Musings

This was a sunny afternoon five days ago. I’m over a thousand miles south of this beach, no lakes or sandy shores nearby. I’m torn about relocating, but quite glad to no longer be on the road. 😅

Posted at 8:09 PM | 2 Comments »

We had maybe eight cars in front of us at the toll booth. We could see the northbound traffic going on and on. The back up started at the very top of the brige, and by the density of traffic we saw south of there, it backed up further within just a short time. Soooo glad we were southbound.

But why so much traffique? Model change-over?

This Ohio slow-down must have just happened before we got to it. I saw one vehicle and one person (neither looking damaged, although the car was pointed north and had a soft rear tire, oops) standing outside it talking to cops and firefighters. I wasn’t rubber-necking, though, mind you. 😉

Note the general haziness in the bridge picture (high, thin smoke?), and the pretty darned clear sky in the second photo…further south in Ohio, after dark, we came upon wet pavement, and these drippy roses in a rest area (obv: evidence of rain).

That’s it. I’m going to avail myself of the easy upload using my phone hotspot…such efficiency! 😎

We’ve been seeing lots of fireworks as we continue south toward KY…several towns were having strawberry festivals, but not in Dayton or Cincinnati. Curious. 🤩

Posted at 10:05 PM | No Comments »

This morning’s murky sky was from moisture; in fact, it may well be raining across the lake, as the trees there are scarcely visible. BTW, this log was out in knee-deep water yesterday—shows the power of breaking waves.

These bushes are heavy with blossoms, denser than we remember from previous years. Of course, the blooms additionally are heavy with rain accumulation. I can’t remember what The Botanist called them; with a little help from plant recognition software, I’m pretty sure they are Kolkwitzia amabilis, beautybush to everyday folk.

Posted at 9:32 PM | No Comments »

The storm the other day brought this lupin down across the path, and my eye was caught by the complex patterns in in the blossoms.

I can’t know, of course, but perhaps when I stopped to take this picture the seed tick I found inside my elbow a couple hours later crawled onto me…ick. I quickly removed it, then took a shower with lots of soaping, followed by a complete towel scrubbing.

Posted at 9:11 PM | No Comments »

Down on the beach during my morning stroll, I could see these dips in the under-sand filled with I-dunno-what, but they are deer tracks, pretty sure.

On the exposed sand, I have been seeing tracks like this for years and wondered what critter made them, with unsolved confusion. Today, perhaps, I had a break-through: not raccoon, but skunk? Going with skunk.

Up in the orchard above the beach, these bent lupins are evidence of lodging by a storm several days back. The plants have adjusted to present to the sun-sky, hence the bends.

Posted at 9:35 PM | No Comments »

Last summer, roughly midsummer as I recall, we were leaving and I had two green onions that were somewhat scruffy, and not worth transporting 1K miles, so I stuck them in the garden mound. One disappeared, but this one is thriving, in bloom, even.

Posted at 10:07 PM | No Comments »

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).

Posted at 9:55 PM | No Comments »

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.

Posted at 10:06 PM | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »