Igor and the Barn Ride

Just returned from two weeks in Michigan taking care of dear old dad – chauffer, chef, shopper, sweeper, gofer, laundry wench, general companion. He’s 90 years old, and while the mind is willing, the body is busted.

But it wasn’t all dedicated son duties. I did some biking, some traveling, and played some open mikes. Lets start with the biking, since this is a bike blog.

I went for a dirt road ride with TJ Hill (of Wolverine Sports Club) from Stony Creek out to Oxford (thanks for the bike loan TJ), and then borrowed a bike from a neighbor (thanks Larry) for a solo dirt road ride in search of barns on a perfect weather afternoon. Clear blue sky, warm enough for bare arms, no mosquitos yet. Why barns? Dad and I had been driving around out in the country west and north of the village of Romeo a few days earlier, and I noticed how many barns were still in good shape and operational. Here are a couple of them:

barn on Mound Road

barn on Townsend Road

For the full set of ride & barn pictures, click here.

We went to visit my sister Kathleen and her friend Igor in Kalamazoo for a couple of days. Igor is a life size head & shoulder bust created many years ago by her late husband Robert. He’s pretty life-like and has an intense stare, but his coloring could only be loved by a mother turtle. See for yourself:

Igor full frontal

Igor profile

I borrowed a very nice Martin 000-16 acoustic guitar (thanks Ceri) and played seven, count ’em, seven open mikes. Here I am warming up at Tracey’s Corner Cafe in Warren

fret bum at Tracey’s Corner Cafe

At Tracey’s the fellow onstage before me played some very dark, somber and spare arrangements of three metal songs, I think I recognized one from Black Sabbath. I did a 180 and played a Valentine’s Day set (a little late, I know, but heck it’s springtime and everything is blossoming) with covers of “Love is All Around” (the Troggs), “Crazy Love” (Van Morrison), and “Valentine’s Day” (Steve Earle). Ask me about the young lady in a mini-skirt if you dare.