Musings

We left all this loveliness today…my mother’s bell collection (do not know why bells), a painting by The Guru’s mom, and a painting by the local physician ca. 1960. His grandson is now a town doc…unless he’s retired now, too, like his dad-doc. I can’t keep up.

We zoomed high above this freighter…strange light, moderate waves, kinda windy on the bridge.

Long day…now behind us as we relax in a nameless hotel by another lake. Waiting for winter, ready or not. Truth: we’re readier than we were.

Posted at 7:30 PM | No Comments »

I went out to see the dawn, and found a skim of ice on the barrel en route. Love low-angle sunlight.

And, as I slipped under this branch to capture the brilliant orange light, I found this abandoned home. I looked closer, and found well over a dozen more. I don’t know if they were made by friend or foe.

Got in one final walk. I’ll remember this view often over the months to come.

Posted at 6:42 PM | No Comments »

Am I drawn to contrasts as I take photographs every day…

…or are contrasts just an inherent component of many pairs of photos?

Ladies and gentlemen, damas y caballeros, children and caballos—we have here: day and night. Pretty darned big contrast, ¿no?

Yes, at that moment the darkening sky was that blue…but the haziness is I think due to an imperfect focus rather than natural mist or haziness.

Posted at 7:46 PM | No Comments »

This makes it clear why our ancestors named them white-tailed deer. And to the right out of this frame, two more groups totaling about this number again. The groups should be heading north into the swamp soon—most of them anyway….

I managed to be down at the beach when the sun almost came out for the day. Thankfully the rain we’ve been having has not brought up the lake level noticeably.

Posted at 7:57 PM | No Comments »

Early on, we had sun and plenty of blue in the skies. [I had hope.]

Not for long.

Indeed, when I walked mid-day, I experienced wan sunshine, constant wind, a few droplets now and then—constant changeup. In a further mystery, I had wind in my face going west and going north…pleasant (relatively speaking) that the return leg was southbound.

First photo: normal lens; second: wide (aka very wide).

Posted at 6:14 PM | No Comments »

Oh, my, was I excited when I got up and there was no wind blowing. And the sun came out. Double yay!

By afternoon, however, the sun left and the wind returned.

By the end of my walk, the wind remained and the sun toyed with my emotions.

And now, Gentle Reader, the sky is grey and we hear thunder. Thank you, Upper Peninsula Weather, for keeping me alert.

Posted at 5:30 PM | No Comments »

Around here, we have fields and forest plots and swamps…and…beauty. These colors are a tad distorted, an improvement on the grey day we lived through. But, also a real truth. The leaf colors are changing.

I tromped up the hill by this farm, walking fast (ish), trudge, trudge—pushing my pace, and this odd sound, dogs growl-barking, penetrated my stride-based concentration. I moved my mental focus to the sounds, and…hmm, ohh, ahh, what dogs? No dogs…. Oh, and I figured it out: the spinning windvane, fighting the breeze to generate its own gyrating metal grating tune, greeeech, aaach (over and over, with slight variations)—no dogs, only metal-on-metal creaking, screetching drama.

Posted at 9:08 PM | No Comments »

Arose this morning to outdoor temps so low we had frost on the roof, although not on the grass (…small favors). We are clearly in autumn, yet winter is making a reminder-bid.

Had laid a fire in the wood stove (really a coal stove repurposed) last evening, so fired it up when I came downstairs. Soon the place was warm, and I’ve kept a small fire going all day. We’ve been toasty!

Afoot during my afternoon walk, these two didn’t notice me for quite a while; I was downwind and not moving much. I was interested that the fawn saw me first and jumped, which mom noticed, then looked around to see why. And they both turned tail and leapt back to the field on the right, where a half-dozen of their buds were grazing.

Posted at 5:08 PM | No Comments »

When I realized that deer families are single moms with fawns, I also realized that these Mama/Papa/fawn yard ornament groups are marketed to people who know no better. Or don’t care: they’re CUUUUUUte!

This trio is so old, and must have inhabited this or another sheltered environ for so long, that they have accumulated sizable lichen colonies. Poetic?

The color in the treeline in the distance was far more stunning than here; I couldn’t get the program to make them pop (meaning: I don’t know what I’m doing).

Posted at 6:32 PM | No Comments »

For today’s big outdoor adventure we walked through a woods…

…by a creek…burble, burble…

And popped out of the wilderness to see A Big, Huge Lake!

Sooooo gorgeous. The water was so clear. Along the shore, it was beige-ish through the blue water tint, then further out: trending to aqua…then almost midnight blue way out where it’s deep. Fantastic color graduation. With breaking waves. And SSSSUUUUUNNNNNshine!

Then, we retraced our route to return to the trailhead; no loop possible (without walking an impossible gajillion miles).

Posted at 9:31 PM | No Comments »