Lake Superior Sky for Skywatch Friday

(Just click on the photo to enlarge it.)
The sun is going down and you are looking northwest over Lake Superior toward Canada.   It is mid-September around 6:30 pm and there is nothing better to do than sit on a beach just south of Whitefish Point and contemplate the immensity and power of the sky and the water.  We head to Lake Superior every summer for just these moments of inexpressible beauty.
For more inexpressibly beautiful skies, go to Skywatch Friday.

the turn of the evergreens

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The Red Pine is going crazy producing these beautiful coral young cones.  In researching I discovered that these are male cones.  The Wikipedia article on pine cones is quite good, by the way.  (My companion the librarian cautions care always with Wikipedia and misses the shelves of reference books he once had at his finger tips.)  In another article I found out that pine comes via Latin and the French pin, while fir comes from Old Norse.  I hope I don't bore you with my researching.
While posting this photo and exploring other blogs this morning, I have been watching a lone doe in the meadow, most often standing still in the rain and once lying down under a tree before wandering off.   I was positive she was getting ready to give birth and had camera ready!  She obviously desired privacy for this event.

quinquefoliate for ABC Wednesday

This "quinquefolitate" is a Virginia Creeper.  But, a question, is it Parthenocissus quinquefolia or Parthenocissus vitacea?
This  "quinquefolitate" vine is growing on the deck leading to the garden with the Siberian Iris called Snow Queen (unfortunately not yet blooming).  The woods are full of this woody vine that climbs quickly to the top of the tallest trees.  Tarzan would be quite satisfied with it!
If I have not quaffed your desire for the letter q, please visit ABC Wednesday for more.

My world this Tuesday

"A hard rain's a gonna fall" is the reality of this Tuesday in Fabius Township.  All is green and growing so fast that even our "wild look" landscaping that features very little mowing is getting beyond us.  But today the rain gives a respite from the work outside.

We are emerging from two weeks of daily concerts at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo 25 miles north of us.  Finally I wore out and good only keep up with the concerts and not the blog.  The Festival is a marvelous orgy of music all day, every day, every two years.  We heard old favorites and experienced music we did not know from composers of the 19th and 21st century.  If you love the piano, think about visiting Kalamazoo in two years for the next festival.  It is a beautiful time to be in Michigan!

Visit many more spots around the world at My World.

the snowball bush

Here it is the latest arrival among the blooming bushes, the snowball,  and it is one of my favorites.  (Do you, Miss Giddy with Spring, have any flowering bush you do not like, you could well ask?!)  I have loved the snowball since I was a child and played round it in my grandparents' yard.  One of life's little ironies to love a plant called snowball while celebrating the absence of snow.