Musings

I went to the beach to see the sunrise, and caught the post-rise glow…over a slightly roily lake. It’s been at least a day of the lake being in motion, and that changes the microbiome…I found ten large leeches while walking the beach cast ashore by the relentless turbulence, and snagged them each with a stick and tossed each in the woods. Me and the wind: altering the microbiome.

Returning to the cottage to make coffee, I spotted the sun illuminating a lupin that’s already displaying fuzzy pods.

Since today was to be hothothot, even more than yesterday, we decided to visit the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes, the S of HOMES. This is the flag display standing at attention in the south (offshore) wind at Grand Marais…the Michigan one.

At the end of the peninsula bracketing Grand Marais’s bay, we walked out toward the lighthouse. This is looking west along the beach…you can see there’s some overcast obscuring the distant dunes. Indeed, several times at the cottage, we’ve smelled a touch of the smoke still being generated up in Canada.

We drove west to the mouth of Hurricane River, one of our favorite stops. The offshore wind means the biting stable flies are epic in the quiet air, so we didn’t hike to the Au Sable Lighthouse as we typically do.

We spotted this pair of Amanitas adjacent to the along-the-beach path aka the North Country Trail…and (haha) unaffected by the biting flies…. Not so, the two of us. Back on the road, we turned up the fan to discourage the biting flies that followed us into the car…they head for the windows and the ankles…and they are per-SIS-tent (ouch; their bite is sharp).

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The predicted heat streak really hit us today. We were lucky, however, as the windiness tempered the heat (to some degree 🤣). I thought this barrel reflection did a good job of showing the turmoil in the sky. I truly enjoyed my 4:30pm dip in the not-so-warm lake.

It may get down to 69°F tonight, so tomorrow will be another hot one.

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We had rain in the wee hours, then an overcast dawn-time, then a break. In that relative calm, the gulls wheeled around the cottage, then landed and strutted in the grass. They were looking for fishflies, I suspect…’tis their time of a feeding frenzy.

I found this boletus on my way to the beach during the calm.

The lake wasn’t as wavy as I expected.

As I returned to the cottage, the wind kicked up and tipped over the lupins this way and that, when some were already bent by the overnight storminess.

Late in the afternoon, the sun came out and it got relatively warm, while still steamy. The high was 79°F, I think, so lower than predicted (we’re supposed to have an overheated weekend), because of how the overcast, etc. played out. I doubt we’ll have such relief tomorrow.

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We took a wee side trip to stare into Tahquamenon River, way in the upper reaches…I estimate only some 15% of the catchment is upstream of this spot—for whatever it’s worth. 😉

We found four of these spell-binding swallowtails (if you can tolerate butterflies) flitting about on the boat launch apron next to the bridge.

The Guru calls it Take-Home-A-Sac (sarcastic harhar).

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We found the darkest purple lilacs I remember ever seeing, which we found on the Seul Choix lighthouse grounds.

There’s the light, with the keeper’s home to the left. [Apologies for the exaggerated keystoning.]

It’s on a point that projects out in the M of HOMES.

Contrast that with “our” lake. That’s a round rock (perhaps/probably rounded by humans, and thus an artifact) atop a binnacle. Because of this weighty binnacle that was on/near our beach, that word was part of the vocabulary of the kids who grew up in my generation on this property, and probably would not otherwise have been familiar with the term. Now, why there was a binnacle of this scale here, I do not know, because it’s way too large for a ship/boat on this lake, but not for one a HOMES lake.

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My eyes are loving the lupin these days. Meet pink-top.

Here’s a range of purple-blues, all with white accents.

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On my post-coffee beach walk, I saw wee rollers coming in, not feverishly, but unmistakably.

I had to post this photo with the colorful lupins and serendipitous OOF* seagull.

Back in the garden, I flipped open a discarded rhubarb leaf, and discovered a pair of slugs. Yup, they’re gross. But, still: nature data.

* OOF = out of focus

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During my morning beach stroll, I spotted these offspring freeloading on mom’s back as she cruised away from a potential threat—meeeee.

Then, up in the field, I spotted ears above the lupin (just right of center in this shot), which resolved into a doe watching me. She never moved beyond keeping her focus on me as I walked here and there, then departed. I figured she didn’t move because she was by her fawn. [Just a few minutes ago, we saw a doe-(very young) fawn combo in the orchard, which could have been this postulated pair.]

Tired of mom-stories? Here’s one of my oft-repeated water barrel reflection shots…illustrating our overcast, yet pleasant day..

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Proof of bridge crossing. Also proof that traffic flowed at 45 mph in two lanes each way, as normal. [Ignore bug smears on windshield and assistant photographer’s quirky focus.]

Ah, we’ve returned to the land of rhubarb. I was taught to pull the stem gently yet forcefully (no tugging) away from the crown (the direction varies from “up”), and I didn’t intend to select a leaf that was nurturing a wee leafette—oops. BTW, the sauce was the strongest pink of the year, almost luminous.

Proof that the lupin remain gorgeous, although somewhat disguised since the grass has shot up to full height, sometimes higher than the lupin.

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Look! Mountains are above the trees.

This was taken in the flatlands of old lake-bed northern Ohio, but flatlands are tough to take interesting shots of, so here’s a delicate flower, probably/perhaps a geranium of some sort.

Posted at 8:27 PM | No Comments »