September in Michigan

Summer is coming to an end, along with cooking dinner outside.
Not only is it cooler, the sun sets earlier and earlier.

In the Kitchen 

We included a few interesting foods, but mostly old favorites. 

An omelet on a Micky Mouse plate; shrimp and rice; Dan Dan noodles; another omelet with salad.

Indoors and Out

One New Kitchen Item

New dish-drying mat in a funny color.

More Cooking and Eating

Fresh figs.

My long-time favorite cereal at Elaine’s house in Lafayette.
When we came back, Len bought me two boxes of Special K Red Berries.

A Trader Joe’s croissant and some blueberries. 

In Lafayette; Elaine’s delicious Apple Pie.

Back home 10 days later: time for more pie by Len.

Labor Day Barbecue.

Chicken from our grill, which will soon need to be put away for winter.

A delicious chicken and olive dish that Carol made for us.

Lamb steak with a salad of peaches, feta cheese, and pine nuts.

Potatoes in olive oil with capers (Pommes à l’huile).

Chicken in tahini sauce and a salad with corn, peppers, and lettuce.

Outside the Kitchen: An Ice Cream in Dexter

Dexter is the next town from Ann Arbor. It has a perfect small-town Midwest vibe.

The last Sunday of the month: a beautiful day for a drive and an outdoor ice cream.

A Fall Display Near the Park

Far Away From Us

From Alice’s trip to Germany

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Not quite so far we visited Elaine in Indiana. Here she is with Len, in her kitchen.
See above for her apple pie!

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

Food on TV: Great British Baking Show

First Episode of this Year’s Great British Baking Show

The Great British Baking Show is back. We watched the first episode with veteran hosts/judges Alison Hammond, Noel Fielding and Paul Hollywood. The other previous judge, Dame Prue Leith, decided to enjoy her summer at home rather than in the big baking tent, and the famous Nigella Lawson has replaced her. I did not find this particularly earth-shaking. In fact, I think maybe there’s not much more this show can do after 14 years — I believe we have watched around nine of them. Nevertheless, I’m sure we’ll persist for another season. Here is the NYT headline (link) followed by two publicity photos:

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The judges in a publicity shot.

Blog post by mae sander, 2026

Finished a TV Series

 

We have now watched all the episodes of Marble Hall Murders, featuring the detective Atticus Pundt in the embedded story written by fictional author Susan Ryeland. The plot is very complicated! 

Saturday

Breakfast 

Walking in the Park

In the park near our house yesterday.

In Gallup Park around 2.5 miles from home, this morning.

Gallup Park.

Photos © 2026 mae sander

Night and Fog?

What our government is doing to immigrants now: 

“When a person is arrested and detained by the U.S. government, it should be possible to find out where that person is being held. For generations, that was true for people held in immigration detention centers — until last week, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rolled out a startling new policy. Beginning September 15, people held at ICE detention centers who are subject to final orders of removal (even if they are appealing that order or have some other legal basis to remain in the country) will no longer be listed in the Online Detainee Locator System; and according to the Washington Post, ICE staff have been instructed to refuse to provide the location of those people to attorneys and family.” (source)

Is history being repeated after more than 90 years?

“‘Nacht und Nebel’ (“Night and Fog”) was the codename given to a decree of December 7, 1941, issued by Adolf Hitler and signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the German Armed Forces High Command. It allowed German authorities to abduct individuals alleged to be "endangering German security" so that they effectively vanished without a trace.” (source)

A Few More Treats and A Sobering Comparison

 More Deliciousness at Elaine’s in Indiana

Bagels

Bagles, fruit, orange juice, coffee, butter, jam…

Farm-fresh Indiana tomatoes. We plan to drive home today, back to Michigan tomatoes.

A Disturbing Observation from Paul Krugman

A very long quotation from Krugman’s daily update:

In the 1971 comedy film Bananas a third-world nation’s strongman announces his new policies:

From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check.

Yesterday, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations, the president of the United States declared, among other things,

The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much, now here and after officially called superintelligence, changing the name. The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake … From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world will be changed to use the much more accurate term super as opposed to artificial.

This came just two days after Trump announced that his planned gigantic Triumphal Arch overshadowing Washington DC will

house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.

Most reporting on Trump’s speech emphasized either his belligerence— his rejection of global cooperation — or the fact that almost everything he said was a lie. But isn’t the bigger story the fact that the leader of what used to be the world’s most powerful nation — I say “used to be” because America’s power is collapsing before our eyes — has clearly and undeniably lost his mind?

We frequently refer to this wonderful and zany scene from Woody Allen’s Bananas, one of Allen’s first and in my opinion most original comedies, and in fact we were recently making the same observation of life/politics following art (but didn’t publish)! We have been fans of both Allen and Krugman for many years and I’m totally delighted at this someone pointing out the absurdity as our glorious leader has been going off the deep end.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander; quote from Krugman acknowledged.

 

Pie At Elaine's

 

Len drove us for most of the day and we arrived at my sister Elaine’s house in Indiana.
She had a fantastic apple pie waiting for us. She made it from scratch — even picked the apples herself.

Blog post © 2026 me sander

At the Botanical Garden

 Water Lilies in the Greenhouse

Walking on the Paths

We have enjoyed many walks in the beautiful gardens, and I’ve often posted photos from there.

In Our Own Garden

Photos © 2026 mae sander

Good Dinner

 

Spiedo, near the downtown library, is a new restaurant for me.
(Though it’s been open for three years.)

Alice and I ate dinner there. She had happened to also eat there earlier this week, so
she was very familiar with the menu, which is Mediterranean-themed.

We ordered a wrap with chicken, a carrot dish, and a grilled beef bowl.
The carrot dish, which we liked, includes pistachio tahini and amba.
I was familiar with amba, a mango-based condiment from Iraqui-Israeli cuisine.

Both the interior and the exterior are brightly painted in a vivid combination of colors.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander