leder legends

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! We decided to go take a quick stroll at the Japanese Garden in town hoping that there were still some fall colors to see! We were not disappointed!  It helped that the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky!  October 29 requires jackets, right? Not yesterday so I ended up carrying my jacket the entire time but it was worth it! The entrance to the building is lined with chrysanthemums  with an interesting color palette- no yellows or reds just purples and a few oranges.   Inside there was a mum display which included some bluish asters... not my favorite! In the bonsai section - a larch forest! A ginkgo tree.  One of these years I will break down and plant one of these in my yard but not a bonsai. ....like this one! It would be so much fun to run in this gravel!! This is a Chinese crabapple tree which we could see growing outside the wall! I had to use “ picture this” to identify it. Very stunning with that amazin...

  In Grand Rapids, owners of rental houses must keep them in safe, livable condition.  I think that is a reasonable thing. This gets done every 4 or 6 years. It usually is an expensive pain even when the landlord maintains the property well, because the fees are very high! We have gone through 2 of these this year. (out of 5)  The first inspection was for a 4-plex. We had minor issues in 3 of the apartments: issues that were quickly dealt with. These apartments have great longtime tenants who keep things clean and report small issues in a timely fashion so that I only need to fix small repairs. We received a 6 year certification.  Hooray! The second is a single family house. The current tenant has been in there for 10 years. She has 3 older children and 2 grandchildren living with her.... and two pit-bulls! 4 years ago we had many repairs...many including replacing or repairing 4 doors.  Some other repairs were her fault but some were due to the age of the house...

Michigan, in the heart of the USA Midwest, puts on an amazing color show in the fall of the year.  The colors are exceptional this year.  The  brilliant reds, vibrant yellows, juicy oranges and multiple shades of green are breathtaking especially when the sun is shining! J

Paternal Grandparents    Here we go- maternal grandparents on the left beside Dad and paternal grandparents on the right beside Mom. The parent’s engagement picture. ...and we are off! Leaving The Netherlands in 1951. Even though we have never lived very close to our siblings, of late, I wish it had been so.  I’m one of eight and the second youngest.  Our oldest brother died a few years ago. We are all getting older. We all are married and have children, grandchildren and some have great grandchildren.  It is quite impressive- one couple that immigrated from the Netherlands to Canada in 1951 and enjoyed life in “the new world “! Eight children and eight spouses, thirty-one grandkids, sixty-eight great grandchildren and thirty- eight great great grandchildren. The numbers are approximate  and don’t include the spouses of our kids or the grands and still the number seems mind boggling- 153 (I’m sure I am not totally accurate). Can you imagine if everyone show...

 It’s one of those days!! The sun is brightly shiny and instead of seeing the beautiful scene outside, you can only see how dirty the windows are!! It makes you think, doesn’t it?   Then the sun goes behind a tree and the world looks a lot better because you can’t see how dirty the windows are and you can enjoy the view! Perspective is a good thing!