Then and now.

My post today is going to be a photo comparison. Of  then and now.  Then, being defined as those years when we lived in Michigan, and now, defined as the last 11 1/2 years of life in Aotearoa. It will be by no means a complete look.  That would be impossible, but I feel the need right now to look at the two worlds I've inhabited.  

I'm doing this because we are approaching November 15th.  For much of my life, that day meant that I could get off from work, head out onto our land, and begin a two-week-long hunt for white-tailed deer.  

For most of those years, that also meant having friends and family join Jeanne and I for part of that period. We all share memories of those wonderful deer hunts, and they took a lot of venison home with them.  

For the past 11+ years, Jeanne and I have lived in Henderson, New Zealand. We're in a great retirement village. I would characterize Waitakere Gardens as a luxury apartment hotel for seniors. With each passing year, Jeanne and I are more pleased with our decision to settle here.  

But home will always be home.  I've become used to living in the Southern Hemisphere, but my brain will always associate November with darkening skies, snow, and the hunt.  So, let's get into it.  Let's look at some then and now pictures.  

This is our home on three acres in Wilson, Michigan. It's fairly early in the winter in this shot because the snow isn't too deep yet on the roof of the house. Sometimes I had to shovel it off twice during the winter.  And, from the state of the driveway, it doesn't look like Young Russ has been over with his plow to clean it for us yet. 

Our apartment now, on the right, has a yellow square on it.  No snowplowing needed here.  We average 2 to 5 nights of frost per year.  

  

A night-time look via my trail camera of a buck and raccoon.  That was at my baiting station on my 'Deer-Hunting Forty,' in 2008, and they were enjoying some apples.  Or rather, the deer was, and the raccoon wanted to. 

It may just be me, but the expression on the deer's face reminds me of little Arnold, in Diff'rent Strokes, asking, "Whatchu talkin' bout Willis?"

This was taken in the field close to where Fred usually hunted, that is, out of the deer blind I had named, 'The Notch.'  And it was recorded just before opening day.(Nov. 15th)  Right about now in fact. (Nov. 10th)   

I took this rose bush picture today, November 10th, 2023, not far from our apartment.  

This is Jeanne's car, that is for some reason that I don't remember, parked temporarily next to the garden house.  That's what outdoor life looked like from November through some time in April most years.  

A beautiful day out on the land, facing 'Miller's Forty,' and fairly cold. Below zero.  I remember it well.  It was afternoon and I had been out near the 'game warden field' on snow shoes cutting cedar posts.  My fingers were cold enough that getting my keys out of my snowy pocket and into the car door's lock was an effort. But I was on Christmas break from work and had egg nog and brandy waiting for me at home.  My fingers would recover.  Life was good.  

Jeanne and Margaret were captured for posterity as they worked in the gardens one day.  

Back again to winter, and well before we ever imagined moving to NZ.  Young Russ did a nice job plowing our long driveway and circle drive, but I still had to clear in front of the garage and the front steps by hand.  

On our 50th Anniversary, having lunch at a French wine cellar/cafe in Newmarket, NZ.  

One of Fred's masterpieces. Breakfast sausage, artfully wrapped in bacon and baked. Truly wonderful for keeping one warm during cold winter's days.  

Moments before dawn at about 25 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit.  

Later that day, it warmed up.  

Dawn from our balcony at about 20 degrees Celsius. (70 degrees Fahrenheit.) 

I love the fact that we have lived two very different lives.  Life in Michigan took a whole different set of skills than life here does.  But I grew up learning winter-coping skills and it was normal to have the sort of winters that we did. The pictures I shared of November and our winters are dear to me now.  

Do I enjoy living here amid palm trees?  Of course I do.  It is a wonderful place to retire. Those skills I talked about haven't disappeared though. They're just dormant. 

So, every year about now, seeing the calendar and that approaching date in the middle of November triggers certain connections in my brain. I feel then the need to briefly return to Michigan in spirit. 

I remember the year Lee and I both shot deer that weighed within two pounds of one another. He wrote an article for a hunting/gun magazine comparing how the different rifles and bullets we had each used had performed in harvesting almost identical deer.  

I remember Mike's woodcock-breast appetizers before one hunting-season dinner, and how Kim enjoyed joining Jeanne and McKenzie in wearing their "Shoots Like a Girl" t-shirts.  

And I remember Fred and McKenzie providing our 'opening-day eve' dinner each year. It was always something new and delicious.  

Jeanne and I are fortunate to have lived such a remarkable life.  And now, I get to share our present life with all of you, via these posts, and once in a while, just a bit of our old life as well.  Thanks for your interest.       -djf