Be-Quinced

Here is our quince bush shortly after its planting, the photo taken on June 28th.

Here is the same plant, although the picture is taken from the other side, taken today, thus twenty days later. Notice that the very full bush in the previous photo has thinned out tremendeously. I should have taken a picture of the intermediate stage. In that stage most of the leaves now gone had turned brown and shrivelled up. If you look closely, you can see them littering the ground neath the bush.

Some of the new growth is now also either turning yellow or showing little brown tips, as in the close-up above.

The worst of it is that Monique's quince bush is now showing nothing but brown leaves, leaving us, at both sides of the Metro, anxious.

I've discovered so far (these are all possibilities from the Internet) that (1) we may have over-watered, but that the consequence may not be fatal; roots are over-saturated and can't get any oxygen or nutrition; (2) that quince plants are temperamental and do sometimes loose all of their leaves in June and July—only to recover them later; and (3) that replanting-shock in some cases and energy expended in other cases exhaust the plant temporarily. In any case, stay tuned...

I am also not entirely sure of the actual species we have planted. Possibilities are that we have Cydonia oblonga, quince, or that we have Chaenomeles speciosa, the flowering quince, which is an Asian variant. The first got its name from a place on Crete called Kydonia—and is the variety widely grown in Europe. The leaves, at any rate, look like Cydonia.

Where are the Pontoon Pirates?

We have been looking and looking, watching the horizon every day in hopes of spotting them. It is, after all, summer here on Wolverine Lake.


The fish are jumping and so are the fireworks.


And everyone is wondering, where are the Pontoon Pirates? We have all been out searching the lake, day....


and night, but to no avail.


We were even getting worried that the weed harvester may have gobbled them up! So, we followed that machine carefully for an entire day, watching for any evidence of malicious intent. Luckily, we found none.


Stella keeps a watch on the lake for signs of the Pontoon Pirates' arrival... inbetween a few other activities, like, for example,


cooling off in the lake,


drying off in the sun,


helping to clean and decorate before the July 3rd party,


kayaking and wake boarding,


varnishing a few pieces of furniture,


and tubing behind Wendy's new boat, not to mention playing the guitar, doing some drawing, studying her summer lessons, mowing lawns, and watching old movies with John. But inbetween, she has been keeping a vigilant lookout for those pirates.


Even Katie has gotten into the act of searching for any sign (smell in her case) of the Pontoon Pirates.

We sure hope they arrive soon....

Lake St. Claire

We have a lake of our own too -- although we must use a car to reach it. Here is a glimpse of it:

And another...

And a third.

Behind that scene is our swimming pool where Brigitte frolicks doing aqua-dynamics. Here she is at the beginning of the session, just saying hello to a friend.

And here in the midst of exercises.

Then she noticed me peering through the grating of the cast-iron fence and waved to me. It pleased to be recognized, and I waved back.

Then it was back to work again. So what did I do while Brigitte strengthened body and spirit? I strengthen my powers of observing the world while listening to the distant music.

If you have the time, I have the waves, the birds, and a lazy boat or two.

Stella del Lago

Stella arrived on June 21st and is shown moments after her arrival. But as is the custom, mere moments later, jet lag having fled at seeing her lake, the "Star of the Lake" -- preceded by her instantly appearing enourage -- was taking possession of the waters herself.

Her expression in the third image, which may be just a touch rueful, has something to do with having one's hair cut, known to be an occasion, always of some trauma even to the most exalted among the ladies.

The entourage? The Princesses Alexa and Anna, of course!