You know…

It’s possible that the greater Lansing area is just a little too excited for the upcoming u2 concert this weekend.

Just maybe.

Wow. Just saw a man walking down street with a rat on his shoulder. Weird.

How the Robin got his red breast

There once was a little gray bird, who looked like nothing special. He would hop across fields and dirt, blending in with dreary wood and muddy piles. His morning song was cheery and long, but when eyes would look to the trees to find the singer, they would pass over his dull feathers. The little gray bird longed to stand out, to be something more, to be special.

One cold night, he happened upon a father and son traveling in the woods. They were tired as they built their fire and filled their bellies and went to sleep. The little gray bird knew that this part of the woods was dangerous, and he tried to sing a song to wake the weary father and son, but even his loudest song couldn’t pierce their sleep.

As the night grew colder and the fire grew lower, the little gray bird was scared to see a wolf inching up towards the sleeping pair. He cried out loud and long but the people slept. He sang angrily at the wolf, but the wolf just snarled in his direction. Knowing one thing that the wolf was scared of, the little gray bird hopped his way towards the dying fire.

With a flap of his wings, the embers glowed brighter, illuminating the campsite. The little gray bird chirped happily at his idea and flapped his wings again, even harder. The dying embers of the fire started glowing brighter and burning hotter, tiny tendrils of smoke and flame starting to lick out against blackened wood. The wolf paused, wary of getting close to the flame, and the little gray bird flapped his wings harder. The heat from the fire grew and washed over the little bird and he knew he should fly away, but he also knew if he stopped, the wolf was just advance. So he kept flapping. As the embers turned to flickering flames, he flapped. As the wood crackled and spit while it burned, he flapped. As the light and the heat and the noise drove the wolf away into the woods, still the little gray bird flapped.

When morning came, the father and son awoke to find a healthy fire in the midst of their campsite and a little gray bird with a bright red burn on his chest. Both were grateful for the sacrifice of the little bird and while they helped soothe the bird with water and berries, they let him keep the red marks to show others his bravery. From then on, the little gray bird has always had a bright red patch on his breast to remind the world that robins are a very special bird.

Over The Edge – Lansing

The Boji Tower (formerly The Michigan National Tower) is the tallest building in Lansing. It’s a beautiful historic building that’s been a staple of downtown Lansing since it was built in the 30’s. 

I’ve personally only been inside twice and both times I was awed by the art deco decor and the grand elevators. Despite not spending a lot of time inside, it’s a very familiar building to me. It’s clock is still one that I use to keep time downtown, and I use it’s imposing face to frame shots of the Christmas tree in winter. And despite the fact that they removed the neon lights years ago, I still call it the Michigan National building in my head (and out loud).

Also, people jump off of it. Well, jump might not be the right word. The past two years they’ve done this charity thing where people pay $500 and rappel down the side of the building. Today was the first chance I got to go and watch the Over the Edge event…and it was pretty wild. There wasn’t a lot of people there (we were early) but it was enough to make people who were driving past paranoid about why we were all looking up!

The first person who came down was fast, which leads me to believe that they were part of the crew. (can you see him at the top of this picture?)  He seemed to traverse the building, winds and ropes with ease and despite a bit of vertigo while trying to aim my camera it was pretty fun to watch. I think they did that on purpose because the next fellow down almost gave me a heart attack.

I’m not sure if it was user error, or an errant gust of wind but the older gentleman who came down next ran into trouble. He swayed way off course at times and then appeared to be stuck, jerking on his lines and hovering several stories off the ground. I know next to nothing about rappelling or how safe it is, but I was worried. Thankfully, the spotters on the ground seemed calm so I tried not to be worried that he was going to plummet to his doom. (I did have to stop watching though!) The gentleman in blue is the one that struggled, and the next shot is of his partner going down as well. She seemed to stop for a while but I thought hers might be just to give him encouragement.

  After that bit of stress, the next few didn’t seem so bad. In fact one pair ended up waving at the crowd below. That takes guts! We watched for a bit and then walked over to the farmers market where I inhaled an italian ice so fast there wasn’t even time for pictures.

We were early for Be a Tourist in Your Own Town day, choosing mainly to go to outdoor events. Boji Tower didn’t seem crowded, and while the Lansing City Market was busy, it wasn’t packed. There were about a bajillion green-shirted kids at Lugnuts stadium for Sparrow’s Michigan Mile kid’s race. It was a hoot to see the 6 & under group running while crowds of people cheered them around the stadium block. I’m hoping the other events today got a good turnout. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warm but with a decent breeze and I hope Mid-Michiganders take advantage of good weather and some great free events.

Everything?

I’ve recently discovered everything bagels. Well, discovered isn’t the right term. I knew they existed before, but I’ve never tried them. I just assumed that the way they looked that they would be icky.

Yes, icky. I’m apparently a 6 year old when it comes to food. Even the idea of  ‘everything’ bagels kind of creeped me out. I figured that at the end of the day, they just took some bagels and scraped up all the leftovers on top of them. Gross. But it turns out that they are tasty! I’ve been using them as sandwich bread and I love how yummy and savory they are. It makes me want to explore other types of food I’ve passed over because of ‘ickiness’.

Except for black eyed peas. Those are still on the icky list.