Roselle Park (Early Spring)

(Travelogues--West Michigan)

Roselle Park (Early Spring)

Address: 1010 Grand River Dr NE, Ada, MI 49301

This was a couple weeks before the Spring Equinox, so technically I guess this was late winter.  But it's early March, and it felt like a spring day.

Related Playlists:

Travelogues Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x71JnPJ1gs_uaswSALX-7V9

West Michigan Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4D-0HPmovcbB6cCqlVVGEL&si=IEFmZ3UMgJxI0F4F

Kent County Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5EOMa9ZWDBtdpQFwtlk_ev&si=t8952PnDfrJQTvBY

Ada Township Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4wNsw_zHE0L7HrkSYPaBuV&si=7gzHNdFhq6iauNhe

The newest of the Oldest Stories Podcast is out now.  (For my review of the whole series, see here.)

How the Assyrian Empire Ran When It Wasn’t at War - Oldest Stories Podcast

Started: The Complete Dick Tracy Volume 22

Chief Hazy Cloud Park (Early Spring)

(Travelogues--West Michigan)

Chief Hazy Cloud Park (Early Spring)

Address: 150 Pettis Ave NE, Ada, MI 49301

This was a couple weeks before the Spring Equinox, so technically I guess this was late winter.  But it's early March, and it felt like a spring day.

Related Playlists:

Travelogues Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x71JnPJ1gs_uaswSALX-7V9

West Michigan Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4D-0HPmovcbB6cCqlVVGEL&si=IEFmZ3UMgJxI0F4F

Kent County Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5EOMa9ZWDBtdpQFwtlk_ev&si=t8952PnDfrJQTvBY

Ada Township Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4wNsw_zHE0L7HrkSYPaBuV&si=7gzHNdFhq6iauNhe

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (Rainy day in early spring)

(Travelogues--West Michigan)

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (Rainy day in early spring)

This was a couple weeks before the Spring Equinox, so technically I guess this was late winter.  But it's early March, and it felt like a rainy spring day.

Because it was raining, we didn't get out to see any of the outside grounds.  That will have to be another video for another day.

Address: 1000 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525

Related Playlists:

Travelogues Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x71JnPJ1gs_uaswSALX-7V9

West Michigan Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4D-0HPmovcbB6cCqlVVGEL&si=IEFmZ3UMgJxI0F4F

Kent County Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5EOMa9ZWDBtdpQFwtlk_ev&si=t8952PnDfrJQTvBY

Grand Rapids Township Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x79Aox17VLCjtSAHVSSncgF&si=9rmTlmtg1kEeaqO3

This Week in Booktube: March 8, 2026

(These are the Booktube videos I watched this week. As always, I encourage you also to check out each of the videos I've linked to down below.  Support Booktube.  And let me know what you've watched this past week.)

Google document: docs, pub

Derek Green The inspiration for Conan?

William's Library 'The God Of Small Things' By Arundhati Roy Review

Bucky749 Filmtastic February book tag

Randy Ray BookTube Comment Etiquette

Steve Donoghue March of the Mammoths 2026: The Grass Crown

jim's books reading & stuff What are you reading, Wednesday (42)?

William's Library School Reading Projects

Derek Green Top 5 Books that aren't talked about enough!

Dane Cobain Dane Talks About Race to the Stones

Bucky749 Booktube: TMNT universe: thoughts on NoBobdy

CriminOlly Are reader reviews worthless?

Joseph Francis Burton The Markan Hypothesis - 10

Steve Donoghue March of the Mammoths 2026 Begins: The First Man in Rome!

Derek Green March on the rails. The Railways & The Raj

Frozen: Movie Review

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope: Book Review: https://youtu.be/KTiTXai4eVA

Ruritanian romance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruritanian_romance

This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

https://youtu.be/HgneyXvRI04  

and HERE: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2018/12/vlog-scripted-book-reviews-i-ramble-on.html

In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2014/01/frozen.html

Related Playlists:

Movie Reviews playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6N06WoIoV2fLb6xRYrepTk&si=EDHi2_Y41ACLnCmA

Scripted Movie Reviews playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x49ts8TV1DbXQo8zN_e65us&si=_gzqGAmaz337NVCP

Scripted Reviews Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BKcEIufNKlS58JHU_glyL&si=Pje0KQqIqOgWGGUI

Movies I Saw in 2014 Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4WRnfM_TDQClWj8OOCg9f_&si=Uu6SYX9o1qm1Ndhc

Disney Animated Films Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4bGfYBjBlEYy_drlZaXp5S

7 Stars Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6c43OnKT_AjWtENJ2ixmRC

Noodle Fest 2026: Calder Plaza

(Travelogues--West Michigan)

Noodle Fest 2026: Calder Plaza

Website: https://worldofwintergr.com/event/noodle-fest-2/

Address: 320 Ottawa Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 United States

Related Playlists:

Travelogues Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x71JnPJ1gs_uaswSALX-7V9

West Michigan Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4D-0HPmovcbB6cCqlVVGEL&si=IEFmZ3UMgJxI0F4F

Kent County Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5EOMa9ZWDBtdpQFwtlk_ev&si=t8952PnDfrJQTvBY

Grand Rapids Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x73ypfpMOZfYbKtensuu4B_&si=96WBxbMtcrLrVFp3

 Thanks to Steve for the shout-out in this video (which happens at 11:14)

The comment he's referring to comes from this video...

...in which I said:

I'm actually a big fan of this series myself, although I've long known from your comments that you are not a huge fan.  There's no denying it has it's faults.  The dialogue is not great.  But I was 14 when I first encountered this series, and this was my first time learning about the story of Marius and Sulla and all the rest of them.  I think when you're first encountering these characters and these stories for the first time, the book is a lot more interesting.  And back in the early 90s, before the Internet, I don't know if there was another way I would have encountered these stories.  My school library didn't have any detailed histories on Marius.  Although the plot is all over the place, I think there is an attempt to dramatize history here--the way Marius and Sulla go (in McCullough's version at least) from best friends to bitter rivals struck me as fascinating when I read it.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, I would be remiss not to mention that my friend William also gave me a shout-out this week:  

Epitaph On A Tyrant by W. H. Auden: ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)

Transcript: docs, pub
Video: HERE

Epitaph On A Tyrant by W. H. Auden: poems

Video: https://youtu.be/-BZSUA8oqFQ

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,

And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.