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21 December 2010
44 minute walk
Winter has arrived in Michigan. The ground is covered in snow and ice. Still my son-in-law and I braved the cold and slippery conditions for a 44-minute walk to the local middle school and back. As we left just before midnight on Dec. 20 we noticed a police car with blinking lights parked about a block west on Cherry Street. As we continued our walk north we heard sirens, then more sirens as emergency vehicles speeded towards Cherry Street. After returning from the walk I grabbed my Canon G-11 camera and documented the scene as a large number of firefighters with a big collection of fire engines worked to subdue the fire.
Go to: 21 December 2010. |
Mason Sun Dried Music Fest Stage |
28 August 2010
Mason Sun Dried Music Fest
The city of Mason decided to start a new local tradition with the first annual Mason Sun Dried Music Fest. Many locals volunteered to provide the manpower behind the success of an event like this. Several streets on the downtown square were blocked off with a big outdoor stage set up for the music groups. For this first event the following groups were scheduled to perform: Rock Canyo Band, Frog & The Beeftones, Smooth Daddy, Backwoods Band, Freddie Cunningham & The Root Doctor Band, Ritmo, and Showdown. The music started at noon with people sitting on folding chairs and blankets. There were a number of vendors in addition to the regular Saturday Farmers Market. I walked to the site (not a long walk, but I did have to carry home the produce I bought at the farmers market, at the same site). I strolled around, listening to the music and snapping photos, then bought some produce and headed home. Hopefully this will continue in the future and be a standard fixture in the local calendar.
Go to: 28 August 2010. |
Mason City Hall Municipal Complex |
26 August 2010
30 minute walk
Today my grandson came by to mow the lawn and have lunch with me. We had leftover stew from last night's dinner, a new recipe for me that ran my BG numbers up a bit last night. Same thing today, so I headed out to get some exercise to run my number down a bit. Another good reason for a photo walk was to document our new Mason City Hall and Police Station. Following are photos concentrating on the new City Hall building and the immediate environs.
After strolling past the new City Hall building I headed west past the fire station, then turned south and walked the tracks back to Elm street. There I turned back towards home, walking up my favorite Elm Street hill. One day I must remember to take along my level to measure the grade of that hill. I'm guess 10-12% grade.
Go to: 26 August 2010. |
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24 July 2010
Worldwide Photo Walk 2010
Photographer Scott Kelby organized a series of photo walks to take place today. Over 1100 walks have been set up all over the world with over 28,000 individual photographers taking place. See Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walks for more information.
Kenny Price led the photo walk in Jackson, Michigan (USA) in which I participated. About a dozen photographers gathered in Jackson and spent about two hours roaming the streets of Jackson snapping photos. I have posted about half the photos I took on my page for this event. There will also be some pages set up on Flickr for photographers to upload their photos.
Go to: 24 July 2010. |
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4 July 2010
Mason 4th of July Celebration
A one-block walk takes me to the annual 4th of July parade route. Like many small farming community parades, I suspect, our parade has a lot of tractors, fire engines, local politicians, local merchants and kids. Earlier in the day we had a car show in downtown Mason with live entertainment. In the evening we enjoyed an impressive display of fireworks at the Ingham County Fairgrounds.
Go to: 4th of July 2010. |
"Real Steel Cast and Crew:
Welcome to Mason!
Hometown U. S. A." |
2 July 2010
56 minute walk
Tonight my BG level was a bit up so I embarked on a short walk. Besides, I wanted to drop off some red bean paste buns I had picked up for my daughter Margaret. After leaving her house I headed to the Mason city center, site of the impressive county courthouse where a movie crew had gathered to shoot some scenes for an upcoming movie "Real Steel", starring Hugh Jackman (who played Wolverine in the popular X-men movies). I noted the big trucks arriving on Wednesday, and they closed off some streets and restricted parking in the downtown area on Thursday and today (Friday) for the movie work. By the time I arrived downtown on this walk everyone was gone except for some workers clearing up the equipment and loading the last trucks. I took a few photos of the downtown area and headed to the Mason Elevator Company, where I joined the Hayhoe Riverwalk.
Go to: Walk of 2 July 2010. |
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11 June 2010
40 minute walk
Today was the last day of school before the summer break, so my daughter and her two kids came by for lunch. I cooked up my special nachos dip and we enjoyed some TV with our food. Big lunch sometimes leads to high blood glucose readings later (or just a full stomach). I decided to take a walk before dinner and recalled my intention to investigate the break in East Sycamore Street, where the area has a sudden change in elevation. The road has a break in it, but late one night while walking in this area I discovered a zig-zag sidewalk allowing the walker to continue along Sycamore Street. Finally I came back to this interesting street during daylight with my camera to document this fascinating street. Just east of this break I encountered the First Church of the Nazarene, which is situated between Sycamore Street and Maple Street.
Go to: Walk of 11 June 2010. |
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10 June 2010
My Favorites
I have set up a page consisting of a selection of photos from all previous pages. These photos represent some of my favorites, based on artistic sense as well as other factors. As I post future photo walk pages I'll occasionally add photos to this favorites page. A date at the top will indicate the most recent date of making additions, with any new photos added to the top of the page. As with most photos on this site, clicking the thumbnail (small) image will pop open a window with a larger version.
Go to: Favorites from my photo walks. |
"Joy Child" on Ingham County
Drain Commissioner Building |
Dog cutout at the Ingham
County Animal Shelter |
9 June 2010
95 minute walk
Today I needed to drop my wife's car off at Andrew's Chevrolet on Cedar Street for servicing. So I packed my camera bag determined to have a nice walk on the way home. I headed back to an area explored last summer but not visited since. First I crossed the street from Andrew's and headed east on Buhl Street to visit the Ingham County Drain Commissioner building and the Animal Control & Shelter. The Drain Commissioner building has a fascinating piece of art on the front of the building and the Animal Shelter has those poke-your-head-through-the-hold cutouts. I also finally photographed one of the many trains that pass through Mason on a daily basis.
Go to: Walk of 9 June 2010. |
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5 June 2010
Added Mason Links page to this web site listing web pages pertaining to Mason, Michigan.
Go to: Mason Michigan Links. |
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23 May 2010
43 minute walk
I set out today not only to get some exercise and take a few pictures but also to see my kids' new garden box. Jeff built it on the back of his deck to provide an ideal space for planting vegetables. The box provides an elevated garden area where the soil will never be compacted by people walking on it. Meg has a well-planned design for an good placement of each vegetable plant and a rotation of vegetables from season to season. After visiting and seeing their new garden box I continued through the middle of town, visited the new Mason Community Garden, photographed some local landmarks and just shot some attractive details of this beautiful small town in Michigan farm country.
Go to: Walk of 23 May 2010. |
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19 May 2010
44 minute walk
Today I needed to take my wife's car to the shop for servicing. While waiting the two hours I had a choice ... do a little reading in the waiting room or take a nice walk around town on North Cedar Street. So I packed my camera and took a 1.5 hour walk (I counted 44 minutes walking time, since I paused a couple times to do some shopping). I couldn't head north since I consider the 127 overpass too dangerous for walking (no sidewalk). I've walked this area before but decided to go off track a bit and see what was behind some of those buildings.
Go to: Walk of 19 May 2010. |
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10 May 2010
34 minute walk
Tonight I didn't feel like cooking so we had corn dogs, potatoes and for desert brownies with homemade fudge sauce ... carbs in every dish. An hour plus later I paid the price with a BG (blood glucose) reading of 164 ... ouch! I'm scheduled to go to the gym later tonight but I felt I needed to lower my BG level immediately so I set out for a short walk. Fortunately, exercise usually lowers my BG number (different diabetics all have different stories and must test for themselves). It was after 8pm but I decided to take along my Canon G11 camera to test its low light capabilities (this was one of my reasons for upgrading from the G9). You can read some of my detailed comments in the captions to the photos on my walk page. After 34 minutes (including some pauses to take pictures) I got home and my BG reading was down to 115 ... success!
There are some 100% crops showing ISO 400 and ISO 1600 at the bottom of the walk page.
Go to: Walk of 10 May 2010. |
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7 May 2010
41.5 minute walk/job ... Mason State Bank 5K Run/Walk
Few pictures, but I wanted to document my first attempt at a 5K event. The Mason State Bank 5K Run/Walk raised funds for the Mason Public Schools Foundation , which supports our local school system. Unfortunately, the weather was rather bad, but the rain wasn't too bad during the actual run. It started a little after 7pm on a Friday night with what appeared to me to be a good turnout. Because of the weather I didn't take my camera along, but I got a couple shots when I picked up my race packet, consisting of a neat running shirt and a computer chip to be attached to my shoes for the timing equipment. All went well and I exceeded my goal of finishing in 45-46 minutes, my estimate based on my treadmill times at the gym. I was able to jog a bit on the level and downhill portions of the race course, which allowed me to finish in about 41.5 minutes. Of course, those who are runners bested that time by quite a bit and I finished 9th out of 12 in my male age group of 65-69. It was fun, and it does give a feeling of accomplishment.
The results of the race are shown on the Playmaker's web site.
Go to: Walk of 7 May 2010. |
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1 May 2010
15 minute brisk walk ... Spring Fling in Mason
Yesterday I checked out the preparations for the annual Spring Fling event in Mason. Today I went to the Spring Fling. It was only about a 5 minute walk from home for me, so it wasn't a huge amount of exercise. However, it is always fun. I bought some home-made soaps, got some nice goodies from the church food booths, and saw a variety of other crafts and locally produced products in the booths.
Go to: Walk of 1 May 2010. |
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30 April 2010
40 minute brisk walk ... First photo walk of 2010
With the local event Spring Fling coming tomorrow I thought this would be a good time to start my photo walks. The weather has gotten quite nice with the harsh winter well past. Also, tonight my GB level (blood glucose) was up to 148 about an hour after dinner, so I wanted to exercise to reduce it to the normal range. Normally 15-20 minutes of brisk walking can do the job. My weight is also a bit up recently so the exercise is doubly valuable. As a diabetic I find exercise an essential part of my life, so taking the photo walks achieves multiple goals for me. My walk tonight reduced my blood sugar level from 148 to 118 and probably burned over 400 calories.
Go to: Walk of 30 April 2010. |
