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I am once more asking you to bear with me and look at photographs as I don't have the time to write things. Please enjoy the Potter Park Zoo Wonderland of Lights from ten months ago.

A peek inside one of the large animal veterinary buildings. I'm sure that you, as I, would really like to rub your back against that big brush.

Skating bear illuminations, much like ones we see at the Crossroads Village lights display.

A gazebo with its own lights. This looks out over an actual if small pond that was frozen over.

See? Pond both small and frozen.

The twin swans illuminations, which have been around forever and in a series of new locations.

This is the bottom of the curtain of vertically hung strands of light. I love how the loose ends form these pools of color. The horizontal strand in front is a couple feet off the ground, there to discourage people going up to the wall of light.

One of those illuminated swans with trail lights around them.

Corvid Corner is a new thing but I think you'd all agree you'd like to hang out there.

Here's another portal of light ready to engage and whisk you off to an alternate universe.

bunnyhugger getting a close-up picture of a couple trees heavily wrapped up to about what a tall guy could reach without a ladder.

Construction of the new Polehenge is looking good.

And here's a couple illuminated deer/reindeer that are looking good.

Trivia: In 1403 King Taejong of Korea initiated the printing of the country's laws using copper plates in the printing press. Source: A Place For Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order, Judith Flanders.

Currently Reading: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Adam Higginbotham.

Way, way too much time doing things today; it's anyone's guess whether I'll even have this dozen photos wrapping up our final visit to Marvin's. Only one way to be sure!

King Cobra, once again not operating. I'm not sure when's the last time I got to stare down a robot snake.

That somewhat mysterious big head advertising Big Marvin's Used Furniture.

Marvin's Marvelous Monkey Band, which some of the old signs mention as an attraction. I don't know when's the last time it ever did anything. Nor what the Zoolympics With Sparky are all about.

Cartoon renditions of some of the animatronics they have on display ... say, I wonder if that's that lounge-singer hippo who's there for the adults?

Big Boy and Tattooed Woman. Plus a really big boot for some reason. The Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze was their fifth motion picture, featuring the classic team-up of Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe DeRita.

Finally, a decent shot of the Vibratory Doctor who is not electric but is pleasant.

bunnyhugger hanging around with Pinball Row.

A wooden chain that the sign claims Marvin's great-granddaddy carved out of a 48-foot-long piece of wood. Believe it ... or not?

bunnyhugger and I finally did leave, though, closing out our final visit to this place.

Last look back at the people inside playing pinball.

My car, all alone, I mean except for ...

Marvin's truck, ready to deliver bemusements and whatnot to you. And that, my friends, was Marvin's, Farmington Hills.

Trivia: From 1894 to 1897 the National League played a best-of-seven postseason contest for the Temple Cup, between the first- and second-place teams of the (twelve-team) league. All four series were decided in five or fewer games. Also each series included the Baltimore Orioles. Source: A Game of Inches: The Story Behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball, Peter Morris. Morris also noted the second-place team won three of the four matchups, making people wonder if the regular season penant meant anything.

Currently Reading: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Adam Higginbotham.

Saturday we hoped to do a couple fun things. mystee was going to be in the area and we'd hoped to meet up sometime, but finding a date and time we'd be free was hard. But there was already a furry meetup planned for that day, first at an orchard/cider mill we'd never heard of before, and then going over to The Arcade in Brighton. This seemed like a good destination to mystee and to us as well and we figured to get together then.

So it won't surprise you that we got off late to this get-together we wanted to attend with a friend we haven't seen in ages. I should have asked when to set an alarm for before going to bed the night before but I didn't, and we got started later than we should, and slower than we should because somehow we forgot the whole world is construction anymore. Also we had to park farther from the cider mill than we expected.

Happily, finding furries was no real problem, and mystee and her posse were almost as easy. There were a lot of regular people delighted to see strange mascots wandering around the midst of an already busy, cheerful day at a packed cider mill. It was in the 70s and rain was forecast for sometime much later in the day, so everyone in eastern Michigan was there.

So we settled in and had some cider and some mill^W doughnuts, and talked a fair bit, especially about all the interesting things there were to see and do around here. We did none of them, because almost on the dot as we finished our cider and doughnuts the storm clouds we had all agreed looked like rain in a couple hours turned out to be lots of rain right now, right on us, and we fled for our cars. This proved to be a mistake as the rain was only pouring for a couple minutes and by the time we were in the car, spongee-ing off my coati tail and bunnyhugger's jackalope costume it had settled to a gentler mist. We'd have done better to stay under cover, if there were nearly enough for crowds like were there.

But this broke up the cider mill gathering, right about at the 3:00 that we were supposed to go over to The Arcade anyway. We cursed ourselves, me lighter than bunnyhugger, for getting there so late, especially after we learned that mystee wasn't going to go to the Arcade after all.

So at The Arcade while we knew Vix who was there we didn't know hardly anybody, which didn't stop people from coming up to admire bunnyhugger's costume, including one guy at the supermarket next door where we parked and who didn't know there were furries in the area, cool. (A smaller number of people admired my tail, which was of course a gift from bunnyhugger.) This wasn't bad, particularly, although it was very loud and crowded. We were able to work out the rules for a couple objectives for an upcoming pin-golf tournament bunnyhugger is running --- watch this space --- and to play the Pinball Brothers' new game Abba, which was fun but prone to draining, like, a lot.

The day ended up short of what we'd hoped it would be, but at least driving home we got to see lightning tearing the sky open, which was very exciting to drive though.

Now, some more pictures of Marvin's from our farewell visit.

CST collecting his second trophy of the night, for Jaws. Ah, but who would win the third and final, The Uncanny X-Men?

Wait a second ... me? I won it? ... Oh yeah! (The 2nd there is the playing order; I pick second when I have the chance. My score is the highest.)

Old furnace clock that I noticed for the first time on the floor between the Venom and Deadpool tables.

And a Popeye the Sailor clock I've seen many times before. I don't know why his shirt is white except maybe to give the center something to look at.

Peering slightly upward at the coin-op merry-go-round and some of the many planes in the area. Also another copy of that Mickey Mouse candy factory where turtles are covered in chocolate and sent out as food.

Warning sign for the merry-go-round that seems like it could use one more - mark. Also some of the coin ops, like the teddy bears at the center bottom, or the 'Love Shack' cherub nearby it.

Trivia: The inaugural broadcast of WLW's 500,000 Watt transmitter on 2 May 1934 was officially turned on at 9:03 pm by President Franklin Roosevelt in the White House, tapping the same golden telegraph key that Wilson had used to signal the opening of the Panama Canal. Source: Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation, Rusty McClure with David Stern and Michael A Banks. It took a long while for the tubes to warm up to that much power and they were still warming up when Roosevelt hit his key.

Currently Reading: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Adam Higginbotham.

Got waylaid by things today, including sleeping in a whole lot, so I'm afraid you'll have to make do with pictures instead of stories. Sorry.

And now, some Marvin's'ception: pictures in Marvin's of Marvin's.

Here's a picture of Marvin's from when Tally Hall was still its thing.

Old advertising poster for Marvin's at Tally Hall, with the promise of bemusement. They didn't have any one-armed bandits at any time we ever visited the place, not even non-working ones.

bunnyhugger getting a photo of the Cardiff Giant, and a view from the back of the redemption counter all the way to, if you look just above bunnyhugger's head, the pinball machines.

Oh yeah, and the sign explaining just what this Cardiff Giant was about.

Some small signs near the snack counter.

And a Mutoscope, this one I think with the footage of the Hindenburg crash.

Looking up from there, the Matt Groening autograph and the promise of a Penny Arcade.

Tournament still going on; we didn't qualify for the John Wick or the Jaws playoffs so just watched from afar.

CST collecting his first win of the night!

Score sheets and the official spreadsheet recording who was on top.

People playing for fun while the Jaws playoffs were going on, which is why John Wick --- next to Jaws --- is turned off here. Limits the distractions of the players.

Trivia: 67 of the 75 cars which started the 500-mile ``reliability run'' of October 1902 finished it. Only one of the seven European cars finished. Source: The King's Best Highway: The Lost History Of The Boston Post Road, The Route That Made America, Eric Jaffe.

Currently Reading: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Adam Higginbotham.

Little that's fresh or exciting for me to share with you today so instead you get a bunch of pictures of Marvin's from our December visit, the last time we saw the place.

The entrance to the place, promising nothing nicer anywhere. Unfortunately the night photography always washes out the colors of the Marvin's sign.

Final operating hours and the promise that they'll be reopening in a couple months at a new location not too far away.

The pinball game playfields on top of the entrance vestibule.

And looking back at the exit. Note how they use electric meters that might even have done anything as a way to appeal to you to just give them some money for nothing particular.

Some kid's plea to the place.

Lollipop-style scale that the signage explains never really got much use, however popular they might be in cartoons and movie comedies. Too embarrassing having your weight where everyone could read. Also, a Dance Dance Revolution game that I believe warned it wasn't legal to operate in the United States. Don't tell!

Pinball Row in its final configuration.

Simpsons sign written out and signed by Matt Groening, I assume on a visit but who can say what really happened?

Our last visit was for a triple launch party, everyone getting to put up their best score on three tables (X-Men, Jaws, and John Wick) and the best players of those going on to finals. Here's a screen showing the standings as they were when we arrived.

Revenge From Mars, one of the two Pinball 2000 games. My high score was still on it, which is astounding because I set this score before the pandemic began.

Brooklyn Academy of something with some cartoon art of a guy being way too zany in how he fires the Bam! Flag gun.

More signs, here one for Tally Hall and what seems to be an old design for the Marvin's logo.

Trivia: The National Institute of Standards and Technology's refernce sample #4351, powdered radioactive human lung, was created form seventy kilograms of human lung donated by Los Alamos National Laboratory employees. Source: Beyond Measurement: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants, James Vincent.

Currently Reading: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Adam Higginbotham.

So, the good news: the Lansing City County unanimously voted this week to declare us an ``LGBTQ+ Welcoming City'', passing a resolution condemning all violence, harassment, or intimidation against the community and reaffirming the right for everyone to live freely and safely in the city. It's also resolved to protect gender-affirming care, to prohibit the use of city resources to interfere with people seeking that care, and to develop pro-LGBTQ+ ordinances and policies. It's a good declaration, the sort of thing you need to be a healthy community.

The bad news is why they were moved to make such a resolution, even past the criminal behavior of the disgraced national government. I'm hiding that behind a cut because you can imagine what might have gone on, but not why it's something that comes to me specifically.

But, a small and better thing now. One of the members of our pinball league had been changing into dresses partway through, or after, the night, and this past week asked the league standings to reflect their new name, going from a male-coded to a female-coded name. Yeah, no trouble; it wasn't any work updating the spreadsheet for that, and calling her by the new name when drawing up groups for the night. And, goodness, but she was so grateful that we could be normal about this. It feels great right up until you examine why someone would think it worth saying how nice it is you call them by what they say is their name.

We're now getting into late November in photos and you know what that means: the eating holidays!

We had Thanksgiving at bunnyhugger's parents', so I'm sharing fewer pictures than usual to not give out too much of their lives like this. But here's the spread as we were getting ready for dinner. You understand why we brought A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I forget why we brought the disc of 70s Charlie Brown specials, though. Maybe to have a backup copy of Thanksgiving.

Dinner started with potatoes!

Back home, Athena was curious what all this fuss was about.

She looks good loafing on the ground.

Or maybe she's decided there's something else she wants to do?

Yes: she wants to get underneath the sofa. She did not at this moment, nor for a while to come, but it's in her thoughts.

Trivia: ``Inane'' first appeared in English around 1662 as a serious term meaning ``empty, void'', as in the formless void of space; the word was borrowed from the Latin inānis ``empty, useless'', and often used as a noun meaning ``infinite space'' that century. Source: Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning, Sol Steinmetz.

Currently Reading: American Scientist, July - August 2025, Editor Fenella Saunders.

The dye that we hoped might help us tell the brown mice apart has worn off, so we're back to thinking one of them kind of looks bigger than the other so that's going to tell us which is which? Maybe it'll be more obvious as we have more time with them.

Meanwhile Crystal, the elder mouse, I watched monkeying around climbing the wire mesh of their cage so she's at least feeling young yet.

That's not a lot to say about what's going on today so please take a double helping of pictures from the Silver Bells Electric Light Parade.

Hager Fox, which does heating and air conditioning, was one of multiple floats to have a Grinch.

And here's the big inflatable Hager Fox!

And here's a festival queen of something or other with plenty of lights around.

The giant rotating head of Ransom E Olds watches the crowd.

And then here's a Wizard of Oz float for whoever did that.

The slippers seem bigger than they appear on-screen.

And this robotty figure is somehow tied to ZapZone, which the pinball map tells me is the nearest place to play the Hot Wheels pinball machine.

Here's eternal favorites the Petoskey Steel Drum Band moving in! You can tell I took a video because the aspect ratio is changed here.

Now imagine this picture but the whole truck is bouncing up and down with the beat.

A small flurry blows through and does nothing to impair anything but maybe one picture of the night.

Sad to say Metro Lansing's only got the one roller derby team but at least it has a purple roller skate float.

And here's a glowing cow. I think this is the one for local convenience store chain Quality Dairy.

Trivia: Señor Wences performed as a juggler until the management of his theater (the Casino Theatre in Buenos Aires) decreed that only acts not requiring musical accompaniment could appear, so he adapted a ventriloquy routine he had last performed in school eighteen years before. Source: The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, Anthony Slide. He'd picked up juggling as a way to rebuild his hand strength after a bullfighting accident.

Currently Reading: BBC History, July 2025. Editor Rob Attar.