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Almost noon in the middle of the night where time has never been
Ripples sneak across the surface without moving in space that never was
Light bends its waves in a continuum that will never be.
Monthly Archives: June 2015
Holy Place
With barely a hint of breeze and quiet – so quiet, you could hear normal speaking voices from shore. The combination of sound, soft light and stillness in the air made me feel as if Duck Lake, this morning, was a most holy place. On the other hand, the fish weren’t biting and I still haven’t won the lottery. So, just what does happen in holy places anyway?
The Golden Road
Who could walk by this field of Coreopsis and not take a picture? Last year the field was covered with stiff stem poppies and buckeye daisies. Just a couple weeks ago the hillock to the left was awash in pastel purples and pinks of Phlox. I’m anxious to see what comes next.
Positive/Negative
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Lily Pads on the White River
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New Face at the Soda Fountain
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Ali O’Connell of Wichita Falls, TX, is the new face at Lipka’s vintage soda fountain in Montague, MI. Every year about this time she travels to Michigan to spend a month or so with her grandmother. (What a sweet young lady. I can’t get my grand kids to visit more than a couple days, if they come at all.) This summer she elected to work part-time while she’s in town and will be dipping ice cream six afternoons each week until the end of June.
Ali will be a high school senior in Wichita Falls next fall. While she plans to attend college, she hasn’t yet decided just where. Her goal is to teach little kids in elementary school. In the meantime, she spends much of her time volunteering and she’s proud to say she has accrued more than 300 hours of community service, primarily at the local hospital – where she also serves ice cream – but she volunteers for other community projects as well.
When at home, if she’s not practicing with the high school cheer-leading team she plays golf and “just hangs with family and friends.”
Free Fishing Weekend
Families line the bank of White Lake for Michigan’s biannual “Free Fishing Weekend.”
The state of Michigan offers two free-fishing weekends a year. This year’s summer event occurred June 13th and 14th. The purpose is to encourage children and families to enjoy the great outdoors, especially the wonders of sport fishing. It is thought that people who fish are more attuned to the demands of the aquatic environment and will help to improve and maintain it.
Payton Ohs, with her mother, and brother, shows off her prized Bluegill early in the morning. (click on the photo to see a larger image.)
Families with their children traveled from around the state to participate in the White Lake Area Sportfishing Association fishing contest for children.
Jaxton Monroe, 8 years old, poses with his dad and their freshly caught Bluegill. (click on photo to see a larger image.)
Sunrise on White Lake
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Sunrises and sunsets on the lake are almost always spectacular. This was taken on my smartphone yesterday morning about 7:00 o’clock. There were more fishermen out than I had expected; 10 minutes earlier we couldn’t see the boat next to us because of the fog.
By 11:00 o’clock, it had greatly dissipated, but not completely. We nearly had our limit of Bluegills and headed for the cleaning station at the Montague boat launch to beat the rush of other fishermen who might have the same idea.
I keep thinking, “I am not a morning person,” nonetheless, I have posted many more sunrise pictures here than sunset pictures. I would much rather go to bed well after sundown and sleep in the following morning, but it seems that whenever my friend, Wes, asks if I want to go fishing, I always say, “Yes, of course. What time?” – Oh crap, he wants to go early in the morning. So, there I am, often before sunrise, helping to launch the boat. Clearly, I am not the man that I think I am.
Power Lines
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I’m flying a Piper Cub; the airstrip runs between the uprights.
No matter how steep I climb, no matter how high I fly, the power lines keep me hemmed in, they restrict my course.
Even at the edge of space it seems; they’re always in the frame, obstructing my photo, ruining artistic opportunities.
There’s no room to reverse course. Flying a Piper Cub at the edge of space makes breathing difficult. I begin to fall…panic…awake.
Cleaned Up?
It’s barely a waterfall.
It’s barely a waterfall, the creek – barely a creek. The place is at the upper end of the town where everybody goes, but nobody sees. Drainage from swamps and wetlands, hidden in plain sight the water flows, year after year, season after season, first out to the little lake and then to the big lake.
The little lake used to be one of the top ten most polluted lakes in the country, with a tannery and all the major chemical plants on its shores, but they say it’s since been cleaned up.
Day-To-Day Photography 