I went outside this evening to clean my car (you wouldn't believe how much junk was in there from one Michigan's Adventure and one Cedar Point trip) and what do you know, I opened the side door to startle a juvenile opossum! They were just outside the door, this lovely grey body maybe eight inches long, and after I apologized they scurried off to the side of the house, under the hostas, hanging out underneath where the dryer vents and hoping I'd go away. They stuck around a good while, long enough for me to get my camera and take some blurry, shaded pictures because my camera could not believe that I wanted to focus on anything but hostas, unless it was nothing at all. And stuck around until after I was done cleaning my car out, so I guess they weren't leaving when there was any chance I'd be around.
So hey, the neighborhood is really swinging! We may or may not have that groundhog anymore but a non-furtive look at an opossum? That's great stuff.
And with that, I close out my Crossroads Village pictures; hope you enjoy.
The Ice House, where back when Michigan had a winter they'd cut up blocks of the river and store it for summer use.
One of the other antique rides is this Mangels pony cart ride. There are a lot of companies that made this sort of pony cart ride for some reason and it's neat to see the many variations.
They have the horses decorated for the holiday, so I guess kids can ride it, although I'm not sure we've ever seen them actually do that.
Here's the ride control, safely locked up. The Mangels factory location is now(2014) a branch of the DMV.
Tried to get a snap of the measuring stick for the maximum ride height, and some of the rider safety card. Camera had other ideas, such as ``focus on ?? ???? ??? ??????? ?????''.
And now we're up near the front of the village, peeking at the big attraction of the over-wrapped tree. Watch out for the sidewalk puddle!
Nutcracker guard points the way to the Overdecorated Tree.
Couple of people taking pictures at the tree. I don't think these are the people who we told yeah, they leave the tree wrapped all year. Or at least did the one year we visited in summer.
Took a photograph looking straight up into the tree and accidentally got a map of the southern coast of England.
More photographs looking up at the tree. I believe this is the coast of Normandy. The Bay of Biscay is to the left.
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bunnyhugger looking up in delight at the lights and trying to take a picture.
And here I get arty: photographing the ordinary trees, decorated only by the light shed by the over-decorated tree. What do you think, sirs?
Trivia: Albuquerque, New Mexico, was named in 1706 for the Duke of Alburquerque, then Viceroy of New Spain. In February 1995 the New Mexico state legislature asked the city council to restore the inexplicably dropped 'r'. Source: Off The Map: The Curious History of Place-Names, Derek Nelson. I like to have this and yesterday's trivia source up close, so they can fight it out. Nelson doesn't say why New Mexico's state legislature cared or just how indifferently the city council took the suggestion.
Currently Reading: Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells, Harold McGee.
