Musings

You can look at the early sun…

…and you can turn around and see what it’s lighting up.

Here’s late-day low-angle sun backlighting a rhubarb leaf.

It’s only right to celebrate the sun on the longest day of the year.

Posted at 9:12 PM | No Comments »

I offer another attempt at capturing subtleties of the rising sun—less successful, yet with some unexpected details.

In the afternoon, I undertook a chore using a tool borrowed from our kind neighbor. I used it to prune wayward branches higher than I could reach from the ground. It has an extending handle, and the business end has a saw and a slicing mechanism activated by a rope, both VERY sharp and VERY effective. [Note that the plug-in hybrid is being charged…there’s no electricity in the garage, hence the temporary location by the cottage.]

Posted at 8:50 PM | No Comments »

Lovely early sun…

…and pretty at the beach a bit later….

This busy bumbler was diving-for-apples head-dunking in these blossoms, one after the other. Despite multiple shots, I didn’t get a total head-immersion shot…but this’ll do.

Posted at 10:08 PM | No Comments »

Drippy-rainy morning, with pink lupines…

…and aging dandelion blossoms….

Bonus: looking back west from the point, plus the foggy far shore.

A lighter moment with milkweeds budding [already]…

And, with more light, mayflies on the cottage door. [Not shown: seagulls swooping to snap up mayflies-in-motion.

Posted at 9:07 PM | No Comments »

The morning fog thickened after I took this, but I was bizzzeeee inside, so you’ll have to imagine what a later shot would have been like.

I like that the forget-me-nots have flowers on the ends and what the botanical types describe as tulip-shaped pods that contain the seeds along the stems. Anyway, I enjoy the flowers with the pods…togetherness?

Posted at 9:18 PM | No Comments »

Pink lupine, but you knew that.

Blue-purple lupine, with bumbler, with orange-red pollen.

I labelled this “mystery tracks,” then I checked the magic AI/online ID system, which indicates they’re raccoon.

In ATL, peonies were at this stage in early April, so over two months ago. That’s what latitude can do to plants!

We had an errand on the other side of the lake. We’re not motorboat-across people, so we drove around. On the way back we stopped at this new wheelchair-accessible structure for fishing, but we just looked at the water and surrounds. In the foreground, you may be able to pick out red foliage in the grass. That’s the remnants of the poison ivy that used to blanket the area before they dumped all the gravel, etc., here, and made modifications.

And here’s the lazy creek, with a promise of fish, if you read the signs.

Posted at 7:19 PM | No Comments »

A few minutes before the sun crested the trees….

Using the spotlight filter in full sun on a fern frond….

The fading sun turns the lupine blooms into jewels….

Posted at 8:37 PM | No Comments »

My sweetie took me out to lunch at our favorite place in Manistique. I like it because I can order a whitefish dinner (with salad bar that includes…tahdah…pickled beets…yum) and The Guru likes it because he can order an all-day omelette.

We lunched out because the morning weather was overcast and damp, and not good for mowing, which is almost always (and in this case) Job#1 upon cottage arrival. As the afternoon went on, the wind dried the grass (mostly), and the sun came out—yay. And we mowed about half of the grass—not the total grass, but the grass that we mow. …honoring (AKA bowing to) the tyranny of mowing….

Posted at 8:18 PM | No Comments »

Clouds #1.

Clouds #2.

Overcast at the bridge, but not threatening as it appears.

Jetsam.

Approaching sunset.

Posted at 10:01 PM | No Comments »

How many marketing whizzes does it take to come up with a silly name for a fruit with a blotchy rind?

Posted at 10:37 PM | No Comments »