Three Rivers Daily Photo

Polite Graffiti

2011-12-30T11:49:00.001-05:00

Odd bit of graffiti on a downtown Three Rivers building.

Three Rivers Holiday Trees

2011-12-04T12:38:00.003-05:00

Merchants downtown have store-thematically decorated trees in their windows, unveiled yesterday and with the community voting for their favorites today. Some are very clever! I especially liked the popcorn decorated tree at the movie theater, the chair-tree at Second Wind Furniture (made out of old chairs!), the art-tree at the Three Rivers Artists Guild's Gallery. And this one, though it takes a bit more explanation-this is a recycled office tree, with ornaments cut from old office computer circuit boards, snowflakes from recycled office paper, and a garland of packing peanuts. Very clever! At Love Your Mother, 39 North Main Street, Three Rivers, a store specializing in earth friendly products and gifts made from recycled stuff.

Last minute shopping

2011-11-25T13:37:00.004-05:00

Actually I took this the day before Thanksgiving, a mom doing some last minute shopping in the family station wagon with the little kids in tow. Amish style. If you are a busy mom, imagine taking care of all that - and the horse, too.

Veggie Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T23:36:00.001-05:00

Instead of Turkey, a nice fat stuffed pumpkin!

Snowflakes arrive

2011-11-22T11:11:00.001-05:00

Spotted downtown this morning - a crane and crew hanging giant lighted snowflakes across the street.

Runnin' on the River

2011-11-06T15:42:00.002-05:00

Jet skis on the Portage River in the late fall sunshine. Watch out for those rocks...

Area artists out of town

2011-10-19T12:04:00.003-04:00

The Three Rivers area Watercolor Circle traveled to the Elkhart "Midwest Museum of American Art" where the juried regional show (http://midwestmuseum.us/elkhart-juried-regional) is currently on display. There we saw the work of the fabulous (fabius) Helen Mac. Pop over to her blog, http://helenmac-fabiusdaybyday.blogspot.com, to see what else she is up to!

YAB (yet another bridge)

2011-09-25T16:35:00.002-04:00

This is the abandoned railroad bridge from yesterday, taken from the bank of the St. Joseph River.
Still a lot of bridges left -- I may need to come back to this topic!

Abandoned

2011-09-24T09:33:00.001-04:00

This is a bit of the past, forgotten. And strangely beautiful that way.

Rocky River Rocks

2011-09-23T09:24:00.002-04:00

Fun to do this in a kayak. Under the bridge in Scidmore Park.

Downriver

2011-09-22T08:43:00.000-04:00

Looking down the St. Joseph River from the old railroad bridge. I continue to be amazed by the rivers here, the way you can be in the city but feel like you are a hundred years and a thousand miles away from modern life. Just get out on the river!

Horse and Buggy Days

2011-09-21T09:32:00.004-04:00

On Labor Day for the Bridge Walk the Woman's club handed out a brochure/passport for the bridges. A comment on it read, "In the early 1900s South Main Street was named Flint Avenue. It was "The Avenue", a lovely shaded street during the hose and buggy days."

Whoah on the nostalgia -- although the trees seem to have been street-widened away, with Amish about the area, the horse and buggy days never left!

Hoffman St. Bridge

2011-09-20T09:28:00.000-04:00

A view from the water of the Hoffman St. Bridge over the Portage River, with a bit of the old abandoned powerhouse showing.

Another bridge to nowhere

2011-09-19T09:18:00.000-04:00

This is the abandoned railroad bridge that parallels the Broadway Bridge over the St. Joseph River. I wonder where it used to go? Taken the day of the Bridge Walk.

Three Rivers History Mural (6)

2011-09-18T09:34:00.000-04:00

The last view of the mural shows in the background more houses, a church and a bit of downtown. This section is quite damaged. Children are shown in the park, enjoying the Popcorn Stand which is now by the petting zoo. The Popcorn Stand for years provided support - and jobs - for developmentally disabled people.

Three Rivers History Mural (5)

2011-09-17T09:28:00.000-04:00

Past the suffragette and the lighthouse, there's a minister (I think - someone will have to write and tell me who this represents), more houses, and a pleasant scene of a modern-day family in the park.

Three Rivers History Mural (4)

2011-09-16T09:26:00.000-04:00

More houses are seen in this section of the mural, indicating the arrival of the first development called "Moab" (links to photo of actual monument located on the corner of Constantine and Broadway.) Continuing along we find suffragettes, and next, in the background, Three Rivers' iconic lighthouse. I am not sure about the significance of the baseball team!

Three Rivers History Mural (3)

2011-09-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

The next section of the mural shows the arrival of the first US emigrants to the area. They came to farm, and building mills was also high on their list when they saw the abundant water power. Families established themselves. The first recorded settler wedding in Three Rivers was in November, 1830; Mary McInterfer was married to David Winchell. The first school was in the log cabin of the McInterfer family. At this early date, power dams for mills were being constructed on local rivers. A mill is shown at the right of this section of mural, along with the proud owner and his family. On the river is seen one of the "arcs" or flatboats used to ship logs down to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, where they could be picked up by seagoing vessels for export. Boats were also constructed that transported flour and grain to Chicago; the shippers' family names were prominent in the history of Three Rivers - Prutzman, Moore, and Millard. Moore & Millard's first boat for shipping to Chicago was named "Kitty Kiddungo", which has to be a good answer to a trivia question!

Three Rivers' history mural (2)

2011-09-14T09:13:00.000-04:00

The next section of the mural shows the arrival of the first traders, mostly French, and the establishment in the late 1600s of the first Christian mission and church along the banks of the St. Joseph River in what is now Three Rivers. The mission is marked by a river trail marker on the St. Joseph River.

Three Rivers' history mural (1)

2011-09-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

The first section of the mural shows a Native American man looking west across the undeveloped river. Although no particular people is represented - the figure is only symbolic - the first French Traders and US settlers found that the Pottawatomi had beaten them to the area by 100 years or more. The Pottawatomi were farmers and traders, driven to the area from their original homeland near Detroit by the Iroquois in disputes over valuable fur hunting areas. Other disputes were recorded from oral histories, including the Great Battle for which there is a marker in the park.

The Pottawatomi are the "fire keepers" of the Anishinabe Three Fires Confederacy. The nearby Pottawatomi town of Nottawasepi, now called Mendon, was as large as many US cities in the west at that time. They were settled farmers and were Christian from the 1600s. Many Pottawatomi tried to hang on to their land through filing lawsuits and other legal and political maneuvers, but most lost their land in the tragic "Indian Removal" period spearheaded by still-controversial president Andrew Jackson. Today, most Pottawatomi live in the west, but a few "bands" (family groups) that refused removal - or escaped and returned - remain. One local group purchased a large tract of land about an hour east of Three Rivers, and remain there. There are many interesting - and bloodcurdling - stories about the collision of the US settler and Pottawatomie cultures, but they are a little hard to find. Local historian Sue Stillman in the 1930s wrote in her history of Three Rivers some of the stories, when it was still fairly close to living memory.

Before the Pottawatomie, other peoples lived here, but the archeology record is sketchy (and much of it was plowed under.) The Miami peoples were known to live here, and before them, peoples of the Mississippian Mound Culture. Along undeveloped stretches of river the "wild rice", a staple grain, that they planted may still be found in large tracts. In more settled areas, the emigrant farmers pulled it out, seeing it as blocking navigation - and not knowing what it was.

Bridge mural

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Peeler Street Bridge that spans both a river and the railroad tracks has on its abutment a very long mural giving an outline of the history of Three Rivers. I will post closer up pictures of it this week - mostly taken last in winter, when it was easier to see. Email me if you know about the history of this mural! It is growing more faded and has a lot of water damage, I hope repairs are planned.

9-11

2011-09-11T09:11:00.002-04:00

I'm repeating a photo here because it is one of my favorites; an appropriate and very moving 9-11 memorial created by the Three Rivers firefighters.

Bridge Walk - 6th Street

2011-09-10T08:07:00.003-04:00

Here's my attempt to look two ways at once - Bridge Walkers crossing the 6th Street Bridge, which has a beautiful view downriver on one side and an equally nice view upstream to the power dam on the other side. Jan McEnroe was stamping Bridge Walk passports here.

Bridge Walk - Hoffman

2011-09-09T07:35:00.005-04:00

Some Bridge Walkers on the Hoffman Street bridge over the Portage River. According to the Passport, the bridge is 91 feet long and was built in 1917. You can also "drive" over it on Google Maps.
My favorite part of the walks was talking to people who had stories to tell about growing up in the area and their memories of the bridges and rivers. Here a woman told me that just upstream was an old swimming hole where kids would swim 'au naturel' and "get in trouble for it!"

A look downstream, where a sandbar has formed under the bridge. Hazard to navigation?

Bridge Walk - Broadway

2011-09-08T09:19:00.006-04:00

There are two parallel bridges over the St. Joseph on Broadway, one for the roadway and the other, a spookily abandoned railroad bridge. The road bridge, according to the Three Rivers Woman's Club Passport brochure, was originally built in 1878! It was "updated" in 1990 which accounts for the modern look.

One woman passed me on the sidewalk, map in hand, and said "I'm going the wrong way!" Oh no, people were walking the trail in both directions. Here are some walkers on the Broadway Bridge, where Jo Barton and her daughter (above) were stamping passports.

Bridge Walk: 5th Ave.

2011-09-07T10:49:00.005-04:00

Along with the walking maps, the Three Rivers Woman's Club "Passport" had a lot of interesting information about the bridges. This bridge over the Portage River on 5th Ave. was built in 1917, although it looks very modern.
Here, a group of walkers that did the long 4.6 mile (7.4 km) trail approach volunteer Shirley Blum to have their "passport" stamped.

I love this spot. Stop on the bridge here, almost downtown, but which ever way you look it could be wilderness.

Labor Day Historic Bridge Walk

2011-09-06T07:38:00.001-04:00

Oh the bridge walk was so much fun - they said "first annual" so if you missed it, come next year! Three Rivers is a fantastic town for walking, and not just the park; the streets are lovely too. Maps were provided for a variety of routes and a brochure with bridge photos was "Your Passport to the Bridge Walk" and was stamped by volunteers waiting by each bridge.

This is a photo of only a few of the volunteers:
Jo Barton and her daughter (Broadway Bridge over the St. Joseph)
Shirley Blum (5th St. Bridge over the Portage River)
Jan McEnroe (6th Ave Bridge just below the power dam)
Diane Foghino (who forgot a chair so was standing over by the Memory Isle bridge for hours!)
Map of the routes:

More pictures tomorrow.

Labor Day weekend, Harmony Fest

2011-09-05T08:46:00.006-04:00

Despite occasional drizzle, the Harmony Fest was a lot of fun. The photo above was taken just as it was starting in the early afternoon, and the street was already filling up. Not shown: the line of BBQ stands and the sweet smoke in the air.

TODAY is the Bridge Walk. Three Rivers Womens' Club volunteers will be handing out "passports" for the bridges in the Farmers Market Pavilion in Scidmore Park (right behind the former Neff Flower shop). The passport will be stamped by volunteers for every bridge on the route that you cross between 9 and noon.

More on their website: http://trbridges.wordpress.com

Bridge to Nowhere

2011-09-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

This abandoned beauty is frequently chosen as a subject by local painters. Grass grows on the roadbed, and the masonry crumbles. Paddling under it I discovered an exciting "drop" that kept me from taking a planned photo from below.

Tomorrow, Labor Day, Sept. 5, there will be a Bridge Walk in Three Rivers, sponsored by the Women's Club. Register (free) starting at 9am in Scidmore Park, get a "passport" and have it stamped for each bridge you cross! See the website: http://trbridges.wordpress.com
There is a Facebook events page for the bridge walk but you have to sign in to FB to look at it. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173659086038753

Memory Isle Bridge for a wedding

2011-09-03T12:21:00.002-04:00

My favorite bridge - which I have painted many times - is the little red bridge to Memory Isle in the park. I took this yesterday evening, and there was a lovely chuppah or wedding arbor across the bridge, waiting on the island, in the sunlight.

Check out the nice article in the River Country Journal about the Bridge Walk - with two more of my bridge photos. Thanks, Bruce! http://www.rivercountryjournal.info/2011/09/02/three-rivers-bridge-walk-set-for-monday-labor-day/

(Closeup...)

Peeler Street Bridge

2011-09-02T21:30:00.000-04:00

A cooling change of season for this bridge picture, part of a series of bridge pictures I'm doing in honor of the Womens' Club sponsored Three Rivers Historic Bridge Walk on Monday, Sept. 5, see http://trbridges.wordpress.com (or previous posts) for more info.

This is the Peeler Street Bridge as seen from the park. The bridge features a very large mural showing the history of Three Rivers - and some interesting graffiti. The bridge spans both the railroad track and the Rocky River.

Portage River Bridge

2011-09-01T22:32:00.003-04:00

This is my favorite bridge to paddle under, with those big cool arches. At the mouth of the Portage River, where it flows into the St. Joseph. Highway M60 passes over this bridge and into downtown Three Rivers.

Bridge to downtown

2011-08-31T22:14:00.003-04:00

This is the M86/Main Street bridge over the St. Joseph River. With its beautiful arches it looks like an old bridge, but actually it is (almost) brand new, replacing the 1903 concrete bridge that had interesting detailing that resembled masonry. I think there was something else historical about the old bridge, but I don't recall what it was.

The two signs visible on the bridge to the right are part of the water trail system in St. Joseph County, meant to be seen by travelers on the water. One sign (SJ18) is for the Stillman House (photo taken from the Stillman House grounds) and the other (SJ19) for the close by Jesuit Mission site on the north bank of the St. Joseph; the mission was established in the late 1600s. For more on the water trail system: http://bit.ly/ql9v2I

Labor Day, Sept. 5, there will be a Bridge Walk in Three Rivers, sponsored by the Women's Club. Register (free) starting at 9am in Scidmore Park, get a "passport" and have it stamped for each bridge you cross! See the website: http://trbridges.wordpress.com
There is a Facebook events page for the bridge walk but you have to sign in to FB to look at it. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173659086038753

Little Bridge

2011-08-30T22:16:00.003-04:00

Today's bridge is, I am sure, the smallest of Three River's city bridges. It passes over the city's smallest river (unnamed, coming out of the duck pond) which flows prettily into the Rocky via the city's tiniest waterfall.

Three Rivers has lots of bridges, and on Sept. 5th there will be a Three Rivers Labor Day Historic Bridge Walk, sign up starting at 9am in Scidmore Park. More, http://trbridges.wordpress.com/

Bridges

2011-08-29T13:49:00.003-04:00

This is the Highway M60/Michigan Ave. bridge over the Rocky River -- the main part of the river, not the race, which parallels the river through Scidmore Park at this point. Looking upriver.

This coming weekend the Three Rivers Womens' Club will sponsor a bridge walk - read more on their Facebook Event page, http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173659086038753.

To see more Three Rivers bridges, click the "bridges" tag to the right, or use this link:
http://threeriversdailyphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/bridges

Corn

2011-08-19T09:36:00.002-04:00

Corn is what the midwest does, but only in Michigan will you find cornfields as neatly kept as a park. Tidy Michiganders keep neatly trimmed edges on this cornfield just outside of Three Rivers.

Sign Painting

2011-08-18T12:05:00.003-04:00

Bookseller and former mayor Tom Lowry on a very high ladder, painting his own sign last evening.

Double Sun

2011-08-16T06:41:00.001-04:00

A Three Rivers sunflower in the sun.

Hoppy

2011-08-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

Hops, fresh-picked from our giant hop-vine and drying in a basket. Now to find a beer maker.

Upcycled on Johnnycake

2011-08-14T12:27:00.001-04:00

A newly built feed store in the strip-mall section on the west side of Three Rivers was the location Saturday for Up-Cycled Pets' "meet and greet", allowing folks to see the adoptable pets. The SPCA also participated.

The new store is on a new street which they have named "Johnnycake Lane", a sentimental nod to the old Johnnycake School, torn down when the Wal-Mart went in a few years ago. The feed store is called "Diamond Creek" and despite it having the big plastic chain-store type sign, a chain-store name (there is no Diamond Creek around here) and the general chain-store look, it seems to be locally owned. And it was nice of them to remember Johnnycake.

Hail!

2011-08-13T18:24:00.003-04:00

A very intense thunder-and-lightning storm was capped off by what seemed live a very long period of hail, quite largish, bouncing and pounding. My new seedlings are quite flat.
The spectacular violence of midwestern weather is something I'll never get used to.

Urban Corn

2011-08-08T10:52:00.000-04:00

The Stears family has been around the county a very long time; there is even a Stears Road outside of Constantine. In a county loaded with corn, sweet corn from their farmstand is sought after. And here it is at the supermarket!

Beauty of a Beast

2011-08-07T10:48:00.002-04:00

This beauty ate one of my husband's apple trees (notice the apple for scale.) I've never seen such a big caterpillar. He said, "Did you kill it?" Of course not.

Signs and Portents

2011-07-22T10:31:00.003-04:00

Eerie clouds early this morning surged and swirled like an upside down sea across the sky, capping off yesterday's hundred degree heat. I'm not mentioning the humidity.

(See more of the world's sky at Skywatch Friday, http://skyley.blogspot.com)

Love Your Mother Show

2011-06-11T13:01:00.001-04:00

The Watercolor Circle's opening for its spring show at "Love Your Mother", downtown Three Rivers. Show will be up until the end of the month. Mmmm--aren't you sorry you missed the opening?

Fear Not

2011-06-05T10:46:00.007-04:00

The large man waving a sword is actually Three Rivers artist Brian Brook, selling one of his sculptures at this weekend's art fair!

Robin eggs

2011-06-03T09:45:00.002-04:00

Awww.

Dog

2011-06-02T09:34:00.003-04:00

I understand that there is a Thursday Dog thingy. May I present the wag-end of a Three Rivers area pup?

Memorial Storm

2011-06-01T15:15:00.006-04:00

Wild storm last weekend, the Three Rivers area spent Memorial Day mostly without electricity. Cleanup is ongoing, many huge trees down, some landing on homes, but no injuries. The newspaper reported a kayaker missing on the Portage River, but later found uninjured. In this photo is an immense ancient oak, uprooted and tipped onto the old schoolhouse at Day and Hoffman. Tornadoes reported in Moorpark and around Portage Lake, but minimal damage inside the city of Three Rivers. Also see Helen's photos at "Day-by-day in Fabius".

Three Rivers Spring

2011-05-27T21:14:00.002-04:00

With red Citroen blooming on the green grass.
It's for sale, too, in case you want to go on holiday with M. Hulot.

Aliens?

2011-05-18T09:48:00.002-04:00

Mysterious lights out on the water in Three Rivers, strange shapes creeping about.
Carp fishermen!

The best of spring

2011-05-17T11:47:00.000-04:00

Local Three Rivers asparagus, best cooked on the grill!

All wet

2011-05-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

A birdy rides out the storm that is filling up Three Rivers' three rivers.

Oh, the places we'll go

2011-05-15T11:41:00.001-04:00

Just stay straight. Those other places can wait!

Wacky

2011-05-11T12:47:00.002-04:00

My fortune cookie tells me my future. Big King Buffet in Three Rivers has some tasty food but I'm not so sure I understand my fortune!

Diving and Dabbling

2011-04-11T17:43:00.003-04:00

Many ducks on the Portage River in Three Rivers. This group is mostly grebes, but right in the middle are (tipped up, dabbling) two white domestic ducks. Miraculously, this pair has survived last fall and the winter. Most pairs of wild ducks and geese are cautious, one feeds while the mate keeps careful watch. The two white ducks enthusiastically and innocently feed at the same time - as in the photo. So far, so good.

Faced

2011-04-10T20:23:00.002-04:00

A strangely amusing face was seen today in Meyer Broadway Park.

Art in the snow

2011-02-28T09:19:00.006-05:00

The Plein Air Artists of West Michigan (http://www.paawm.org) came out to paint in Three Rivers' Scidmore Park this weekend -- gray, drizzly, snowy, cold... about a dozen artists were seen through the park, trying to feel the gray. Brent Spinks here working on his railroad bridge and river view. He said he was hoping a train would go by so he could put it in the picture.

Walkin' the dog

2011-02-25T22:00:00.001-05:00

A cold but bright and sunny day, the evening sun reflecting off downtown buildings which are reflected in the river.

Ice storm and flowers

2011-02-21T12:54:00.002-05:00

Big ice storm coated everything in ice. The weight brought down some big tree limbs, but it is beautiful. I'm not going out there! This is a metal sunflower blooming in my garden.

From deep snow to joggers

2011-02-17T20:50:00.002-05:00

What an odd place. Below freezing, then 50 degrees and rain.

A good day to stay home

2011-02-10T19:07:00.002-05:00

This is for my friend Kris who moved to a warmer climate - instead of 1 degree F (-17C) it is a toasty warm 40 there!

More snow (Portage River)

2011-02-05T12:09:00.004-05:00

After yesterday's beautiful blue skies and sun (and I had to be indoors!), more snow today. White snow, silver sky, gunmetal grey water.
Portage River in Three Rivers.

Walk Like a Geisha

2011-02-04T21:45:00.002-05:00

Tiny steps on the ice, slide slide never clomp clomp, graceful and dainty. Also way safer.

Happy New Year!

2011-02-03T13:28:00.003-05:00

In the aftermath of the big storm, vast amounts of blue-white snow and golden mist rising from the rivers. It's been a whole day and they are still bulldozing the piles of snow around downtown Three Rivers! Oh but a lovely sunny day for Chinese New Year. Gong xi fa cai!

Snowy highway

2011-02-02T14:38:00.003-05:00

Taken on the first (yesterday) in advance of last night's big storm. We were fortunate, maybe only a foot of snow, but it's blowing around. The driveway is a problem.

Icy Fishermen

2011-01-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

The fascinating Michigan activity of ice fishing, which involves sitting or standing on an icy lake, unmoving, for hours on end. I think fish are somehow involved. Corey Lake.

Lakeside Docks

2011-01-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

The docks are piled up on the shore, waiting until the water is liquid again. I see I have included a self-portrait! Corey Lake, one of the many beautiful lakes that ring Three Rivers.

Cardinal's in

2011-01-13T21:47:00.002-05:00

Actually the cardinal is out there and I'm in here, with a cold. Snowed all day. Cardinal had no competition at the feeder!

Cold Duck

2011-01-12T14:54:00.000-05:00

"I say dear, next year could we migrate to Florida?"

The problem with solar

2011-01-11T08:35:00.001-05:00

This shot of a solar powered speed sign in Three Rivers is for my dear friend Kathleen in Berkeley, California who has a solar power installation company. Sorry dear, it just doesn't work well here. Especially in the winter.

Much better!

2011-01-10T14:46:00.002-05:00

This is the same tubing hill as in the January 2 photo - only with snow and full of children (and "big kids" too!)

Beautiful ice

2011-01-09T14:02:00.002-05:00

4 degrees this morning (-15C). Along the rivers a frozen mist settled on the trees.

Hope the highway looks better than this

2011-01-08T13:36:00.000-05:00

14 degrees (-10C) and I think it is below the point where the de-icers stop working. This is a main street, not a side street! (Portage Ave.) I waited at the light even though it changed to green - and guessed right, the pickup truck coming the other way couldn't stop, and spun lazily through the intersection.

View from Love Your Mother

2011-01-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

A quick trip in to the downtown store "Love Your Mother" before she closed; a nice street scene, with ice.

Snowy little lighthouse

2011-01-06T14:32:00.000-05:00

Scidmore Park's alternate lighthouse, with ducks. Cold duck?

Reaction to snow

2011-01-05T18:36:00.001-05:00

Ah! snow in big puffy flakes made travel home last night hard. But the fire makes up for it...

At the edge of town

2011-01-04T16:32:00.002-05:00

"Right against the forest-fence"... Still sunny but the wind is bitingly cold. No snow this morning as I head up for a day of tax training for my volunteer non-job with the Tax-Aide people.

Sunrise

2011-01-03T16:30:00.001-05:00

Another beautiful day, but it is getting colder.

Waiting for snow

2011-01-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

Must be the famous January Thaw. A walk in the park revealed the sad sight of tubes on the tubing hill - no snow. Just grass.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T19:04:00.002-05:00

The rain washed away all the snow and left a beautiful sunny day on the Portage River in Three Rivers.

Last night we went out and walked in the (relatively) warm evening on ice-free streets. Most Christmas decorations were still up, beautiful trees in the bay windows of Victorian mansions and more modern homes. Drapes of colored lights and the occasional inflated Santa. A grey mound - the remnants of a snowman. We could look into the well lit houses, New Year's parties with grownups in the kitchen and the kids in the yard. So cheery!
Then we walked downtown, where the Riviera had a band and a party in the bar (hi Karen, I waved but you didn't see me). Pub 21 was full and there was a lively crowd at Pisano's, most of whom were involved in a pool tournament. Lights and color and action!

Happy New Year to all!

Halloween, again and still

2010-10-31T20:37:00.003-04:00

Actually this is Halloween, but the town celebrated last night. There is a powerful cultural prohibition here against activities on Sunday.
Meanwhile, teenage artists decorated downtown store windows. I liked the cat with it's head in a pumpkin (Golden Finch) but I really liked this sports shoe, partly because it is so silly and partly because it is decorated with my favorite Halloween special candy - candy corn! Candy corn tastes of wax and treacle and no one in their right mind likes it except me. I just ate a bag in honor of the season. Now I'm sorry.

Halloween

2010-10-30T20:57:00.003-04:00

Streets full of little ghosts and goblins filling their bags and pumpkins with candy. Even the dogs came in costume! (But not the parents...)

Art Hop, with music

2010-10-23T11:03:00.000-04:00

Books and Flutes at Lowry's on Friday night, a warm, gorgeous evening for the Three Rivers Art Hop!

Leaves

2010-10-16T18:39:00.000-04:00

This weekend's Three Rivers Fall Color Tour is perfectly timed.

Homecoming 2010

2010-10-15T18:32:00.003-04:00

The band plays, tractors are draped in purple, the populace lines the street wearing team colors, stores stay open late. A snow plow is embellished with the team logo, people hang from upstairs windows, decorated floats mock tonight's game's opposing team. Fire truck and ambulance sirens wail, dogs bark, church bells ring. It's St. Homecoming Day!

Tax Freedom Day

2010-04-15T23:15:00.003-04:00

Pack up the computers and tax books, boys. It's time to ride into the sunset for another year.

My own personal "Tax Freedom Day". That's a joke. Well, I thought it was funny!!

Closing it out at the Three Rivers Community Center.

Juneberry

2010-04-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

This is the flower of the earliest blooming local, a lovely shrub or small tree of the rose family native to the Three Rivers area. Starting in June there will be lovely sweet berries. Amelanchier has many species in Michigan; this one is probably A. arborea.

The plant is called "Juneberry" locally, referring to its early fruiting. While visiting relatives on Martha's Vineyard I learned that it is called "Shadblow" there; the reason I was given is that it blooms in early April when the shad, a valuable food fish related to herring, comes up from the ocean to New England rivers to spawn. "Blow" in the sense of "full-blown", but I'm not sure whether it refers to the blooming of the fish or the blooming of the trees!

Most plants indigenous to North America also have common names that reflect the general irritation of early European settlers when they found themselves having to deal with unfamiliar plants. In that vein the Amelanchier are also called "serviceberry" - implying that the plant's berries would "serve" as a (barely tolerable) substitute for more familiar European fruits.

Marsh Marigolds

2010-04-13T11:00:00.001-04:00

Marsh Marigolds to glow as they rises out of the muck along the Portage River. I love the bits of pink in with the green of the soft round leaves. Caltha palustris is native to the Michigan; we have quite a colony of it along the river. It is also found in similar zones around the world, and found hybridized as a garden flower as well. Although the common name "Water Buttercup" persists, it is not an aquatic plant and can and does grow where it is fairly dry - but it is in the buttercup family of plants. It's called "Gundega" in Latvian; the Three Rivers area has lots of Latvians.

In the News

2010-04-12T09:18:00.004-04:00

People gasped in amazement to read about the Three Rivers Daily Photo in a feature story in Monday's Three Rivers Commercial-News.

The story also celebrated Day By Day in Fabius -- and CityDailyPhoto in general! My journalist brother comments, "It's great local news. And better than the latest Tiger update by far, or news of Tea Parties and other alleged happenings."

Three Rivers Commercial-News is a print newspaper but they do have a "web presence" at www.threeriversnews.com.

Balmy

2010-04-11T12:03:00.003-04:00

One day snow, the next day the sun is shining. Children play in the park and couples stroll in the sunshine. Trees suddenly show soft clouds of new leaves. A young woman in a summer dress bicycles past me. Winter never existed.

People keep using the word "balmy".

April (snow) showers

2010-04-09T09:50:00.003-04:00

Snow this morning, on the flowers. The native plants - like these violets - are a more sure sign of spring than the showy non-natives; the indigenous plants seem to "know" more about the weather and don't leaf out or flower too early.

But sometimes even they guess wrong!

Windstorm

2010-04-06T15:11:00.000-04:00

A huge but very short windstorm swept through Three Rivers on Monday night, bringing trees and tree limbs down on the roads and highways - and fences.

Easter Forsythia

2010-04-04T15:09:00.001-04:00

The Chinese shrub Forsythia, although not native to the area, is so widely planted that it has become a marker of spring.

Happy Easter!

April Fishing

2010-04-01T13:19:00.000-04:00

The first of April: fishermen in a bass boat on the Portage River in Three Rivers.

Spring Thing 3

2010-03-20T09:15:00.003-04:00

This little guy crawled out of where ever he was hibernating and was lying on the grass, unmoving and in need of a good shedding, soaking up the sun. Although his stripes are more murky-white than colorful right now, he's likely a Butler's garter snake, Thamnophis butleri.

Spring thing - 2

2010-03-18T15:10:00.002-04:00

Ice and snow recede; the city workers are busy filling the potholes that spring up in spring, sending the sweet smell of asphalt through the air. Hey guys, you missed a few over here in the library parking lot.

Spring Thing - 1

2010-03-17T10:15:00.003-04:00

Despite some remaining snow, the owner of this mailbox on Portage Ave. decided to get a jump on spring with plastic flowers.

Dragon's Teeth

2010-02-27T11:26:00.004-05:00

For the unwary in Three Rivers, the dragon waits. Small children walk on the other side of the street.

To see more of the world in monochrome, just click over to The Monochrome Weekend, presented by Aileni.

Cuisine

2010-02-25T15:06:00.006-05:00

Offered for dinner on Monday and Saturday this week at the Three Rivers American Legion Hall, gizzards and burgers. A local delicacy, I presume. I'm imagining it all breaded and deep fried. I'll check my calendar - oh sorry, I'm busy elsewhere those nights.

Life is intruding into my CityDailyPhoto time! I'll try to do better.