Mae's Real Stories

This morning we went down the Huron River in a canoe. We had fun looking at the river banks, and we saw some nice water birds, including a big heron on a dead tree. Lenny knows a lot about how to paddle and steer a canoe, and could go under narrow bridges and up to docks very easily. Once, we had to "portage" the canoe, when we came to the end of a canal with a small dam where the water flowed down. This meant we lifted the canoe out of the water, carried it down a hill, and put it back in the water.


We went past many of the riverside walks and parks that we have often visited by walking, but this time, we were in the middle of the river, so things look somewhat different. Last summer we walked this way with Miriam, Alice, Evelyn, and Tom.

We rented the canoe from the Argo Canoe Livery, and we returned it downstream at a park. The man from the canoe livery promised to be waiting in a big van when we came to the dock. He loaded the canoe onto his trailer, and gave us a ride back to our car.

Harry Potter is a wizard who lives in England. He is a character in a series of seven books. Mae, Lenny, Tom, Evelyn, and many many other grownups and children just read the last of these seven books. Evelyn and Tom bought their copies in Germany. Mae and Lenny bought their copies in Sicily, which is part of Italy. Other people bought their copies at bookstores all over the world, or ordered a copy to be delivered on "Harry Potter Day" last Saturday. I know some people who were traveling and bought the book in an airport even though it was very very expensive.

Because Saturday was the first day that anyone could buy the book, everyone was waiting for that day. Everyone wanted to know how the story ended; all were eager to read for themselves. No readers wanted to have the ending spoiled by anybody telling them how it came out.

We bought one copy. Lenny read it first, and he finished quickly. Then I read on the beach and in the evening. Miriam heard how I was afraid Lenny would stay up all night to find out the end, but I made him promise to turn the lights out at 11:30. When I read it, I made myself turn the lights out at 11:30 too. The picture shows the cover that's on the book we bought. Some people have the same book with a different picture on the cover.

The Harry Potter story is a very good one. I liked the way the last book ended. I think a lot of people liked it. When Miriam, Alice, Theo, Tessa, and Delia are a little older I am sure that they will enjoy reading it.

Miriam wrote this story.

The Zoo by Miriam

This is the zoo. There are lots of animals at the zoo. Look, look! One of the animals is getting out of its cage.

We touched the chicks. It was lots of fun touching the chicks.

I loved touching them and this baby bird is trying to fly.

Look! The baby bird is flying and the mommy bird is with her.


Goodbye, it is time to go now. Goodbye! The End.

Today we were taking a ride in Washtenaw County, which surrounds Ann Arbor. We stopped to look at the church in the photo, called Bethel Church. The people who built it started a church here 150 years ago. First they built a church out of logs; later, a wooden building, and finally, they built this stone church almost 100 years ago (in 1909). The people who lived on farms all around and who built the church spoke German and had German church services until about 50 years ago.

Many of the farmers and settlers who came to Ann Arbor and to this county between 180 and 100 years ago were from Germany or Switzerland. The founder of this church came from Basil, Switzerland before 1840. Many farms still are owned by people with German names and families from the German community that first farmed this area. They have big barns and silos to hold feed for their cows, and they grow crops like corn, hay, and soybeans.


On our ride today we enjoyed seeing the beautiful farmland, the bales of hay standing in the sunshine, the trees between the fields, and the wind blowing the standing corn and shaking the reeds in the marshes in the low areas. Near Ann Arbor there are no big mountains, but lots of little hills. As we rode, we went up and down the hills.

The year after Evelyn was in fifth grade, she and her friend Becky and Becky's three sisters made a special float for the neighborhood fourth of July parade. Evelyn dressed as a Revolutionary War boy, and the four sisters had special dresses to be like the women and girls back then. Of course the Fourth of July is a celebration of the Declaration of Independence that started the Revolutionary War in 1776. That was why they had the costumes.

Our dog Dolly, as you see in the picture, was part of their float. I think Dolly won a prize, but maybe they won a prize for the float.

In this year's parade there were no kids dressed in nice Revolutionary war costumes. Some wore red-white-and-blue shirts or other clothes, and some just decorated their bikes and scooters. There were a few dressed up dogs as well. Here's one:


Addendum: Evelyn thinks their float won two prizes. One was for best costumes; she can't remember what the other was for. The prizes were potted plants. She also recalls that the five-year-old twins (Becky's little sisters) were so cute that they got all the attention.

Guess what? Potatoes have eyes, but they don't have hands. So how did they do it? With a potato peeler?