Sunday, February 15, 2009

Sunday Morning Photos

Some Sunday morning photos:

The first one is of the early morning sun behind the clouds, and behind a ventilation spire at the asylum.

The Flap Jack Shack on US 31 South across from Meijer is a good place to get pancakes.

These are the current gas prices at Meijer. This is one of the cheaper places to get gasoline usually. Meijer is like a Walmart Supercenter, except it is only located in several states (and it is not nationwide). Many/most people call it "Meijers", which if you are in a hurry or have a Southern accent, comes out sounding like "Mars". At one time, it had a longer name: "Meijer Thrifty Acres", which wags changed to "Misers Shifty Takers" and "Mizers Sh*tty Fakers". A few years ago, this was said to be the largest Meijer store in the chain. I do not know if that is still true.

I saw this along with other signs for sale in the window of "Mr Bill's T-Shirt Shop" downtown. Have you had your coffee yet?



The south side of Front Street, looking west from Cali's Cottons and across from the State Theatre for a couple of blocks. There's only one guy on the snow-covered sidewalks





There was some sort of winter festival yesterday, so there are ice scuptures scattered around downtown. They look pretty fresh, so they must have been carved very recently, perhaps yesterday.
The one below appears to be leaves (or feathers?) and is located in front of Stewart-Zacks:





This sailboat is in front of a gift shop called "The Nest":



And the jazzman is found in front of "Front Street Commons", a shopping area once known as "The Arcade":










19 comments:

uphilldowndale said...

Wow!Maybe there is a gap in the market in the UK!!!

citizen of the world said...

Very cool ice sculptures.

I need that crab sign, as a friendly warning to people.

Gerry said...

Dunno, d, I think the ice sculpture in front of Stewart-Zacks looks like a fish (maybe an angelfish?)swimming through seaweed - tail on the left, nose peeking out on the right.

Ananda girl said...

I love your pictures, they add so much to your writing. You live in such an interesting area.

I live in a beautiful place by all standards, but we have "events". For those of us who love culture... we have to drive somewhere else to get it. We don't even get music here. I was going to drive 200+ miles just to see the Dropkick Murphys but they sold out before I could get tickets.

Anyway, I really like the ice sculptures. Very cool.

Thanks for visiting my blog earlier! You made my day. Yeah, corned beef and cabbage is a big deal in our house but a rare one. Mom's father was Irish. If you like cabbage or even brussel sprouts you'll like it.

Michael said...

Neat.

Those ice scupltures blow my mind-kind of like the intricate sand castles people do at the beach, I cannot concieve of the patience needed to carve something that intricate.

Reminds me of-I think it was a Mad Magazine joke when I saw it, but it is probably even older-a "Carve Your Own Ship Kit", consisting of a box containing a block of wood and the instructions: "1. Remove all pieces of wood that do not resemble illustration on box."

sue said...

Good one. And I like the humor (it was supposed to be funny, right?)

Princess Extraordinaire said...

I always love looking at your pics...

laughingwolf said...

cold stone and our tim hortons [donuts/coffee] are joining forces, but so far only stateside...

Churlita said...

Love the photos. All of them.

DaBlade said...

For some reason, my 14 year old can't not pronounce the "J" in Meijers. It's either a genetic tongue defect or a successful attempt to irritate his fathjer.

dmarks said...

I'm glad everyone liked the photos. Tanks for the comments.

DaBlade: Is that "Meijers" that rhymes with "V'gers"? I suppose you have to understand "Star Trek" to get that one.

DaBlade said...

:) You know I got it!

laura b. said...

I notice that gas prices are starting to creep upward again.

Dmarks, I tagged you for this week's Saturday Scavenger Hunt word. Are you interested in giving us a word? Please say yes :-)

dmarks said...

The word is ice.

bulletholes said...

Kudos to Gerry...i used to carve Ice and the one you thought to be Feathers is an Angelfish in Seaweed...very well done too.
Hey D!

Michelle Gartner said...

You take great photos. I too would like the coffee sign. When I lived in Port Washington a few years back they had ice sculpting contests- but I don't remember the artists being as talented as the ones you photographed. There was always won in front of a couple bars that looked like sculptures of hangovers!

Thanks for dropping by.

P. J. Grath said...

Oh, wow, it really is still cold in Michigan! Sometimes I forget, down here on Florida's Nature Coast. Another month for us here, then we return to--I'm sure!--the last snows of Michigan spring.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

The name Meijer sounded almost Japanese. Weird.

dmarks said...

CSC: I can see that, actually. It just never had occured to me before. It does look similar to the Japanese Meiji. However, the Y is pronounced like a J, and the word is lke My-er. It is the Dutch surname of the founders.