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| Harry Potter with his owl Hedgwig |
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| We have started watching the Harry Potter sequence from the start. I don’t know if we’ll finish. |
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| A snowy owl once strayed from its Arctic habitat and spent some time in our part of Michigan. |
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| Pizza Dinner |
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| Corn Chowder |
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| Bacon and eggs for breakfast |
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| Cereal with peaches IN SEASON |
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| Another Swan |
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Illustration from the Odyssey, which I’m currently reading |
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| Owl in the Parthenon Museum, Athens. (July 11, 2025) |
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| Ancient Greek coin |
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| From Evelyn in Lake Placid, NY this week |
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| From our birding trip in the Netherlands, 2022. |
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| Picasso kept a pet owl named Ubu, which inspired him to create many owl images, though Ubu's life story is a bit sad, as is that of many captive owls |
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| Because people feed birds along the boardwalk, they are quite unafraid, like this dove. |
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| The red-winged blackbird loved the seeds that several people were offering them. Park policy permits feeding seeds to small birds like these. |
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| A muskrat was very close to the boardwalk. (Not a bird) |
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| This sandhill crane was missing one foot and part of a wing. He was right on the path. We assume he survives because people feed him and protect him. |
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| A crane family with this chick were patrolling the parking lot at the picnic area. |
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| They closely approached our table, but we didn’t feed them as it’s not allowed. |
Photos © 2026 mae sander
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| Beside a small lake outside Ann Arbor: a kingfisher. |
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| A heron near the water. We drove our visitors out to see them. Miriam has recently developed an interest in bird watching.. |
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| The swans again — the cygnets are growing up. |
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| After we saw the swans, Miriam cooked dinner. |
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| Dinner: baked salmon, purple rice, braised cabbage, and sautéed cabbage. |
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| Dessert that Alice brought from Cannelle Ann Arbor |
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| These turkeys are wild, but they seem to like to graze on well-tended lawns. |
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| A visitor to my kitchen landed on the kitchen sink faucet. |
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| Graffiti under the bridge in Gallup Park. |
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| At the canoe livery |
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| Keeping the river clean. |
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| Swallows nesting on the bridge. |
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| A paddle boat. |
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| Damaged viewing platform further up the river. |
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| Alice brought treats from White Lotus Bakery. |
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| Upper left: cold chicken platter. Upper right: the chicken on the grill. Lower photos: the fully cooked chicken being carved. |
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| Spaghetti all'assassina (Assassin's Spaghetti) is a famous pasta dish from Bari, Italy. Instead of boiling the pasta, you cook it in a frying pan with successive additions of olive oil, garlic, chili, water and tomato paste. The pasta becomes charred and (we thought) quite delicious. The origin of the name is disputed — maybe the cook is trying to kill you with the hot chili peppers! Len didn’t use an excess of hot pepper, and we enjoyed the result. |
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| Breakfast: A muffin from Trader Joe’s |
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| Grilling pork chops… |
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| The pork chops, beautifully seared and cooked. It’s definitely grilling season! |
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| This pair of trumpeter swans at a pond outside of town have quite a little brood of cygnets! |
Photos © 2026 mae sander
