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12-16 October 2015
A Trip to the Petoskey area in Michigan
We had a very enjoyable trip to the area in and around Petoskey, Michigan. The photo to the right shows me during a tour of Kilwins, a popular chain of chocolate stores. As you can see, I had to wear two hair nets when around the chocolate being processed.
We stayed in a very nice residence The Hilltop Gardens. It was situated between the main cities we visited: Petoskey, Charlevoix and Boyne City.
Go to: 12 October 2015
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3 October 2015
Scott Kelby Photowalk at the
Meridian Historical Village in Okemos, Michigan
Every year the photographer Scott Kelby organizes an International photo walk event with thousands of photo walks over the world. I always try to attend one of the local walks. Recent walks I've attended in Michigan have been in Marshall, Jackson and Lansing. This year I went to the walk organized by Wayne Richard Pope at the Merician Historical Village in Okemos, Michigan. Various buildings have been moved to that site from around Michigan to demonstrate ways people lived in the past.
It was a chilly day but a good group gathered for the walk. We took photos of the various buildings and period objects, and a few took photos of the nearby farmers market as well.
Go to: 3 October 2015
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2 October 2015
Mason High School Homecoming Parade and Football Game
It was a cold and windy day, but the enthusiasm of the Mason High School students and fans were in evidence out on the streets of Mason and in the football standium. Check out the representative photos of the events and you can't miss the enthusiasm and high spirits.
The Mason football team was standing at 3-2 overall and 1-2 in conference games, so this was a key game. The win moved them to 4-2 and evened up their conference record. With six wins needed to clinch the state playoffs they now appear in great position to be a playoff team once again, as they were last year.
It was tough sitting in the stadium with the cold wind blowing, but those who stuck it out to the end of the game saw a fantastic comeback win. Congratulations to the Mason football team on this great win!
Go to: 2 October 2015
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29 September 2015
Oracle Financial Solutions Ribbon Cutting
The scaffolding was down, the alley behind the building was open for traffic, and the refurbishing of the old Shopping Guide buiding was largely finished. Oracle Financial Solutions now had their home in downtown Mason, where they have moved their employees from three different places in the area into a single location. Everyone was in a jovial mood and the new facility looked very nice indeed.
The Mason Chamber of Commerce's big scissors was on hand to participate in the official ribbon cutting ceremony and the building was open for locals to tour the facility and enjoy some attractive looking snacks.
I took the photos unaware that the building would house 12 one-room apartments in addition to Oracle, but I got a few photos of all three floors. The roof terrace adjoining the Oracle board room on the upper floor provides some wonderful views of downtown Mason.
Go to: 29 September 2015
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19 September 2015
Mason Down Home Days Festival
Both Spring Fling and Down Home Days are fun events with lots of booths set up surrounding the Ingham Country Courthouse building. Sometimes I find some little gifts to put away till Christmas, I always find some nice baked goods, many by local church ladies. I enjoyed an excellent caramel chocolate brownie just moments before writing these words. I heated it up and topped it with homemade chocolate ice cream, which I shared with my wife Anne. Good times indeed, due in part to the wonderful church ladies who always provide excellent baked goods. I can't wait till next year when I'll equally enjoy goodies from the Spring Fling.
Go to: 19 September 2015
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28-29 August 2015
6th Annual Mason Sundried Music Festival
The 6th annual Sundried Music Festival was another success. The weather was threatening all day Saturday but for the most part the rain held off with only occasional light sprinkles. The attendence was very small starting the day on Saturday but picked up during the day till the crowds were quite large for the evening entertainment. There were some excellent established bands and some new, young bands that showed great enthusiasm.
I took hundreds of photos, which took some time to sort out and place on the web page. Sorry for the delay, but now you can finally see my selection of photos of the whole event.
Go to: 28-29 August 2015
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27 August 2015
Photo Walk in Traverse City, Michigan
My wife and I were called upon to make a surprise trip to Traverse City, Michigan on family business. It's about a 3 hour drive one way so we started early (8am) and got there in time to take care of business before lunch so we could enjoy lunch and an afternoon of walking the streets of this interesting city.
We had previously been to Traverse City so we knew we'd have a good time. The weather was nice, the lunch was excellent, and we saw some very attractive views. To the right is a street entertainer on Front Street demonstrating his considerable skill with a yo-yo. Being an old yo-yo-er myself I quite enjoyed his tricks. Then we headed home to enjoy a late supper.
Go to: 27 August 2015
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15 August 2015
Mason Aviation Days
The weather was a bit warm but it was a great day for this annual event. I arrived a bit after 1:00pm so I had to get busy taking photos before the 2:00pm closing time. There seemed to be a good crowd with lots of interest in the planes.
Go to: 15 August 2015
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9 August 2015
Camino of St. James 5K Race
I have participated in the Mason State Bank 5K on many occasions, but this was the first time I've done the Camino of St. James 5K. It is a smaller race which starts at 8:00am, a major reason I have avoided this race, but I was anxious to compare my performance with the Mason State Bank event earlier in the summer. Would my improved level of endurance after my exercise program be reflected in an improved race performance?
The race appeared to be a little short of 5K (based on my GPS iPhone app), but event compensating for that my time was still about 2½ minutes faster. The pancake breakfast is a traditional component of this racing event (the pancake is even represented in their logos for the race and one participant was dressed as a pancake (see the photos). I asked another participant while standing in line for breakfast what that symbol was on your race shirts when it suddenly struck me that it was a pancake). It was a nice event and a personal achievement for me (I won my age class ... OK, there were two people in my class). The photo here shows me at the finish line looking rather tired but happy.
Go to: 9 August 2015
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6 August 2015
Photo Walk in Chelsea, Michigan
We have often driven through Chelsea on our way to Ann Arbor and occasionally met family there to share a meal (usually at the fabulous Common Grill). This time we spent considerable time exploring this attractive Michigan city. We started with a photo walk, mostly in residential areas, enjoyed a nice lunch at the Common Grill, an then took another walk starting in the downtown business area with a stop at the very interesting Heydlauff's Appliance store where I saw some extremely interesting kitchen ranges, and then checked out the Jiffy Mixes storage towers and railroad station. It was a well spent day with lots of my favorites ... beautiful and interesting residential houses.
Go to: 6 August 2015
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3 August 2015
Ingham County Fair
Each summer the Ingham County Fair takes place with animals, 4H club displays, competitions in homemade foods, clothing, photograph,etc., and (of course) traditional fair food, games and rides. I really wanted one of the corndogs and my wife craved an elephant ear. Diets can certainly get in the way. At least I won some ribbons in the cooked foods categories. There's nothing like the hubbub of activity during the fair. I also enjoy the feel of late-night life at the fair as the families participating in the fair go about life, such as cooking and eating meals, sitting around talking, children playing, tending their animals, etc.
Some years I ride my trike by the fairgrounds late at night to get a taste of what it's like. It's an inspiring feeling.
Go to: 3 August 2015
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30 July 2015
Photo Walk in Charlotte, Michigan
Photo Walk using the first model of the
Olympus 14-150/4-5.6 lens
My wife and I have been enjoying traveling to nearby locations to take walks and explore new restaurants. I also enjoy the opportunity to test my lens and take interesting photos. This time we drove about 25 miles to Charlotte, MI and I chose to concentrate on my versatile 14-150 zoom. On these trips I don't attempt to methodically document the location, rather I seek intersting subjects and I photograph lots of houses, buildings and environments.
For my photo walk web page this time I decided to experiment with larger thumbnail photos and slightly larger higher resolution shots. It makes the pages wider and adds a bit of download time, but hopefully the improved quality of the photos will be a positive change. I hope you enjoy my attempts at artistic photos.
Go to: 30 July 2015
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23 July 2015
Photo Walk in Marshall, Michigan
A good outing plus a test of the Olympus 75-300/4.8-6.7 II lens
We were anxious to have a nice little trip so we selected Marshall, Michigan, about 50 miles from home. I also took advantage of the opportunity to test out a lens I had received in the mail on the previous day. The lens, with a zoom range from 75mm through 300mm (full frame camera effective range of 150-600mm), would normally be a strange selection as the only lens to take on a photo excursion of this sort, but I was curious to see how this interesting super zoom would function. My overall impressions were positive, though I did have a few out of focus shots and the image quality at the longest focal lengths were a bit inconsistent. I suspect the longer focal lengths were somewhat overly challenging for the in-body image stabiliztion system but that's only a guess. All photos were taken hand held, including a few additional photos at the bottom of the page (which were taken immediately after the arrival of the lens on the previous day).
Go to: 23 July 2015
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4 July 2015
2015 Mason Sesquicentennial
Independence Day Parade
Mason has its traditional 4th of July parade every year passing within a block of my home. This year, in addition to the normal fire department vehicles, old farm tractors, and other traditional parade fixtures, the Civil War Reenactors representing the 7th Michigan Voluntary Infantry Co. also participated with a color guard and ladies wearing spendid dresses demonstrating the fashions at the time of Mason's founding. There was a big turnout to watch the parade. Following the parade after it became dark the traditional 4th of July fireworks display was presented at the Ingham County Fairgrounds.
Go to: 4 July 2015 Independence Day Parade
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4 July 2015
2015 Mason Sesquicentennial
Civil War Reenactors
The 7th Michigan Voluntary Infantry Co. B reenactors provided a display at the Mason Area Historical Museum called "Civil War Living". One display demonstrated a pup tent and various equipment and materials used by the soldiers. Men decked out in uniforms of the time described the displays to visitors. A group of women were dressed in fashions of the day and worked on crafts such as crocheting and quilting. There was also a display of period toys. During the civil war the various military units were organized and fitted out by the states. This organization represents a Michigan unit.
Go to: 4 July 2015 Civil War Reenactors
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4 July 2015
2015 Mason Sesquicentennial
Car Show
One of the regular Independence Day events is the car show. This year's car show was the biggest I've ever seen in Mason. It took the usual three streets surrounding the Ingham County Courthouse, but this year the cars were crammed into these streets plus there was overflow on Maple Street and Jefferson Street. There was quite a nice selection of cars of all types and, as usual, there were many photo opportunities.
Go to: 4 July 2015 Car Show
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3 July 2015
2015 Mason Sesquicentennial
Community Family Walk
The community was invited to participate in a family patriotic walk on the Hayhoe River Walk along the Sycamore Creek. There was a welcoming booth just across Ash Street from the Lee Austin Park. People were invited to wear red, white and bluee colors and to bring their pets. My wife and I arrived early so the crowd was pretty small.
Most of the photos below show the sights along the Hayhoe Riverwalk. It's a very pleasant place to walk with lots of wildlife and interesting plant life.
Go to: 3 July 2015 Family Walk
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2 July 2015
2015 Mason Sesquicentennial
"Brothers of the Brush" Beard Competition
Just a short walk tonight to take part of the "Brothers of the Brush" competition for best beard with awards in three categories: (1) Fullest Beard, (2) Most Unique Beard and (3) Best Period Beard. Following the beard competition there was a music concert not documented here.
Winner and runner-up for the fullest beard were Matt Grzymkowski and Chad Schroeder. Best period beard winner and runner-up were David Haywood and Tom Sherwood. Most unique beard winner and runner-up were J. Franklin Campbell and Leon Clark.
Go to: 2 July 2015 Beard Competition
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28 June 2015
Photo Walk in Stockbridge, Michigan
My wife Anne and I often take walks around our neighborhood, but there are a limited number of routes when starting from home. My wife suggested that we drive to Stockbridge, Michigan. We have often driven through Stockbridge on our way to Ann Arbor and it looked like a place with some interesting walks. We had previously taken a walk in Williamston, MI and enjoyed it, so this seemed like a great idea. We arrived in Stockbridge in time for a good walk before lunch, had a great lunch at the Stockbridge Diner in downtown, and then had another nice walk before heading home. This time I took my Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera with Olympus 12-40/2.8 lens along and took lots of photos.
Go to: 28 June 2015
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22 June 2015
My new Fisheye Lens
Here's a photo walk in the spirit of many of my older walks, no particular effort to document features of Mason but rather just a walk illustrated by photos along the way, photos of things that caught my attention. I wanted to give my new Fisheye lens a workout and see what I could do with it. The fisheye lens is an extremely wide angle lens with obvious distortions, but the distortions can work to the photographer's advantage and make for some fascinating photos.
Go to: 22 June 2015
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21 June 2015
Fire in the Kean's Store Building
A fire started in the restaurant adjoining Kean's Store Company leading to fire damage to the restaurant and smoke/water damage to the entire store. Kean's Store and the Baja Grill will be closed for some time, maybe months. The other two stores in Kean's Store are also unable to continue business at their current locations as well. Twisted Fiber Art is going to resume business by operating out of the owner/artistic director's house, at least for their on-line business. An iPhone 6 Plus was used to obtain a few photos.
Go to: 21 June 2015
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20 June 2015
Drumming Class at the annual "Relay for Life of Mason"
The Cardio Drumming - Mason Impact Team group demonstrated their drumming on the lawn of the Ingham County Courthouse in downtown Mason during the "Relay for Life of Mason" fundraiser for cancer research. Their energetic drumming techniques contribute to healthy exercise and weight loss.
Go to: 20 June 2015
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16 June 2015
Kipp Road
Another main road in Mason is Kipp Road. It goes by several significant places (GEStamp, Meijer grocery store and gas station, Ingham County Fairgrounds, Jewett Field airport, a number of small businesses, the Kipp Road entrance ramps to Hwy 127) and allows access to the western part of the area blocked in most places by Hwy 127. Much of the street is without sidewalks so some care had to be taken in this walk.
Go to: 16 June 2015
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13 June 2015
Maple Street
After an interesting exercise walk with my wife, specifically to view the work being done on Maple Street, I had to return with my camera to document some of what we saw. I was attracted to the "Road Closed to Thru Traffic" sign with the little attached sign "Road Open for Wedding". An additional attraction was an opportunity to try out my new fisheye lens. The page is separated into two sections, photos taken with my regular 12-40 normal zoom lens and photos taken with the fisheye lens with all its intriguing distortions. Once again, I took a lot of photos of some worderful Mason houses and some of the beautiful flowers decorating Mason. Mason is very much a city of gardens.
Go to: 13 June 2015
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6 June 2015
Bad Brewing Summer Block Party
The popular Mason Bad Brewing Company, a micro brewery located in downtown Mason, threw a block party and hundreds came to enjoy the music of the From Big Sur band (which had previously also performed at the Mason 2013 Sundried Music Fest and 2012 Sundried Music Fest) and an interesting selection of the brewery's creations, such as Maple Porter, Brandy BA Zeelander Rye Pale Ale, Mint Chocolate Stout and Cranberry Cider.
Go to: 6 June 2015
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30 May 2015
West Ash Street
Following my abrupt stop of my Ash Street Walk (renamed the East Ash Street Walk), after my camera battery ran out and my backup battery turned out to be empty, I resumed my walk on Ash Street with 99 more photos shown on this page. I got rather carried away by the many attractive houses lining this street and could bring myself to edit out few of them. Many major buildings of Mason line this street, such as the library, city hall, fire department, post office, Mason public schools building, historic Pink School building and the Keith L. Hayes Park, where Ash Street meets Highway 127.
Go to: 30 May 2015
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28 May 2015
East Ash Street
My current diet/exercise program has distracted me from photo walks, as my walks tend to be fast walking with no pauses for picture taking. However, I took a break from "serious walking" to documenting Mason. I intend to concentrate on specific main streets in Mason, starting with Ash Street, a main street with lots of significant Mason landmarks such as City Hall, police and fire stations, Ingham County Fairgrounds, Rayner Park and the historic downtown Ingham County Courthouse. I started the photos at the east end of the street just past the Fairgrounds and worked my way west to another main street Jefferson, where east meets west in street naming. This was too big a project for a single walk/web page so part two West Ash Street will soon follow. I intend to follow up with pages devoted to several other main streets: Jefferson, Cedar and perhaps Columbia. Time will tell. You'll note a lot of photos of individual houses and elements of yards (trees, flowers, ornaments), which a big features of most streets in Mason. This gives a flavor of the town. Some important features, such as Rayner Park and the Fairgrounds, are represented by few photos since there are a number of pages at this site devoted entirely to these important features of Mason.
Go to: 28 May 2015
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7 May 2015
Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens
My Wife (Anne) and I (Franklin) went for a walk in the Horticulture Gardens in East Lansing, Michigan, and short distance from Mason. It was a nice partly cloudy day ... a little warm. It was a bit early in the season for many flowers but it was a worthwhile venture. The tulips were particular spectacularly impressive. And the exercise walking about the grounds was most beneficial.
Go to: 7 May 2015
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2 May 2015
Spring Fling
This is a wonderful and fun annual event in Mason where people set up booths all around the historic Ingham County Courthouse (some scenes from the movie "Real Steel" were shot in and around the courthouse a few years ago). In addition there are numerous other attractions, including the table in front of nearby Kean's Store for my daughter's shop Twisted Fiber Art. There are also a number of garage sales on this day.
Go to: 2 May 2015
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1 May 2015
Annual Mason State Bank 5K Race
This year marked my sixth straight year participating in the Mason State Bank 5K race, which benefits the Mason Public School Foundation. The first four years I was in great condition, having been a regular at the gym working on my weight and exercise to combat my diabetes. Last year I had slacked off and gained a bit of weight, resulting in my worst race result. This year I determined to lose the weight I had gained and worked on my strength and stamina. My goals were to finish the race and to beat last year's time. I was able to do both with a time about 1:30 better than last year. It was nice to achieve these goals, yeat I still finished with my 2nd slowest time. Well, there is always next year when I'll be 74 years old but, hopefully, in better condition and at a lower weight than this year.
Go to: 1 May 2015
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