Late summer day at Sleeping Bear Dunes

 

It would be hard to find a road with more spectacular views than that of the Pierce Stocking Drive at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern lower Michigan.  We chose to spend the night on our way home from Lake Superior at this second of the two national lakeshore parks in Michigan.   This was the frosting on the cake of our week on Lake Superior!

Reflections from around the world can be found at this wonderful site: Weekend Reflections. 

Chairs on the terrace at the Shedd

Shades of black, blue and gray dominate the sunny cafe tables and chairs on the terrace of the Shedd Aquarium on downtown Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline.  And only one pigeon!

Lots more shadows to see at Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.

Lake Michigan's reflection

Just a week ago we were sitting in The Abbott Oceanarium*  of the Shedd Aqurium on Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline when I noticed that we could view the lake in front of us and also behind us.
When the show begins,  a rather large curtain drops down to hide the windows on the lake and the dolphins come out to play and delight us.

To see more of the world reflected in a photo, please visit Weekend Reflections brought to you by James and friends.

*"which immerses you in the vibrant coastal ecosystem of beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, sea otters and sea lions. You’ll also find a host of fishes and invertebrates that make their homes where freshwater flows into the ocean or where tides turn seascapes to landscapes and back again each day."

the yellows of summer for ABC Wednesday

 Last round of ABC Wedneday, Y fell in winter,  in January in fact, and I showed you the yellow glow of kitchen lights viewed from the outside on a cold winter day.  Now I take You on a tour of yellows from the warm days of late June on Lake Michigan.

Did I tell you that this western shore of Michigan (the eastern shore of the lake) is called the Third Coast?  The other two coasts may have their New Yorks and Montereys, but our coast has the largest collection of fresh water dunes in the world according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  Learn more about all the shores of Lake Michigan in this Wikipedia article.

EnjoY manY more Y's at ABC WednesdaY.

Searching for j's on a monument

 

There is trinity of J's juxtaposed in this monument to the French explorer, the Rene-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle -- jabot, Joseph. Jesuit.     First, around LaSalle's neck is a jabot, a  piece of lace or cloth, very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Second is Joseph, as in St. Joseph, the patron saint of New France and the name of the town where this bronze plaque is joined to a glacial boulder found in the river of the same name.    And last is Jesuit.  For LaSalle had left the Jesuit order to travel to New France, marry, and become famous as an explorer.  About that jabot -- did he wear it as he sailed through the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes and down the St. Joseph River.

This monument is on the shores of Lake Michigan, just a couple blocks south of the St. Joseph River which divides the two towns of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor in the southwest corner of Michigan.  The river also flows through Three Rivers in the county of St. Joseph where there is a monument to a Jesuit Mission in the 17th century.  LaSalle continued down the St. Joseph River to what is now South Bend, Indiana, on his way to the Kankakee River and the Mississippi.

Find more jovial, jaundiced and/or juicy explorations of J at ABC Wednesday.

Lake MIchigan ice on Shadow Shot Sunday

An amazing scene is a Lake Michigan beach when the winter wind and cold has sculpted massive structures of sand and ice where once you lounged on your beach towel.  So we drove the 45 miles from home to St. Joseph on Friday to see them.  I was certain given the amount of ice we still had that there would be a shore filled with these sculptures.  This is it -- the ONE remaining example with the wreckage of the sand/snow fence beginning to emerge at Silver Beach.   The front loaders were working to move the migrated sands from the parking lots and road along the beach back in place for summer.

Visit warmer shadows on Shadow Shot Sunday.

morning, oh so lovely after a snowfall

These January days give us dark winter mornings, except on a morning like today, after a snow fall when the white crystals of water called snowflakes transform everything and make you exclaim as you open the door, Oh!   In the face of the crisp yet soft beauty, you forget that it will have to be shoveled away as some point in the day.  You trudge gratefully through drifts not worried that the sun might not shine today through the clouds blowing off Lake Michigan.   And if the sun were to appear, it would rise just behind the lighted windows of the house, as if in answer to its beckoning glow.

A new year's wish

May the new year bring you sun-filled days with a seat in the shade! 
This sun-filled day was six months ago and on Lake Michigan about fifty miles due west as the crow flies from Fabius.

Portrait of Late Fall in SW Michigan

And now the Lake Michigan snow machine is revving up.  Up to a foot of snow expected tomorrow for the county right next to us.  We should not get that much -- I will let you know.

Rolling across the lake

A photo from our June days on Lake Michigan, it shows a morning storm coming across the lake.  A much stronger set of storms rolled into southern Michigan last night after leaving Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin soaked with over seven inches of rain.  But the high winds (determined to be small tornadoes by the national weather service observers) stayed just north of the most southern counties on the Indiana border.  But today should bring more storms as it begins with a temperature of 77 and a humidity reading of 90.  The air assaults you as you open the door -- oh, to be back on the beach which is almost always cooler than inland!

What a contrast with last year:  "July 2009 goes into the record books as the coldest July ever in Grand Rapids, MI with an average temperature (an average of all the high and low temperatures for the month) of 67.1°.  It’s also the first July when the temperature in Grand Rapids failed to reach 85°."  From the Grand Rapids WOOD TV meteorologist, Bill Steffins.

For less stormy skies, your best bet might be Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday: the blues win!

Lake Michigan near Harbert on the Red Arrow Highway soothes the soul with these wonderful blues!
Don't forget to check out skies around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Reflecting on Lake Michigan

Nothing better than this sunset on southern Lake Michigan!  We spent ten days contemplating and walking along and simply enjoying this one of the great lakes that define Michigan.  On one clear morning we could see the Sears Tower across the lake -- about 10 miles north of the Indiana border at this point the lake is about 50 miles wide.

And contrary to previous years there was no neighbor's internet connection for me to piggyback on, but now I am back to blogging.  I had hoped to let you explore with us this section of lakeshore which is very much a Chicago playground.   But Hoosiers also are in abundance.