All Good Things

Well, all good things must come to an end and that includes visits from perfect house guests.  Friend Jenny left this morning to begin her very long flight back to Australia. We tried to pack as much Michigan into her days here and there were things - many things we didn't get to. But we always say you have to leave something for the next time.

Jenny took far more pictures than I did because there were so many things we do differently than the way things are done in Australia, including putting pickles on the plate when eating in restaurants. She said Aussies would never stand for that!  Give her a couple of days and she will post on her blog, look on my sidebar in the Bird on the Border blog to see her pictures.  Or  you can check her instagram pages.

You saw the post for Monday's sew-in.  Tuesday is my day to read in the girls' classrooms so I took Jenny with me as my Show and Tell.  We used Tuesday to visit around town, too.

 Wednesday we went to Lake Michigan.  Jenny was astounded at what we consider a lake.  Really, it behaves as an inland sea.  She kept saying, "it's just like the beach!"  And I kept saying, "It IS the beach!"  But she meant that we have lighthouses, gulls, nice sand, and LOTS of water you can't see the other side of, but the water is fresh.  Until you see them, no one understands the Great Lakes.

 Thursday was cold and rainy but we went to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park (MGSP) anyway because you can't come here without seeing the horse.  It's titled The American Horse and was designed by Leonardo DaVinci. There are two of these in the world, one in Milan and one here and if you are here you make the trip to see this horse.

 The MGSP has a display every year of Christmas trees from around the world and we happened to be there the day the docents were decorating the trees.  After I told some of them Jenny is from Australia they let her help decorate a tree and then escorted us the the Australia themed tree.

 We were tired from the walk in the cold drizzle all morning so had a girls' lunch and gave in to a batch of real popcorn when we got home.  Rub a teensy bit of oil onto this and put it in the microwave.

 Girl's lunch!

 And Jenny, look!  Just like I said would happen.  When you left the squirrels would come right to the door. There were two of them enjoying the last of the popcorn. There are no squirrels in Australia so Jenny was very hopeful of getting a good picture of one.

 Speaking of food, yes, I tried Vegemite and yes, it was good!  But Jenny taught me how to fix it: warm toast, nice melted butter and just a hint of a spread on top.  It really was good!  I wouldn't kid about something like that.

We tried, we really tried to give her all of the experiences and look what was dusting the ground when we woke up this last morning!  She scooped some in her hands and said, "it's COLD!"  Well, yes, it's snow! 

We had a wonderful week together, we never stopped talking, it felt like we've known each other for years and now, as I write this, she is in Los Angeles waiting for her plane to take her home.  Thank you, Jenny, for making me a part of your trip the the United States.