Hello strangers! I’m back from my month-long sojourn to my home town, home state of Michigan and I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say I’m a little bit sad about it. Went by so fast – again. I’m not ready for school to start next week (and btw who starts school August ninth?!). Seems like it gets harder every year to recover. The laundry alone takes days to crawl out of. BUT I should be so lucky. I could still be hiking it to the laundromat on Peachtree Road.
It was a soul-full trip. No big surprise there. Lots of family and friend time and taking it slooow. No such thing as traffic in the “level pebble”. No massive amounts of people everywhere you go. No house to clean (the perpetual load/unload), no bills to pay, no yelling at the kids GET IN BED! (Oh wait, there was still plenty of that). Just a lot of, “what should we do today” kind of days.
One such day was the Titanic exhibit at The Henry Ford. Upon entry you receive your passenger ticket and find out in the end if you lived or lost. We all lived! Well, Jade lost her husband but she’s okay with it because her two small children survived too.
We did a lot of this…
And a lot of that…
Daddy and his girls
A lot of laid back at Dad’s house (I liked this view from his porch, his fourth baby).
Cruising Big Poppy style
Everyday we’d walk to the track to train and take the same route I walked for elementary school…”see kids Mommy really did walk a mile up a hill through snow.”
I wish I’d taken more pics because it really is peace and beauty. Something I can appreciate now as I pass hundreds of cars lined up idling outside Jack and Sophia’s school when it would be so easy for them to walk??? If only they had a simple thing called sidewalks and crossing guards.
Ate and drank a lot of hometown favorites…
The old Hudson’s Maurice Salad. Always on the list. It’s all about the dressing.
But alfresco dining overlooking Torch tops the list.
My old Barbies were still in fashion.
The old high chair too. Who knew at nine he’d wanna slide into that thing every night.
You spend a lot of time on the water in Michigan. Unfortunately there is not a lot of it round here and what there is, ain’t blue. Michiganders are spoiled rotten lake snobs I’ve come to realize… “come on Jen, jump in! Whatchya waitin for?!”
A beautiful day on Lake Erie…you’re sure to pass by one of these from the US or Canada…wave kids!
We visited with Mom. Would you believe it was the second time I’ve been since leaving her here to rest? It takes awhile. It’s like submitting yourself to the sadness chamber. But I’m over the hump and I’m glad I had my two best friends. They were so amazing I can’t even put it into words. “Okay Mama, show us the way to Grandma Cindy” encouraged my sweet boy.
She’s resting under a huge lilac bush and that makes me SO very happy considering how pissed off she was when the neighbors built their new, not-so-cute, house across the street and ripped out the most amazing row of huge, gorgeous lilac bushes that were as tall as the rooftop. The smell would waft into our home and we’d pick and pick and pick forever, never making a dent. All that and then they moved! Remarkable. In my lotto dreams, I buy the house, raze it and replant all the lilacs along with the two tall Evergreens I climbed and maybe a beautiful gazebo in the middle, why not, I’m rich right?
I attended my class reunion and roamed the halls of our old high school (they’ve replaced it with a shinier, newer version). It was really special and such a great idea by the planning committee. Here’s me not able to wipe the smile off my face just smellin the place…
And thinking about the times they’d pack em in to see my brother and his childhood friend hoop it up. I sent a bunch of pics of the gym, the locker room, the coach’s office to a fellow teammate and long-time friend and she recalled one of the best memories I had forgotten about…running into the gym after half time while everyone cheered and yelled or when our classmates made a tunnel for us to run through. It was awesome. They would do that for football games and as a little girl it was so fun to run on the big field and line up under the lights. Long live sports I say!
That’s my sweet Grandma above. She’s kind of a big deal where I come from. So much so they named a school after her and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Greatest Generation is for real y’all! Way to go Mom for capturing this. We won’t give you grief about the lack of focus ;-).
I dug through a lot of old pics…
couple a twerps
Apparently my husband, Captain Holiday, isn’t the only person in my family to sport a red jacket….
Dapper Dad at Jimmy’s First Communion.
Remember that $5 dollar dress I blogged about because a. it was five bucks! and b. it reminded me of a dress Mom wore from an old picture?
Found the pic!
And a lot of old recipes too.
(Nice to see Mom’s handwriting. Its kind of like a living extension you can still touch)
Passed by and drove down Vreeland Road a lot. Always a smile followed by “kids we’re turning down Vreeland Road, this is your heritage!”
Came across a gorgeous sunflower field near Torch!
Let’s wonder slowly through the fields…
Slowly, slowly through the fields… of joy…
Hit the City Market with the family cousins
And picked up this…
Kind of a smelly subject but I’m waging war on anti-perspirants. They don’t work anyhow so why continue subjecting my body to the toxins? You should check it out. Thanks Kate!
And naturally did a lot of antique and vintage shopping (more on all the great finds later). But just in case Devo needs a back up singer, I’ll be ready with my new necklace – whip it good!
Lastly, the backdrop of breezy mild sunny days that come with Michigan in July…
One of my favorite things in life is to watch curtains billow in the breeze while hearing the leaves rustle in tandem outside. You know those “top ten things you cannot live without” articles you’ll see from time to time? This would definitely be on the list along with Vanity Fair and Spanish Moss. Huh? Spanish Moss? Yep, I just love seeing it hang from the trees and I know I’m not far from the beach – double bonus!
What would your top ten be?
To life my friends and hold for the deep sigh…back to the grind. Say it ain’t so!
The good news is we can now get back to the business of design. Big smiles.
xx
Jenny back from the rock
facebook 
twitter 
email 
pinterest
Ahhh! You make it all sound so good and yet l know you are living it and enjoying it for real. BTW l have the recipe for the “Maurice” salad dressing. lt is by far one of my favorite salads too. Strange but that is the only place l ever had it was at Hudson’s. Look forward to seeing you around and reading later on about your finds!!! xoxo
Hah! So do I! My cousin attached it to my wedding gift. One of these days we’ll sit down and enjoy a good Maurice salad together!
Did you come across your Mom’s Lasagne recipe? I remember that scrumptious mound of cheese and sauce and pasta quite fondly. We still talk about it on this side of town!
I wish! That one just came naturally. According to Dad, Jackie’s comes close. We do the same thing! Sit around and talk about our favorites. We had no idea how good we had it. I think about how exhausted I feel every night at the end of the day when it is time to cook dinner and to think she churned out meal after awesome meal.
Looks like a wonderful visit home. And the marshmallow deodorant powder? How’d *that* work out!? (I’m testing out Dr. Hauschka’s this summer. I think Weleda is next.)
Hey Cat! Thanks for stopping by!!! Girl I totally broke down and bought some clinical strength at blogher. The marshmallow definitely has its place in the week but not for everything. Talk to me about Dr. H and Weleda?
Looking forward to reading mojo and already passed it on to my friend. Peace out!
What beautiful pictures! I love the 5 dollar dress…gorgeous! And don’t even get me started on the Devo necklace 🙂 It was so great to meet you at BlogHer12 I’ll be seeing you around the blogoverse!
Amy*
Same girlfriend! Looking forward to plucking daisies this year and rocking my flower again. ;-)))))
wonderful pics!