Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 p.m. in "The City."

I am going to eschew my regular format with just a few exceptions, as we did a lot in one short day on Monday. We have a current temperature of 35° under clear skies. Tomorrow, Tuesday, our high is forecast to reach 39°, also under clear skies. That's after the sun rises @ 7:38 a.m. and before it sets @ 8:04 p.m.

Since I had a dental appointment in Holland, I asked Mary to drive while I enjoyed the scenery. Holland is home to many tourist attractions, but also home to many places that are not touristy in nature, but which are enticing to photographers. One of those tourist attractions is Holland's world famous Windmill Island Gardens, home to an original working Dutch windmill named "De Zwaan" (the Swan) brought over from the Netherlands in 1964.

Mary took this photo out the window of our Jeep™

The windmill, which reaches 125 feet from the ground to the top of the blades, towers over 36 acres of gardens, dikes, canals and picnic areas.  Since windmills are protected in the European Holland, it took three years of negotiations with the Dutch government to allow for the windmill to be disassembled and brought to Holland, MI for reassembly in 1964 to honor the many settlers of Dutch ancestry that called Holland, MI home. A side note, this windmill was used as a location to spot enemy aircraft as they flew over Holland and some of its original blades were bullet riddled.

We took many pictures of the windmill and its surroundings in spite of the fact that the park is currently closed for the season and won't reopen until April 29th.

Good perspective with people in the foreground of the 125' tall windmill in the background

A small bird just outside the windmill's entrance.

Many Canada Geese call Windmill Island home.

You must cross this bridge to get to the windmill.

As noted, Canada Geese feel right at home.

We actually began our photographic safari at Kollen Park, not too far from our dentist's office. We were able to get shots of the nearby power plant and other "Industrial" facilities nearby.

A power plant, I believe.

Nice to take pictures of this facility, but I don't know what its function actually is.

A better view, I think.

There is something about an unused  playground during the off-season that fascinates me.

Once we left Kollen Park, we managed to get just lost enough on the way home to get some great industrial shots of a recycling facility that has been in Holland for over 100 years! This facility is named for its founder, Louis Padnos, a Russian immigrant who came to Holland, MI in 1905 as a teenager and after a stint as a dry goods peddler, founded what is now the Louis Padnos Iron and Metal Co. and Recyclers.

I especially liked this shot of the facility because it shows how nature is reclaiming the building. The shadows add some nice qualities too.

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From just across the street, you can see the yard in action as they recycle metals, plastics, paper and electronics.

Much the same.

Since Mary was driving, I was able to take several shots of the Consumers Power generating station and its cooling stack as we drove. Here are a few, including the one below that Mary shot when we parked alongside the road as we headed home.

A nice shot of the steam from the power plant's cooling tower.

Same here, but much closer.

In the summer and winter "peak power" periods, these railroad tracks are filled with what seems like miles of hopper cars carrying coal to the insatiable power plant.

As you can see, not many are present right now.

So, that is a chronicle of our day in words and pictures. We had often seen the signs for Windmill Gardens, but had never visited. We think that although the island was not open, yet, the lack of people on the island allowed us to get some pictures that did not have to wait for them to move. Ciao.