Musings

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.

Posted at 10:02 PM | Comments Off on Windy, rainy, humid…

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).

Posted at 10:02 PM | Comments Off on In the swamp

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

Posted at 9:16 PM | Comments Off on It did get sunny

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..

Posted at 9:07 PM | Comments Off on Critters and their context

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 | Comments Off on Setting: topography

Yesterday we left idyllic lake-side life, scented with Canadian wildfire smoke, to arrive in clear skies and no nearby open water.

We abandoned lilacs and lupin, and now breathe the sweet scent of gardenias. BTW, the temp here is 80°F, with the AC running, while up north it’s 62°F and my cousin has a fire in the fireplace.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Latitude change

This is about the pink and the perspective. Sunshine would have been nice—too overcast for it early-ish this morning.

See…fishermen under overcast and (presumed smoke) haze.

Posted at 10:06 PM | Comments Off on Overcast, two ways

The rain overnight stopped by morning, leaving the lake three inches higher, the rain barrel full…

…and the orchard and field vegetation tipped over from the weight of the moisture. [BTW, this is the lupin cluster that a deer nipped the other day.]

We attended a hearing that began at 9am in a county courtroom, presided over by a judge who was over in Sault Ste. Marie (because, we heard, all the county’s judges owned land on our lake, or had loved ones who did, so had to recuse]. The topic was the county getting in compliance with state law about managing our lake levels. Most attendees were more concerned about the actual lake levels than the legal issues; many wanted the levels to be higher later in the fall to facilitate fishing by sportspeople using very large (IMHO, aka relatively deep draft) watercraft.

The upshot was: the county needs to get in compliance, which means the legal lake levels are the issue—and so the judge ruled (if I properly understood what happened).

By the end of the day, it was sunny and pleasant, but the air quality seemed reduced—distant views are somewhat obscured by moisture and/or smoke particles, or perhaps even the arrival of Saharan dust.

Posted at 10:03 PM | Comments Off on A different day

The on-shore wind was pretty strong all day, kicking up waves.

Nevertheless, these dandies managed to hold their fluff-n-seeds, and keep them from sailing away.

Around 6:30pm rain rolled in. Now, the rain barrel is nearly full (after just having a skim of water on half the bottom), and it’ll be overflowing before midnight. This is very good, as things were getting far too dry.

Posted at 10:11 PM | Comments Off on Windy day

I didn’t anticipate any more photos of the lupin pair that I’ve posted several times, until I saw them this morning en route to the beach this morning. Nipped in the bud. Or almost the bud. By deer, I’m sure.

Also deer-nibbled: apple branches that were low enough for the herbivores to reach in the winter starvation times.

At the beach, the water level has dropped since we arrived, but it’s still waaaaay too high IMHO.

Orchard view: petals are dropping, and leaves continue emerging, so that the petal-white is becoming overwhelmed. Still pretty, lovely, and wonderful, however.

Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments Off on Nibbled &more