The illustrated weekend.
I sat out in the sunshine of rainechan's lovely back garden this morning, mostly because I was hoping for the squirrel or blue jay to come along. Instead, I saw a Northern Cardinal - such a gorgeous creature! I didn't know what it was, so I looked it up - apparantly, typing "bright red American bird" into Google images is a lot more successful than you might think. XD I tried to get a photo, but he was too quick for me.
I do, however, have some weekend photos to share. Before we start I would like to point out that the reason Raine is missing from this is due to her own request, not because I'm a massive egocentric who never took any pictures of her. :P
The sign Raine greeted me with at the airport. :)
Ponies on the Friday evening! I bought a new camera in duty free on the way out here, as mine was slowly dying, and although it's a very good little compact you unfortunately can't manually change the shutter speed on it. This photo was taken just after dusk with the night scene, which was just a little too slow to catch pony movement.
A tiny grumpy brown pony made to stand on its own. :3
On Saturday morning, Raine and I went to a bellydancing class at Off The Beaten Path, the world's best bookshop. As well as fantasy and sci-fi books, it also sells loads of really nice steampunk accessories and has a cafe. I wish there was a place like that near me. In fact, I wish I owned a place like that - or at least worked in one. It just had such a lovely, relaxed, friendly atmosphere; I could definitely see it being a regular place to hang out. In fact, it's made me want to recreate a place like that in a story somewhere. Hmm.
In Off The Beaten Path's cafe, they sell this - pirate energy drink! And it fights scurvy, too!
We stayed to watch the next class while we ate lunch, and had a perusal of the tables they'd erected out the back. I bought a jingly jangly dangly thing (a metal decoration from Pakistan) with the intention of fixing it to Pepsi's browband. Raine and I also both bought silk headscarfs.
After that, we headed home to meet Thad and then went to a family BBQ, as his cousin is joining the marines. I had my first snow cone ... with gallons of alcohol. :P I couldn't finish it because it was way too sweet (think alcopop with several extra spoons of sugar), so Raine had it. XD
We then went to a bar to see Shakedown play! :D
I have loads of pictures, but I'll wait until I'm back home and on a larger screen before I sift through them properly.
I solemnly swear I am up to no good.
Sam is the drummer for Shakedown, and it was his birthday. :P They got him an interesting birthday gift...
Raine got up to sing 'Sweet Child O' Mine' with them, which was awesome. She has a fantastic voice. <3 And I love that song. Well - it's Wintersun's favourite song, so now I get excited when I hear it, too. Writing! A socially acceptable form of schizophrenia!
The next morning, mercifully free of hangovers, we went down to the Detroit river.
Thar be Canada over thar!
Detroit!
And then we went in search of the River Raisin. :3 When I was making the prompt list for thewyrmx, I stumbled across mention of this river in the War of 1812. I then became obsessed. Which is more random than usual, because my obsession lies solely on the fact that the retreating American army, after being unsportingly ambushed by the British and Indians, fled across the frozen river. THAT IS ALL. But it is a beautiful river, too.
A little harbour.
We found an anchor, which provided endless photographic fun.
The actual battlefield.
I have no idea what these things were other than scary. One looked like it had the remains of a bird in there. Raine ran underneath. XD
We then went on to visit Thad's parents, who were having a BBQ, and while there we went frog hunting. I found one frog, and in the process of chasing it we found another, but we lost them both. Seriously no idea where they went. Raine said they must have gone down little froggy tunnels. :P After that we stopped off in the nearby town of Monroe to look at the River Raisin a bit more. Sadly my camera died as we were walking round the town, which is a shame because it was a pretty place!
Thad with a giant caterpillar that Raine found during our frog hunt.
The riverrrr!
General Custer! :D ...Needs to learn to be a little bit softer on those reins.
And the River Raisin again. <3 It was so called, by the way, because the French name was Riviere aux Raisin which means 'river of grapes', as apparantly there used to be bunches of them hanging from the banks.
In summary, having a pretty good time. :) Yesterday Raine played her psaltery and doumbek for me. She is super talented! <3
I do, however, have some weekend photos to share. Before we start I would like to point out that the reason Raine is missing from this is due to her own request, not because I'm a massive egocentric who never took any pictures of her. :P
The sign Raine greeted me with at the airport. :)
Ponies on the Friday evening! I bought a new camera in duty free on the way out here, as mine was slowly dying, and although it's a very good little compact you unfortunately can't manually change the shutter speed on it. This photo was taken just after dusk with the night scene, which was just a little too slow to catch pony movement.
A tiny grumpy brown pony made to stand on its own. :3
On Saturday morning, Raine and I went to a bellydancing class at Off The Beaten Path, the world's best bookshop. As well as fantasy and sci-fi books, it also sells loads of really nice steampunk accessories and has a cafe. I wish there was a place like that near me. In fact, I wish I owned a place like that - or at least worked in one. It just had such a lovely, relaxed, friendly atmosphere; I could definitely see it being a regular place to hang out. In fact, it's made me want to recreate a place like that in a story somewhere. Hmm.
In Off The Beaten Path's cafe, they sell this - pirate energy drink! And it fights scurvy, too!
We stayed to watch the next class while we ate lunch, and had a perusal of the tables they'd erected out the back. I bought a jingly jangly dangly thing (a metal decoration from Pakistan) with the intention of fixing it to Pepsi's browband. Raine and I also both bought silk headscarfs.
After that, we headed home to meet Thad and then went to a family BBQ, as his cousin is joining the marines. I had my first snow cone ... with gallons of alcohol. :P I couldn't finish it because it was way too sweet (think alcopop with several extra spoons of sugar), so Raine had it. XD
We then went to a bar to see Shakedown play! :D
I have loads of pictures, but I'll wait until I'm back home and on a larger screen before I sift through them properly.
I solemnly swear I am up to no good.
Sam is the drummer for Shakedown, and it was his birthday. :P They got him an interesting birthday gift...
Raine got up to sing 'Sweet Child O' Mine' with them, which was awesome. She has a fantastic voice. <3 And I love that song. Well - it's Wintersun's favourite song, so now I get excited when I hear it, too. Writing! A socially acceptable form of schizophrenia!
The next morning, mercifully free of hangovers, we went down to the Detroit river.
Thar be Canada over thar!
Detroit!
And then we went in search of the River Raisin. :3 When I was making the prompt list for thewyrmx, I stumbled across mention of this river in the War of 1812. I then became obsessed. Which is more random than usual, because my obsession lies solely on the fact that the retreating American army, after being unsportingly ambushed by the British and Indians, fled across the frozen river. THAT IS ALL. But it is a beautiful river, too.
A little harbour.
We found an anchor, which provided endless photographic fun.
The actual battlefield.
I have no idea what these things were other than scary. One looked like it had the remains of a bird in there. Raine ran underneath. XD
We then went on to visit Thad's parents, who were having a BBQ, and while there we went frog hunting. I found one frog, and in the process of chasing it we found another, but we lost them both. Seriously no idea where they went. Raine said they must have gone down little froggy tunnels. :P After that we stopped off in the nearby town of Monroe to look at the River Raisin a bit more. Sadly my camera died as we were walking round the town, which is a shame because it was a pretty place!
Thad with a giant caterpillar that Raine found during our frog hunt.
The riverrrr!
General Custer! :D ...Needs to learn to be a little bit softer on those reins.
And the River Raisin again. <3 It was so called, by the way, because the French name was Riviere aux Raisin which means 'river of grapes', as apparantly there used to be bunches of them hanging from the banks.
In summary, having a pretty good time. :) Yesterday Raine played her psaltery and doumbek for me. She is super talented! <3