Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean, and the Clark Sisters are a few of the many performers participating in this week’s opening night concert at Michigan Central in Detroit. The free public concert kicks off a 10-day celebration of the public opening of the former abandoned Detroit … | Continue reading
With last week’s rain showers, I was concerned how peonies at the W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden in Nichols Arboretum would hold up. And I was right. With an early bloom this year, the heavy weight of the rain-covered flowers caused many branches to bend in arches to the ground. Thankf … | Continue reading
A reminder for everyone: take time to listen. Ken Burns, the historian and filmmaker known for his documentary films distributed on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), gave a timely and powerful address last weekend at Brandeis University’s 2024 undergraduate commencement. There a … | Continue reading
Native to Michigan, Southern Blue Flag iris is one of the native plants I bought last year at the Kensington Metropark spring native plant sale. The plants sold at the sale are from seed collected from metropark plants. I wasn’t sure when to expect it to bloom. Since early April, … | Continue reading
A few years ago, I chose to support online alternatives to Amazon for book-related activities, like reading, discussing, and tracking books I read. When I read a recent post on Mastodon asking for suggestions for places to shop online, places that weren’t Amazon or Walmart, I was … | Continue reading
I could hear the unmistakable song of “drink your tea” from a distance at one of my favorite local birding locations. The sound was coming from a lower branch of a tree bordering the trail. As I approached the area of the bird’s song, I peered up into the tree leaves and shadows, … | Continue reading
Here are a few stories, posts, and resources I’ve read, learned about, and enjoyed over the past month. Hope you enjoy them, too! What I Found Interesting The post What I Found Interesting: May 15, 2024 first appeared on Lireo Designs. | Continue reading
How amazing! I never thought I would see northern lights (aurora borealis) in southeast Michigan. But like millions of other people around the world, thanks to this weekend’s geomagnetic storm, I enjoyed seeing the northern lights in my own southeast Michigan community. Without h … | Continue reading
A majority of Americans say they get their local news and information online through news websites or social media, according to the Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News survey by Pew Research Center. Almost half (48%) of Americans prefer to get their local news and i … | Continue reading
When I started my winter sowing project in mid-February this year, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never done any winter sowing before. I had a few scares with deep cold spells in late winter and spring, concerned whether the native plant seedlings in the milk jugs would make … | Continue reading
While two nights of hard frosts last week had gardeners concerned (including me, I moved many of my flower and vegetable pots into the garage), spring seems to have finally arrived to southeast Michigan. Forsythia are mostly finished blooming. Eastern Redbud trees are covered in … | Continue reading
A bird I see year round in our southeast Michigan area, the slender, graceful Mourning Dove is a bird I see or hear daily. Their coo-coo sound is often the first sound I hear in the morning. This morning, with our constant rainfall, this pair of Mourning Doves joined the local Ho … | Continue reading
When Adobe added an AI (Artificial Intelligence) Assistant to Adobe Reader in early 2024, many people who use Reader to view and annotate PDFs were frustrated. And annoyed with Adobe’s red button to try it out (pricing for AI Assistant is $4.99/month for an early-bird subscriptio … | Continue reading
Last week, when my husband noticed magnolias were blooming in our neighborhood, he asked about the flower colors. He commented the magnolia flowers he had seen were mostly pink and white. I replied I had also seen purple magnolia flowers. And said I didn’t think magnolia flowers … | Continue reading
Here are a few stories, posts, and resources I’ve read, learned about, and enjoyed over the past month. Hope you enjoy them, too! What I Found Interesting The post What I Found Interesting: April 17, 2024 first appeared on Lireo Designs. | Continue reading
While I’m not a big football fan (I would much rather watch tennis), I am fan of good things that come to or happen in Detroit. The countdown clock for the 2024 National Football League (NFL) Draft in downtown Detroit at Campus Martius has been keeping everyone updated for almost … | Continue reading
My original plan for watching this week’s total solar eclipse was to watch the partial eclipse at one of our local southeast Michigan metroparks. While not in the path of totality, the park location offered over 99% obscuration of the sun during the eclipse. Given totality was le … | Continue reading
During the Easter holiday, our family got together at the beautiful Ottawa Metro Park in Lima, Ohio. A half-way point for our family members who live in Ohio and Michigan. With temperatures in the mid-50’s to 60’s, sunshine that finally came out in the afternoon, and a good varie … | Continue reading
We’re less than a week away from the solar eclipse that will cross North America in a wide diagonal swath from Mexico to Ohio to Maine to Newfoundland. Exciting! On April 8, 2024, the solar eclipse will be seen by millions of people along the path of totality (where the moon pass … | Continue reading
Happy Easter to all who celebrate! The post Photo of the Week: Happy Easter 2024! first appeared on Lireo Designs. | Continue reading
For folks who use design and publishing products, yesterday’s news that Affinity was bought by the popular online design platform Canva was a surprise. Affinity, with its Designer, Photo, and Publisher programs, offers stand-alone products on Windows, Mac, and iPad for a one-time … | Continue reading
As theater goers hurry on their way to get to their seat at Canton Township’s Village Theater at Cherry Hill, they might overlook the graceful metal sculpture just west of the outdoor entrance. Donated in 2007 by the R. Gene and Nancy D Richter Foundation, The Joyful Dancer is a … | Continue reading
Here are a few stories, posts, and resources I’ve read, learned about, and enjoyed over the past month. Hope you enjoy them, too! What I Found Interesting Did you know less than 20% of biographies in English-language Wikipedia are about women? You can help change that by particip … | Continue reading
One of my favorite places to visit in spring is Belle Isle State Park to see the daffodils in bloom on the island. This week’s photo shows the first daffodils in bloom at the park, on the north side of the island near the paved trail, past the beach and before the north fishing p … | Continue reading
For people who live in the Detroit area, 313 Day has special meaning. Named after Detroit’s area code, 313 Day is a day for celebrating pride in the city of Detroit. Which takes on different meanings for people. Personally, I’ll be enjoying our unusual warm spring weather (it wil … | Continue reading
You might be wondering why I’m featuring snow-covered milk jugs as my photo of the week. Not the kind of photos of birds, nature, art, or murals I’ve posted as my photo of the week in the past. They’re part of my winter sowing project I started in mid-February: using milk jugs as … | Continue reading
One of my favorite online birding resources returned March 1, 2024, highlighting bird migration in the United States. A free online tool, Birdcast is the result of 20+ years of research, providing real-time predictions of bird migration using weather surveillance radar to gather … | Continue reading
I never would imagine I would find an Eastern Meadowlark, one of the signs of spring in southeast Michigan at a nearby birding site this week, only to find a sign of winter at the same location the next day. But that’s exactly what happened when an unexpected Snowy Owl appeared a … | Continue reading
Rumors about Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.com and Tumblr, making deals with AI (Artificial Intelligence) companies to provide training data scraped from users’ posts was in the news yesterday as 404Media and The Verge reported possible deals. As you might imagine, … | Continue reading
Turn the corner from the west parking lot at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and you’ll find the archway sculpture at the entrance to the University of Michigan Campus Farm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a cold winter day when I stopped by the gardens, not much activity during lat … | Continue reading
I’ve never done this in the past: a post that links to blog posts I’ve published on a specific past day. Given I’ve been been blogging for over 15 years, I was curious what I would find in my blogging history. /more A fun experience that took me back in time. And brought back lov … | Continue reading
For folks familiar with the Northern Cardinal, you might be wondering why this image isn’t the bright red Northern Cardinal you’re used to seeing. And that’s because it’s not an adult male Northern Cardinal. Rather, based on what I’ve read about female cardinals, I believe this i … | Continue reading
You’re invited! Join me and other folks this weekend for the 27th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). People come together for four days for a global bird count from February 16, 2024 to February 19, 2024 to watch and count as many birds as they can and report them online. W … | Continue reading
While US football fans around the world are excited about a certain football game (Super Bowl) today, birders will be celebrating the day a bit differently with some of our favorite Superb Owl photos. For me to see a Long-eared Owl, which are rare in Michigan, is a special treat. … | Continue reading
Here are a few stories, posts, and resources I’ve read, learned about, and enjoyed over the past month. Hope you enjoy them, too! What I Found Interesting The pinball machine photo, named “Roanoke, Virginia” by ssfaulkn is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. The post What I Found … | Continue reading
Bright sunshine, blue skies, and cold temperatures greeted me today for my early morning walk through the 42nd annual Plymouth Ice Festival in downtown Plymouth, Michigan. And I had the added pleasure of seeing one of my birding friends near the sculptures. It was fun to catch up … | Continue reading
Looking out my window today, I see snow-covered yards, piles of snow on the side of the street, and long icicles on the eaves of houses. Yesterday, we received over four inches of snow. And I learned this morning, our metro Detroit area snow total for January 2024 is 17 inches of … | Continue reading
The talk of our area the first month of the year, for some, all of Michigan, has been the amazing performance of the Detroit Lions football team. Which was highlighted last night with a fantastic drone light show in the night skies over downtown Detroit as fans watched from the s … | Continue reading
Starting today you’ll notice a change in my website layout; I’ve brought back the blogroll. If you’re not familiar, a blogroll is a collection of links to other sites and blogs a blogger finds interesting, reads regularly, and wants to share with their readers. Blogrolls were a s … | Continue reading
Something to brighten up your day: a picture of my African Violet in bloom this morning. After the bitter cold and snow days we’ve had in southeast Michigan this week, seeing my houseplant in bloom brought a smile to my face. The post Photo of the Week: African Violet Blooms firs … | Continue reading
The start of the year is when I review my online privacy practices and identify steps to improve cybersecurity of my accounts and online habits. Which is good timing: January is when dozens of articles and news stories are published about privacy and how to avoid scams as well as … | Continue reading
Clear blue skies with sunshine finally returned to southeast Michigan today, after what seemed like two weeks of overcast, rainy, and snowy days. The sunshine is a welcome change! Though yesterday’s strong winds and drop in temperatures along with today’s sunshine and clear skies … | Continue reading
Here are a few stories, articles, and resources I’ve read, learned about, and enjoyed over the past month. Hope you enjoy them, too! What I Found Interesting The post What I Found Interesting: January 10, 2024 first appeared on Lireo Designs. | Continue reading