I have participated in five different walking events for charity in 2024, but only written about two of them to date. So, on the eve of Veterans Day, I am going to tell you about the Running to Honor 5K that I participated in virtually. The actual walk was July 27th at beautiful Heritage Park and I did my walk the following day at the same venue.
This is the second year I’ve participated in this event which was organized by a local veteran from my city. Aaron Bartal spent six years in the U.S. Army and created the first Running to Honor Event in 2019 to memorialize those fellow soldiers lost on his tour in Iraq, as well as those comrades that have died by their own hand after returning home.
In the U.S., there are 22 veterans per day that die from suicide or PTSD, some many years after they return from the battlefield. The event’s registration fees are put to good use as all funds raised help provide resources for veterans with PTSD or suicidal thoughts. Aaron Bartal’s mission is to honor and keep the memory of our fallen soldiers alive, while reminding all of us that freedom is never free.
So, while walking with my camera in hand, given the seriousness of this charitable event, I sought out more subdued images, rather than filling my camera card with Petting Farm escapees, turtles sunbathing on their own ramp, or a goose flapping its wings madly and hissing at me, just because it was having a bad day.
On every trip to this venue, I always head over to the Taylor Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, or, if later in the growing season, to the Community Gardens where folks purchase a plot of land to plant flowers or grow produce and the City’s inmates work off their community service by planting, tending to and harvesting produce to donate to a local food bank.
But, this time was different.
Getting reacquainted with the Pollinator Garden.
While on the walking path in the historical area of the park I paused in front of the Pollinator Garden that was established by The Taylor Garden Club several years ago. I searched my blog to see if I could learn when it was established and found this photo from my post about the “Christmas in July” event at the Petting Farm on July 28, 2018 exactly six years ago to the day!
Admittedly, the Club’s Pollinator Garden looked a tad straggly the first few years (but who am I to judge). I don’t recall taking any more photos of it, preferring the other gardens’ offerings, or the endless poses or amusing antics of the feathered friends I encounter around Heritage Park.
The 2024 Pollinator Garden, (also seen in the featured image), was chock full of perennials, including lots of Coneflowers, Bee Balm and Joe Pye Weed …
… and, there were bees and butterflies, both which are getting more and more difficult to find and photograph these days.
So, here is where I stopped and, after taking a slew of photos, I did indeed complete the 5K (3.2 miles) and then some, as I strolled around the rest of the park.
This was a pretty pause in my walk.
Unlike the roses at the Botanical Gardens, the bee-magnet bloom called Bee Balm, didn’t really fill the air with a perfume-like fragrance, but it is supposed to have a heady mint-like scent. No way was I going to bend down to sniff those Bee Balm blooms since there were bees aplenty. The obvious draw was the nectar, sustenance for the bees …
… and the beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. The Swallowtail Butterflies were busy flitting about and delicately sipping nectar. I spent about 30 minutes and took easily twice that many shots trying to capture a variety of butterfly poses for this post. These are a few of my favorites.
The Old Log Cabin
If you’re curious about the backdrop for the Pollinator Garden, it is the Old Log Cabin which is one of a few historical buildings that surround Coan Lake. From my many posts at this venue, I am sure you will recall photos of the Little Red Schoolhouse, the Covered Bridge, the West Mound Church, plus the boxcar and caboose. The complete list of historical buildings and the photos may be found by clicking this link.
From info gleaned at the historical marker in front of this log cabin, I learned that the Old Log Cabin is the City of Taylor’s oldest existing home and was built around 1850. Andrew and Elizabeth Strong and their children were the first family to live in the house which was constructed on timbers atop a mound of earth, (a common practice to avoid flooding). It was donated to the City in 1985 and moved to Heritage Park in 1986. In the photos below, you will see the cabin from various angles.
Comfy and cozy – hmm, well maybe not.
While this structure may not be your or my idea of a comfy and cozy place to spend a cold Winter night or a sizzling Summer day, evidently it was very well constructed as it stands here to this day. Once or twice per year, the Taylor Michigan Historical Society permits visitors to step back in time and tour the Old Log Cabin as well as the Little Red Schoolhouse.
The inscription on the sign reads:
Taylor’s oldest existing home was built circa 1850 near what is now Pennsylvania Road between Telegraph and Beech Daly. The cabin was donated to the City by Fred Miller in 1985 and moved here in 1986 using Community Development Block Grant Funds.
In thinking of the hardships of our veterans, both during and post-wartime, I am sure that after the daily rigors on the battlefield, soldiers wearily fell into bed at night and were fast asleep, glad to leave the horrors of the day’s events behind them. Barracks aren’t too cozy and comfy, just like the Old Log Cabin, but they functioned as service personnel’s home away from home, in less-than-desirable conditions during their respective tours of duty.
Now is the time to honor our veterans for their service on this special day.
Here is my swag from the race. Aaron Bartal prides himself on selecting the annual shirt and the finishing medal personally and he said he was pleased with this year’s swag.
P.S. Any Marines out there? It is the 249th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, so Semper Fi!
I am joining Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Stills Photography Challenge: Cozy.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Cozy flowers and that cabin, Linda! Thank you for honoring our veterans with the walk and your post today!
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Thank you Terri! I agree with you – the veterans all deserve recognition. This is a worthwhile cause and Aaron Bartal puts his heart and soul into the race as well as recognizing each of the Michigan serviceman (who died in battle in Iraq and/or by their own hand) on their birthday, honoring them on his FB site with a photo and their military stats. One day I’m going to take a tour of that cabin. They have preserved the inside just like it when folks lived in it.
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Seeing the number of deaths from suicide or PTSD makes me so sad Linda. The men and woman worked so hard and risked their lives for our country only to return to die here. I wish there was more our country could do to help these brave men and women. We can’t thank them enough for their service. What a nice tee shirt and medal.
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I know Diane – the statistics are awful aren’t they? Serving your country and risking life and limb, only to return home and take your own life from the pain of what you saw and difficulty in coping with that. I didn’t know anything about Aaron Bartal’s mission until I read about it in the local newspaper last year, so I decided to participate. The shirt from last year and this year are very lightweight, perfect for Summer and he was showing us the shirts and the medal a few months before ordering them because he had worked on the design and was pleased how they turned out.
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It is definitely an honor to support his mission, you should be proud to have participated.
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Thank you for saying that Diane. It is a good mission that he is involved with and all year long he ensures all of these soldiers from Michigan who lost their lives in Iraq or by their own hand are not forgotten.
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When we first moved here I had a pollinator garden and your photos take me back. Deer and rabbits put an end to it. I didn’t know the Marine Corp was that old, but we as a country wouldn’t be as successful as we have been without them. Your post is a lovely walk on many levels.
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Thank you Ally, I’m glad you liked the post. The USMC birthday is always the day before Veterans Day. I wished a former client “Semper Fi” today. He was a career Marine and his sons and grandchildren (one of whom is a female) all followed in Jack’s footsteps. He is so proud of them. Next year I’m sure they will publicize the anniversary beforehand – 250 years is monumental.
That’s a shame about your pollinator garden. I feel for you as I lost my pollinator garden to the 2013-2014 Winter and Polar Vortex, so I switched to annuals in the backyard after that. However, I plan to resurrect it next year. In October I hired someone to clear all but my large bushes out, flatten out the gardens and put mulch down. Next Spring I’ll try again to recreate what I had before Mother Nature wiped out 90% of it. Last year, there were new planting zones for plant hardiness. My Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans and Daisies were planted in 1985 and thrived for 30 years only to die. I see the perennials in the Volunteer Garden in a local park come back year after year with no TLC at all. I hope I am not making a mistake, because if they bite the dust this time, I putting in grass only.
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Another lovely post!
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Thank you Anne – I am glad you liked it!
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What a great cause to run or walk for! Our veterans deserve our respect and support.
I am reading a book right now by a woman who planted a pollinator garden in her backyard. They are so beneficial. I may have to give it a try. I would love to observe the critters (especially the bees and butterflies) who visit.
You got some nice swag from the race!
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I agree with you Laurie as to this race – worthwhile to try to repay our veterans for their service. Aaron Bartal puts a lot of effort into creating the race, swag and he honors each Michigan veteran who died in Iraq and those that died by their own hand for their birthday by remembering them with a photo and info about them on his Facebook site and a photo of each of these veterans is placed around the starting part of the race.
I’m thinking the book you are reading is “The Comfort of Crows” by Margaret Renkl? I bought that book a while ago, but haven’t read it yet. A fellow blogger, Barbara, really enjoyed the book. In October, I had my backyard gutted of old bushes and big roots, keeping only a few large bushes, in anticipation of planting a new pollinator garden next year. He put down mulch and a new retaining wall around the perimeter where I had landscape ties that had worn and rotted over time – I put them there in 1985. So I am hoping to recreate what I once had next year and see those bees and butterflies that visit.
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Yes! That is the book. I really like it. Well worth a read. I want to see photos of the garden when you plant it!
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I thought that might be the book Laurie. I bought it last year in anticipation of the garden landscaping that was to take place this Spring, then it got delayed when I didn’t retire at year-end 2023 and the landscaper didn’t contact me. I should have just called and said “did you forget me?” instead of stewing over it. So, next Spring for sure, it will be a go and I will take lots of photos when it is done. I hope to put out all my butterfly paraphernalia once again (the houses, puddling dishes and sunning rocks) and am hopeful to lure some butterflies to the yard like before.
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Well done!
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Thank you TD!
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Love the pollinator garden. It was a worthy cause.
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I like that pollinator garden too – it is really coming along, but it was full of bees. I had no idea about the veteran suicides until I read a story in the local paper. I am glad he advocates for this cause so they are not forgotten.
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A wonderful thing to do and I am pleased that you saw so many flowers.
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Thank you Anne. Yes, the formal gardens at the Conservatory are exquisite and attended to by many volunteers, but this pollinator garden is just what is needed as we are losing so many butterflies and bees.
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My father was a war vet and I appreciate your support of Veteran’s Day, Linda. We have our big Remembrance Day ceremonies going on Monday and I wrote a post about that as well. Your photos are wonderful, especially the butterfly closeups! Interesting to learn about the cabin, which does look fairly sturdy.
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Thank you Debbie. Over here, just like on Memorial Day, Veterans Day has become more like a day with a “holiday feel” and a day off for some, not all … just the federal workers, so today we have no mail delivery and banks are closed. When we lived in Canada, I can remember the solemnity of this day – Remembrance Day and some called it Armistice Day. We all wore our felt poppies on our coats, young and old alike. But here in the U.S., there is more recognition of the service personnel who died while in service for Memorial Day … completely different from how it was in Canada. My father also was a war vet, but in the German Army, before moving to Canada in 1950. I’m glad you like the butterflies – it was difficult to pick a favorite out of all the shots I took. The bees were everywhere! It is amazing the cabin is still in good shape after all these years, plus after being transported to the park.
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Love your shots of the bees and butteflies! 🦋 🐝
Thank you so much for doing your part to help us always remember, honor and appreciate the sacrifices our veterans have made. 🦅
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Thank you Barbara – I am glad you liked the bees and butterflies. Those Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are so beautiful. I also saw some Black Swallowtails this Summer at Memorial Park’s Volunteer Garden, the one and only time I saw butterflies there. I used to see Monarchs and Swallowtails there all the time in the past, either on the Butterfly Weed or the Coneflowers. I did see an unusual moth that I’ll share on a Wordless Wednesday sometime. You are welcome about this Veterans Day post and remembering our service personnel who made sacrifices, as did their families. I hope we never take them, nor their efforts for granted.
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Cone flowers at Coan Lake? One of them has to be spelled wrong. 🙂
Those old cabins were mighty simple. That would have been a hard life.
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Speaking of simple, I agree JP – one spelling for Cone/Coan and make it the right way! I can’t imagine how those folks lived in those cabins back in the day without the comforts of home we take for granted … electricity, plumbing come to mind first.
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Miss Linda………………………………thank you for the news about the Log Cabin house at the Park and information on where it was moved from………………….we have a lot of history right near us here in Taylor…………….thank you!………………………….no I don’t know of any marines…………………………..I did call a friend who served in Vietnam……………………………..and wished him a Happy Veterans Day!
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Ann Marie – I almost mentioned you in this post as I was sure you had been inside the Log Cabin House, maybe with your students at one time? That is interesting how old it is as well as when it was transported to Heritage Park. That would have been something seeing a big log cabin rolling down Northline or Pardee Roads. I e-mailed a friend who is a marine yesterday to wish him “Semper Fi” but I don’t know any veterans personally.
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A nice tribute to our veterans, and what a lovely eastern tiger swallowtail among beautiful flowers in the pollinator garden. It was interesting seeing and reading about the history of the Old Log Cabin.
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Thank you Rebecca – I always hope that people will remember the sacrifices they made and this is a good way to help out those who returned from war, not quite whole from the experience. That was the prettiest butterfly and I took so many pictures of it as it stopped on the different flowers – it was tough to winnow down the ones to use. I would like to see the Old Log Cabin and the Little Red Schoolhouse on one of the occasions the Historical Society opens them up for a tour.
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I like that there are all these fundraiser walks where you live, Linda. We do have many fundraisers, but not of this sort. You make many good points about why we should be supporting our veteran citizens. These are ongoing problems (and, unfortunately, likely to continue).
Your pollinator photos are beautiful and inspiring. I hope you find them more plentiful in the future! We need to pollinate a better future.
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You are right Eilene – we do have a wide variety of fundraisers around here. I’ve not written about the food pantry 5K (Fish & Loaves), nor a new charity for me, a virtual run/walk which benefits the California firefighters battling wildfires, sadly very appropriate right now.
I have seen the results of PTSD in a Korean War veteran many years ago, a gentleman who used to come into the diner where I worked during college. He would grimace and wring his hands, while smoking a few puffs on his cigarette, then stubbing it out. He’d go through a half-pack of cigarettes, then stumble out the door and walk along the main street. He had once worked at the diner before going off to war and I was told he was “shell-shocked” which was terminology which I understand is like PTSD. It was tragic and I felt for him. Many people around here ask others not to shoot off large fireworks which are legal to purchase and set off in our state. They say that will further traumatize the veterans who have PTSD.
I was pleased to have noticed how much larger this garden had grown and that it was filled with bees and a few Swallowtails, though I only concentrated on one of them who was delightfully flitting from flower to flower. It will be a regular stopping place for me going forward.
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I plant a lot of those types of flowers in my gardens, I love to see the butterflies and bees come and enjoy our yard. We should always remember our Veterans and hopefully the history and stories don’t get lost along the way.
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I like seeing the bees and butterflies and will be planting a perennial garden next Spring to replace the one I lost to the Polar Vortex and also the downed wire fire. I figure I should have more time to mess with a garden now that I’m retired. I used to spend a lot of hours back in the day tending to everything, but it was worth it to see the butterflies and bees, which weren’t as scarce back then as they are now. Yes, it is important to always remember our vets. We owe a lot to them.
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Aaron Bartal is so inspirational and what a wonderful way to help provide resources to veterans. I can’t imagine their hardships and the mental toll it takes on their lives once they return home. I did not know that number of suicides per day was that high. Thank you for highlighting it and letting us know who Aaron Bartal is and his mission.
The swag is awesome and artwork meaningful.
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I think this is really special what he does too Esther. I had read about his mission a few years ago, then followed him on Facebook, then decided to do that first 5K, then this year. Every one of these veterans who died, whether in combat or by their own hand, he posts their picture, a little synopsis of them on their birthday. He says so we never forget them. I was going to include the photo he had of Craig Frank, the only service person from this City to die in Iraq … it was 20 years ago this year since he died. I have shown his memorial at Memorial Park, but I will save it for next year for Memorial Day. He did a special honor to Craig Frank.
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