Michigan #2

I think I slipped into the post-holiday blues last week, but I’m back with my final post about my trip to Michigan and will post about Wisconsin later this week.

It was such a lovely visit with Annie and Michael. Annie is my favourite human on the planet, she has a great sense of humour, very loving, lots of energy and a brilliant role model.

We met in 1991 when I was au pair to her twin babies and 4 year old. We have kept in touch through the years and I’ve visited her in Michigan, when she moved to San Francisco bay area, when she moved to Sacramento and a couple of times since she’s been back in Michigan.

I’m amazed I didn’t take more photos whilst I was in Michigan. I already shared a few in my previous post, and there aren’t really too many others to share.

As far as I can now recall we had ice cream from:-

• Guernsey Farms Dairy – scoop of bear claw (chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered cashew nuts) and a scoop of orange sherbet. This was the first place we went to and was definitely my favourite of the week.
• Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy – chocolate ice cream
• Stuart’s Ice Cream and Yogurt – Mississippi Mud Pie flurry!
• I have forgotten the name and location but I had an orange sherbet
• Annie brought back from a place near her sister’s the most amazing big tubs of mango and chocolate malt. These were delicious and if I’d stayed another couple of days I would have finished the tubs.

The week continued with me helping them getting settled in their new condo. I organised a bookcase with books in rainbow order for her grandchildren, we filled a U-haul container with items being shipped down to their place in Florida, we removed old screws, patched holes and painted an alcove which is going to be turned into a pantry.

**If you are squeamish about tales involving blood then finish reading here.**

The day I’d finished painting the alcove, Annie was out seeing her sister at the hospital. I thought I would do some dishes and help get ready for us making dinner. Well almost as soon as I started I noticed the bubbles in the sink were red! When I lifted my hands out of the water my right thumb was bleeding heavily! I looked at my thumb and a huge cut was going right across my thumb print area with blood pouring down my arm! The knife had been so sharp I hadn’t even felt it cut me.

I tried not to panic, grabbed some kitchen paper, pressed as hard as I could holding my arms in the air and started looking for my phone. I texted Annie to see if she had any spray on skin stuff, as I’d cut myself rather deeply. Michael appeared from the basement and came to the rescue. Luckily he wasn’t squeamish and managed to spray on the stuff and stop the bleeding. He then put a plaster (band aid) on as tight as he could.

I was lucky they had some, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a deep cut before that hasn’t ended up needing stitches. It’s now a few weeks since it happened and the scar is slightly raised, still sore if I press too hard on it. Ever so slowly its starting to get some fingerprint ridges appearing across the scar tissue.

It hurt for days and I’m grateful it didn’t happen earlier in the week or I’d have been useless helping with all the jobs. Annie lent me the “booboo bunny” she keeps in the freezer for her grandkids. It felt good holding it and I should find some of these reusable ice cubes and make my own..just in case.