Friday, September 06, 2013

Pretty good, I think

These are some musings from a Labor Day drive I took with my daughter who now has her learner's permit and needs to log 50 hours of driving before she turns 16 so she can get her driver's license.   I realize I didn't do a Queen Anne's lace poem this year, as I have often done in the past, and the long-legged lacy flowers are all but gone for the season.
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Replaced by golden rods with their yellow tassels waving in the wind, Queen Anne has rolled the last of her lace into tight balls as if to be stored in the bottom drawer of a dresser.  The top leaves of the beans are also turning yellow and the corn is drying as the farmers make their final cut of hay

“Take a right,” I say, and my daughter flips the blinkers on and slows down to almost a stall before she navigates the turn and picks up speed. 

“How’s that?” she asks.

“Pretty good, but you don’t have to slow down so much.”

The road runs along the river for a bit and at the town of Irving, which is just a cluster of houses void of any commercial interest, we cross the Thornapple at the dam and head northwest, winding around countryside on a Labor Day morning.  She needs hours behind the wheel and I need to look at the countryside, so I direct her around the back way to Freeport, a town a little more prosperous than Irving that sits just north of the Coldwater, a pristine trout stream, or so I’m told as I can’t seem to make time to fish it even though it’s only a dozen miles away.  Then we make our way back toward Hastings and take State Road out to Vermontville, a community that host the annual Maple Syrup festival in early spring and, in keeping with towns in the state from which it was named, sports a whitewashed wooden Congregational Church at the center.   Between Vermontville and Nashville, we cross the Thornapple again, but here it’s just a small stream and only canoeable at high water.

The leaves of sumac in the swamps have turned bright red, and I wonder if it is a warning of what’s ahead.  Even a few of the maples have a splash of color, a good month early.  And the apple trees seemed to be overly blessed as they droop with fruit.  Things are changing; it’ll be an early fall.  Does such a blessing indicate a hard winter?  

“Watch for buggies,” I tell her as we pass a yellow warning sign. 

"I know, Dad.” Her voice is sweet but I’m sure there is an eye roll behind her sunglasses.  But this is Amish Country and one has to be alert to slow moving buggies. 

“Take a left,” I tell her as we approach Nashville.  She signals and slows to a stop at the sign, before turning onto Main Street.   “How’s that?” She asks as we pass the cafĂ© and the bar, the hardware and the grocery store, the playhouse and the old Michigan Central station before turning left for home.  “Pretty good,” I say.

For a while the road follows the Old Michigan Central Grade.  Next year it’ll be thirty years since they removed the track.  On the left a few miles out of Nashville is the Octagon barn, a novelty in these parts.   At places beside the highway are strands of dead ash, waiting for a good winter wind to send them back to an earthly grave that they’ll share with the chestnuts.  We take a left on 37 and drive through town.  It’s time for lunch. 

“How did I do,” she asks as she navigates the driveway around the house.

“Pretty good,” I say. 

 

20 comments:

  1. Ah who can forget those first driving lessons. I did mine in a really rural area and learned better that wat. At least initially. I love Amish buggies! I see them every time I travel back home.

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  2. I love how you wrote this with a calmness throughout that I would have trouble maintaining. We found it prudent to hire a driving school to instruct our daughter. They did a great job and she drives gracefully.

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    1. Oh, she already has had driver's ed, finishing it up early this summer--She has to get 50 hours of driving and then go back for a few more classes before she can get her license--Michigan actually requires a lot to obtain your license before your 18th birthday.

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  3. My daughter will be taking driving lessons in a few years. I'm not looking forward to that - especially in this Atlanta traffic! It sounds like you had a relatively peaceful and scenic ride!

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  4. Sounds like she did just fine. What a lovely day for the two of your. The tree reflection in the water makes gives it a heart-shaped appearance.

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  5. So, let me get this straight. You are training a chauffeur allowing you to view the beauties of the countryside.

    There is quite a difference between those villages/towns. Hastings seems very prosperous. And noseying on google earth in Hastings I've seen a lovely Victorian villa at the junction of E Green St and South Jefferson, across from Jefferson Hall. A gorgeous building. There are a few others that are brilliant too.
    Couldn't find the Octagon, not any Amish for that matter. The google car must have been out on a Sunday.

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    1. Vince, we didn't see any buggies, just the sign for them, but you do occasionally encounter them even in Hastings. I was wrong, the barn wasn't an octagon, but is 12 sided. Here's a link for some pics:

      http://www.dalejtravis.com/barn/michigan/htm/mi00801.htm

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  6. any you can walk away from is good...smiles...ah, for us it is a process of letting go control that goes well beyond just letting them drive...good you are investing in her through this...

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  7. Pretty darn marvelous I'd say. You are a wonderful dad, and what a great way to clock up hours! So very awesome, and your photo is just amazing...I can so feel the water flowing.

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  8. I used to take my son driving when he was quite a little tyke. by the time he was ready to get a permit he was pretty experienced. so maybe I did something right.

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  9. Lovely write up, Sage :) In Europe driver's education is mandatory ... at least 18 hours of city, 1 night drive and I Autobahn ... plus theory in class and written test ... I failed the practical test x2 ... but have been "petty good" for the last 40 years :)

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  10. What a lovely drive! And it's lovely you got to view the scenery for a change. Sounds like a beautiful area.

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  11. It's nice that you are able to relax and take in the scenery. Not every parent can sit back and enjoy the ride. :)

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  12. Loved, loved this post. It reminds me of when I taught both my children how to ride a bicycle. I guess the next step is teach them how to drive a car. You're already there! :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  13. Sage: There is a certain freedom that comes along with a Drivers License and this wonderful post took me back to the experience of earning my own!

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  14. Delightful post. Enjoy these times with your daughter. They're darned precious.

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  15. Great post! I loved the running narrative on the countryside of that area.

    That was the most pleasant father/daughter driving experience I've heard of.
    we have five kids and the experience was different with each of them (4 girls, 1 boy). The boy was easy. With one of the girls, it was closer to war. With one of the others, it was easy because apparently, she had been driving her boyfriends car illegally for quite some time. The other two were okay. I want to teach my granddaughter how to drive. I think we'd have a good experience.

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  16. Now it is onto four on the floor (or three on the tree) and clutch action.

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  17. And you didn't even have to press the invisible brake pedal in the passenger side floorboard? I'd say that is pretty good then. I still remember my first driving lessons, first around the back yard, then on the new four-lane they were putting through which hadn't opened to traffic yet. Those are good memories. Good on you for writing them down.

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  18. Wow. You seem to have more patience than my dad did. I gave up on the first day and just limited my driving with my mom. Granted, I kept hitting the curb when turning the full sized Ford Econoline van to the right but your truck is probably a similar length.

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