twice a week around the area, sometimes with another plein air painting group.
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June weather is a wild card for us. It can be hot and it can freeze. Are you going in-person? It sounds like a wonderful cause.
Yes, I remembered. I bet you’re going to have so much fun with that group when you’ve retired. Something fun to look forward to!
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Yes Shelley – I am looking forward to retirement and to joining this painting group in their adventures. As for Fish & Loaves 5K, you can do either and I plan to do virtual. I had intended to do virtual even before this recent COVID surge here. I was going to do the Mutt Strut again (3rd time), but it was not virtual and their route usually goes through the Lower Rouge River park, then past Fair Lane, but there is a lot of flooding from that River (and logjams too) so they held it (on the 21st), just walking around the animal shelter. I may do another virtual walk this year if there is a nature 5K theme.
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Keep persevering!! Retirement will come at the right time. It’s nice the races are continuing on in whatever fashion works for them. I’m sure you’ll find what works best for you too.
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I think it is smart of them to offer an option and they sent the e-mail about the Happy Soles (food pantry) 5K back in January and we just coming off the COVID post-holiday surge, so that is likely why. I haven’t gotten any more e-mails but they ask if you’ll come pick up your shirt if you’re doing it virtually. That 5K is coming up on June 5th. Last year when I did the virtual 5K, there were a lot of ducklings, so hope I can time it right again to get some cute shots.
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I hope you see the ducklings and that the weather is nice for your walk!!
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Me too Shelley – I’m a sucker for baby critters. I
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🥰
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Happy little trees, I loved his old saying. I so enjoy looking at trees and am impressed by those who can sit next to a landscape and just paint it. 🙂
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Bob Ross had some fun sayings Sandra. A fellow blogger’s mom always watched Bob Ross’ how-to-paint shows and was so inspired, she took up painting in her 80s and had a gallery showing a year or so ago and is now in her mid-90s and still painting. Joni’s mom is an inspiration for sure. I like the idea of painting a beautiful landscape while sitting outside too.
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Love the concept of painting outdoors with great scenery. Great way to enjoy the outdoors.
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I agree Kate – how fun it is to just sit down by a scene you’re admiring and paint it. It’s another option for enjoying time spent in nature.
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What a great time you had. Loved all the scenery photos and especially liked all the painters letting you post their pictures and their art work. An all around busy time and a great post.
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Thanks Peggy – it was a fun day and I more than got my 3.2 miles in before I got home. It was nice meeting up with the group of painters again. They are all passionate about their art work and I was happy to show it off in this post.
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It’s always great to get out in nature and enjoy one’s self. Artists are proud of their work – which is how one should feel if they draw or paint.
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Yes it is Peggy. I am grateful to get out in nature because it is an escape from the horrible news headlines we see every day. Between horrific weather events and sad events like Texas today, thankfully we can tune out and just get away from it all, even briefly. Artists are so passionate about their work. I worked with a guy at the ad agency and after he left the advertising world, he went back to his roots and began painting – another career, plus he began teaching – he was a professor at UCLA.
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I paint and draw, but am not extremely passionate about the artist in me. I now love photography – more than my artistry. God can paint pictures better than I can.
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You are a great photographer Peggy and I think you featured one of your paintings on a blog post if my memory is correct. God can paint beautiful pictures … and effortlessly.
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I did post some of my art once. I prefer pencil drawings over painting.
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I thought you did Peggy, whether it was before we followed each other and it showed up at the bottom of one of your posts and I read it, or saw it in Reader. I’ve bought the charcoals, pastels and sketchpads, as I have to start there first, then feel comfortable enough to move into paint.
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what a fun day you had Linda! (except for the early heat wave) You should take up “paint walking”……where you paint as you walk!
Ross was such an iconic painter!
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Yes it was fun Wayne. That heat so early in the year – whew. Our weather continues to amaze me – scorching hot this past Friday and today low 50s and the furnace is back on again. I think that would be fun to paint and walk at the same time, though I’d have to be an octopus with extra arms to also take pictures. I had never seen any of Bob Ross’ shows, so last year I watched a few videos on his YouTube channel when I did the last 5K. He has a video on painting clouds – he liked clouds as do you!
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shame he passed but his passion still carries on!
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Yes, he made a lasting impression on many people Wayne. A fellow blogger’s mom started painting in her 80s, inspired by Bob Ross’ TV shows and even had a gallery of her paintings last year and she still paints at 96 years old.
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that’s evidence of a true legacy!
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There are not enough true legacies around Wayne. Here in the States there are “certified Bob Ross instructors” who conduct classes on how to paint like Bob Ross did … poufy clouds, especially.
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What an incredibly creative way to raise money to plant trees! And a fun way of doing a 5k! I think Bob Ross would have enjoyed this and also your plein air group painting some happy little trees. I love your swag bag, as well.
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I thought it was creative too Zazzy. I had fun doing it last year but I could not use the same venue I did before as that area of the Lower Rouge River, at that time, was in flood stage and there was a logjam at the dam associated with the Fairlane Estate. All the rain we’ve had causes many of the shoreline parks to become flooded. I think you’re right about Bob Ross liking this effort for the trees and the plein air painting group. He sure appreciated nature. The swag was really nice and came with the registration – sometimes you have to pay extra for the medal or the bib. I hope to do it again next year.
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Miss Linda………………………………today’s blog is awesome about the plein air painting at the park………………………I just learn so much when i read your blogs…………………..
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I’m glad you liked it Ann Marie and you learned about plein air painting. I never knew what plein air painting was until a few years ago when I was at Heritage Park and two women were painting, one painting the house/candy store and other painting the flower garden near the log cabin. I enjoyed watching these group members paint and got to see the finished painting(s) as the group members also post them in the Facebook group. They usually go to the places where you and I go to enjoy nature.
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Loved John’s painting of the trees and the water! What a wonderful plan you have to start plein air painting when you retire — it will be interesting to see what scenes you decide to capture. I bet a lot of artists feel the light for painting is so much better outside than it is inside, the way I find it to be for photography, too. Well done participating in the Run for the Trees 5K event! Good for your health and benefiting the health of Michigan’s forests at the same time. 🙂
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Glad you liked John’s painting Barbara. I took the shot of the landscape so it showed what John was painting with the skinny path and the tall tree leaning over. It was a well-lit day with the sun right overhead by the time I got there around noon, after meandering for hours at Elizabeth Park. I feel like you do – if it is a gray and gloomy day, the photos will often be dark and lack depth. The day I took the shots of the bird in the nest inside the lamp post, it was a very gray day, but I used the pictures anyway as it was fun to see what that bird did (although it is not fun at home with similar bird nest shenanigans). This is a really worthwhile effort for raising funds for Michigan’s forests. I wonder if they have similar events to help the areas ravaged by wildfires?
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That’s a good question. Sometimes I’m amazed at how vibrant the colors are in old oil paintings in art museums. Even the indoor portraits, but especially the outdoor scenes.
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I’m surprised those fine paintings don’t fade over time, especially if they are not in a humidity-controlled atmosphere. It’s been ages since I’ve been to an art museum, however, we have something fun here every year from May 9th through November. The Detroit Institute of Arts puts framed copies of famous paintings in various Michigan counties/cities. This year my City was lucky enough to get five of these paintings. They have a separate synopsis next to each painting. I took photos of some of them and they’ll be featured in an upcoming post.
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I love the idea of Run for the Trees, Linda! Well done on your 5K, and awesome swag! The Plein air painting looks like fun and the artist’s work is beautiful! I may have to look into this painting hobby a bit further 🙂
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Thank you! It’s such a worthwhile effort Terri and I’m glad I discovered this event on a nature site I follow on Twitter. The swag is fun – the finishing medal is a work of art in itself. I’ll bet you would like plein air painting as you love walking, nature and photography and you’ll be done with your eagle totem by then and ready for a new adventure. 🙂
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Thanks for your encouragement!
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You’re welcome Terri!
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This looks like it was fun for you, for everyone. Y’all were just like Bob Ross’s happy little trees. Except you were walking, seeing all the prettiness along the way. Your swag is great.
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It was a fun day Ally – I was out walking for hours and intended to do more walking, then stopped to chat with everyone and watch the painting in progress. Of all the 5K walks I’ve been in, this was the best for swag – a fun shirt and the finishing medal is very artistic as well. My pictures did not do the two-sided medal justice.
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I enjoyed your post this morning, Linda. Engaging in the events that are meaningful to you is a great way to motivate walks. Both, the trees and the painters, fun informative to read about your day’s adventures. I especially love the photo of the painter with his painting including the day’s landscape!
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Thanks TD – it was an enjoyable day, that’s for sure. Elizabeth Park is always a beautiful venue to visit, even when, landscape-wise, it was slowly awakening from Winter and a too-cold Spring. The meet-up with the plein air painting group was fun and I was glad I could include their paintings in this post to show everyone their work. I thought it would be fun to show the painting and the scene as well to see how accurately John painted the landscape.
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“Go out on a limb; that is where the fruit is.” What a great quote (and sounds like Bob). The first photo stump belongs in an enchanted forest, Linda. You could write a fairy tale about it.
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I also liked Bob’s quotes on the lanyard of the finishing medal Dave – it was difficult to pick a favorite. I thought that stump took on a personality too! A big yawn, which it did not bother to stifle! It looks like fairies should be gathering at the gateway to that dark hollow – how is that for a start?
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I’ll bet the trees really greened up after that warm day! I loved your clever photo captions. How fun to have a plain air painting group to visit.
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You’re right Eilene – that warm day greened up everything and the leaves came out as well. We’ve had a rollercoaster ride for weather here – yesterday you needed the heat and temps will climb to 90 on Monday. Glad you liked the captions- I thought it would be fun to do that. I’ll try to hook up with the group at least once more in 2022 – they meet twice weekly at most of my favorite venues
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Wow, I really liked those paintings, especially the first one. It almost looks like a photo! Looks like you had a great day despite the heat and the leafless trees.
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Yes, that painting by John does look like a photo and mirrors the landscape to a T. I did enjoy myself that day Joni. It was the last walk at a big park I had because of the car issues that kept me at Council Point Park and the neighborhood over those two weekends.
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What a great cause and I loved all the paintings. haha Humbug Island, I don’t know why but the name made me smile. It has been strange weather up here too, one day cold and the next like the middle of July !
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This is a fun 5K and great cause Susan and you could go to any venue you wanted. Meeting the plein air painters was a fun part of the day as well. Are you thinking of Laura Secord Humbug candies? Because every time I go there or hear the name “humbug” I think of those brown-striped, hard candies called “Humbugs” we used to get at Laura Secord. My parents wouldn’t let me eat hard candy, but my grandmother would sneak them to me whenever we went to visit her.
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Oh I forgot about those candies! I don’t even know If they sell them anymore. My grandma used to keep them too😊
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I loved them and I think Laura Secord went out of business awhile ago.
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Yeah I’m pretty sure you are correct. We used to have one here but long gone now.
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It sure was a weird spring. We would think that we were warming up then it would just turn cold again. In our area everything that blossoms have been about two weeks later than usual. The good thing is that the fruit trees were not blossoming during the frost/freeze times. That was fun seeing the painters at the park and that they allowed you to show their art.
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Oh for sure Ruth and if you’re having a Memorial Day gathering at your house this year, you’ll be in your bathing suit in your pond and on your beach. I had the furnace on a couple of days ago and 90+ on Monday. We were lucky we did not lose any fruit trees this year like the last time. The plein art painters are a fun group and I was happy I could showcase their work in this post.
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Great job Linda!
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Thanks Jeanine!
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Love the encounter with the Plein air painters and their paintings, Linda! Your park outings are always interesting and never all that far from where you live.
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I thought of you Sabine and your love of painting. Do you only paint in our studio or do you do any plein air painting – maybe you are convinced to try it after reading this post? I told you I would do it and will, but after retirement. I walked a lot and took a ton of pictures this weekend and was curious how some of my shots turned out, so indulged in reviewing/sorting down pics … and am still not finished. I can’t keep up with my existing hobbies so I know I have to wait until retirement. How is the newest member of the family faring? 🙂
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Linda, ever since reading in one of your posts about Plein air painting I’ve wanted to do it. Last time we went to the beach I brought my painting bag, but it was too windy and cold. I’ll do some this summer in the garden where I can paint and keep an eye on the pup. Right now she tries to chew up anything she can get a hold of. I admire your organization and discipline in always getting your pictures sorted and posts out! I am still working on those skills! 😉
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It does look like fun Sabine, especially if weather conditions are good. Since I started following John on Facebook, I see how he posts his finished or sometimes semi-finished paintings showing where he goes throughout the year. Although the group meets twice weekly Spring through Fall, John also does some plein air painting on his own and even in Winter. Painting in your garden with those beautiful blooms, birds and hummingbirds would be perfect. John takes photos if he does not finish the painting on site, then has a reference for later so you can finish in your studio. That would be perfect for Mocha (as long as there are no squirrel distractions)!
I was so behind in using 2021 pictures and am glad I have reached the end of them. It took a long time to sort through and organize this latest batch of photos for upcoming posts plus I write a really loose draft when I return home that day, so I can remember the details – the rest of the details I usually recall when I look through the photos when getting the post ready. I had a great day Saturday and since my posts are really way too long, I can break those photos into several posts.
Your pup is sweet and I hope you have an old slipper to use for teething rather than your ankles. 🙂
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Oh Linda – seeing the Olson air painters and their work was so inspiring
John seems like a nice Teacher and guide and when it is for time to join the group – well I bet it will be so much fun!
And congrats on the happy little trees 5K!
What a great way to raise money
And our photos before the plein air – had me smiling – the oopsie and soaking of the feet!
Love your humor
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Glad you liked this post Yvette. I agree re: John and he had a class about a month ago, a four-hour class through a creative arts group where the participants did a landscape painting. The group is small and nice and they go on two outings a week from April through October and sometimes they join another plein air painting group from another county. I am looking forward to joining but have to really brush up on sketching skills first – I was a teenager when I took the sketching/drawing classes. And I need to be retired so I have more time and can go the selected venues.
This is a fun 5K in that you pick your own venue, woodsy if possible. I often take photos thinking of captions for them or how I am going to incorporate them into a post, especially Wordless Wednesday posts, which I’ve now been doing every week since March 2020 . Glad you liked the humor. 🙂 The human oopsie skid marks in the mud is still there as of yesterday. It was reported in the online local newspaper that someone had missed a turn and gone into Elizabeth Park and nearby drove into the canal. Oops!
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Oh wow – a wrong turn near a canal can be dangerous
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When I was in Tampa in 2015 – a young woman died the week I was there and it partly related to a wrong turn into a body of water – and she also was drinking alcohol.
Crazy how that can happen
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I agree with you. Hearing your story about the woman in Tampa reminds me of NBC Nightly News anchorwoman Jessica Savich. She was in a rainstorm and a passenger in a car where the vehicle accidently went into a canal during a heavy rainstorm. Although she was not driving, there had been rumors of drug and/or alcohol abuse when she was giving a news report and acting as if under the influence of an illicit substance. I thought that was in the 90s, but just Googled it and was surprised to see it was 1983. It was a big deal as there were very few women who had the prestige of anchoring the nightly network news.
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That Jessica story is so sad!
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Yes it is. You are younger than me, so I wasn’t sure if you would remember her or not.
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I don’t remember her – but you do have a great memory for some stories – part of that legal mind of yours!!
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Well thank you Yvette – I remember a lot of things from the past, yet I cannot remember what I wanted downstairs and then I have to come upstairs to jog my mind!
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Hahaha
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Alcohol can be bad news for all humans – and gets worse when someone can’t separate consumption from their daily work (like Jessica)
And it reminded me of when my step daughter would visit when she was young – she had a season where she loved Rachel Ray (maybe because her mother liked RR) anyhow – we were watching a couple of RR shows and Linda, in a couple of hen you could tell Rachel was “tipsy” –
Especially in one of them – you could tell by the speech and it was so
Obvious
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I felt bad for RR.
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Anyhow – haven’t seen much of her stuff since that time but this comment chat reminded me that I want to make a post about alcohol and the way our culture portrays alcohol as a party thing and plays it – so easily plays it! But it can wreak havoc and as someone said – it is the “tastiest toxin” out there
—
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That is a good topic to write on Yvette. I have known several people over the years who could function in their day job, then came home and drank all evening. One died because of alcohol poisoning – it is very sad and is eye opening to others who deny such a dependency could ever exist.
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Yes – very sad and maybe I’ll get a story or two from you when I draft it
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I will be happy to do that. Have you been reading or saw on the news about the artist in Uvalde who is custom-painting/decorating 19 of the caskets. I saw it on Twitter and looked for a link to send to you … he is making the exterior tailor-made to things the kids liked (Superman, butterflies, etc.). Donating all his time/material. Very nice gesture.
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That is very nice – and I did hear that the school might be torn down or remodeled – and the radio here interviewed a man who planted pecan trees near the school – 50 years ago – and they were talking about the history of the school
Prayers for the families and for all ☀️🙏
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I heard that as well Yvette and before a new school is built, they will move the students at Robb Elementary to other local school campuses like was done for Sandy Hook. It is all so sad – dealing with this in such a small town must be horrible. Every day there is another funeral, sometimes two. I am sure for the families who lost loved ones at Sandy Hook, this massacre is bringing their grief back.
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Yes so sad…
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Also….
April had some surpassingly HOT days here as well –
☀️☀️☀️
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Our weather is crazy – the first two days of the long holiday were great (except I walked out this morning and was rained on – it stopped 10 minutes later) but supposed to be 90+ tomorrow through Wednesday.
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Ugh – the 90+ sounds a bit miserable
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I didn’t linger outside as long as the last two days. I need to work outside and do yardwork, but not in this weather. Someday it will get cold enough for the furnace to go on again or at least be chilly again.
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😊
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My hat is doffed to you for going on a run. I limit my participation to applauding those who run. 🙂
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Thank you JP – I have another 5K to raise money for a local food pantry. Like the 5K in this post, it can be done virtually, so that was my preference.
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