ALL ABOARD!!!

Having driven croos country and flowen cross country I thought now would be the right time to go on an adventure and ride the rails the 1,932.2 miles from my home in Wisconsin to Bellingham Washington.

I caught the Amtrak train in Portage Wisconsin named the Empire Builder and headed west parrelling the Candian boarder for most of the route.

I passed the time starring out the window watching the vastness of the great plains roll by.

There were brief stops to get out and stretch your legs.

Then back to watching as the past passed by.

My mind found time to be quixotic triggered by the sight of windmills and cattle.

I tried to capture out the window the everyday oddities of the small towns we rolled through on the train.

Nearing the end of my journey in Everett WA.

Fall color and colorful dogs

The autumnal equinox arrives on Saturday and the sun carries itself lower in the sky signaling to the trees to prepare for winter and the trees signal us humans by bursting with colors.

And with signal's going off all around us like a gate and lights at a train crossing we head out on a family hike and dog walk to enjoy this fall day.

Roman and Willow are always prepared for fun and we should follow their example.

The sun highlights the trees causing the fall colors to leap from the ground.

And Roman in his fall excitement charges happily through a mud hole turning him in to a two-toned dog.

The hike continues on, the fall colors continue on, and our awe continues on.

Cosmic signs

I am not one to go against the cosmic alignment of signs in the universe so when I read my horoscope, and it told me "You need a break from your everyday life so if only for couple of days get out of town."

So, I made a quick call to a small motel in a small town on the west side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The motel did have a room for two nights and that there would be no one around to check me in so the key will be in the door - it is a small motel in a small town. The small town that was a long time ago a bigger town with a shipping harbor for copper and a bike ride through its cemetery tells of its varied and rich past.

Not far from my motel live a merry band of monks who reside on the shores of Lake Superior and are very popular selling jams, muffins, cakes and other sweet items to make their living. it is always a fun stop in and stock up on the jams they make from local fruits and berries that can help to get you through a long winter. I also enjoy spending time wondering their flower gardens and the rocky shore in front of what they call Poor Rock Abby.

The Keweenaw is home to many a town that was large and vibrant with life brought on by the mining of copper and when the copper boom went bust the towns were caught in that moment in time to slowly decay into history. The wheels of time go round and round and now these towns are being pulled into the present. In a now defunct church, I laid back with my eyes closed on the stage where the alter used to sit and listened to the churches pipe organ come to life and reverberate out and along the stained-glass windows of saints before I went back to wondering the town where the past and the present silently collide into the future.

Summertime and thats alright with me

Summertime and nature is putting on a show just for you.

Binge watch all the amazing things going on around you.

You will never get bored the scenery changes every day.

Natures Fireworks

When the sun comes out from behind the clouds …

Life opens up with a burst of energy like the summer flowers and nature provides us with her fireworks - get out and enjoy - it’s free.

Their world

The ice has come off the lakes of northern Wisconsin, the water has warmed, and I have started snorkeling again.

The fish have constructed their nests.

And laid thier eggs.

Some eggs have begone to hatch and the fry are ready to fly - the nest.

Painted Turtles are out exploring and I wonder if they are curios to what I'm doing?

The old fishing dock waits for repairs.

The aquatic plants bloom.

They share their world with me for a moment in time.

Roll out of spring into summer

Plants instinctively realize that spring is rolling out into summer like the fiddle head fern.

Birds search for food to feed themselves and their young.

Insects are busy eating and breading.

A spider takes a break to hang out.

Life bursts forth to enjoy the warmth of the sun and we should fallow its example.

Spring is springing.

the ice has finally retreated from the lakes but snow can still be found hiding in the cool dark shadows.

Plants are starting to bloom, and bugs and bees are busily working them over.

Another first sign of spring is the arrival and blooming of Skunk cabbage.

And Pitcher plants wait for bugs to fall for their pitfall trap to be digested in 12 to 24 hours - the cycle of life and death.

Me the eight-year-old adult cannot wait to get into the water and I almost step on a tiny newborn snapping turtle or hatchling.

Won’t go away

Like the dishes you don’t wash or the bills you don’t pay the winter of 2023 won’t go away.

As of this posting there is still snow on the ground and ice on the lakes.

I did get in the first bike ride of the season, and I took pictures to prove it – and yes that is ice on the lake behind me.

There are signs of spring, the geese have returned and so have the robins – they seem a little confused by the weather like the rest of us.

This seems to be the longest winter since the last one however there are still opportunity’s to adventure about and capture photos.

Between the guardrails

Have you ever questioned if guardrails are there to protect you or the things around you?

Or are they just constraints we construct to give us some mental structure to explain why we do the things we do or not do the things we want to do giving us a sense of false security?

Do we need to peek out from the trees to see the forest?

The compass of my mind points in all directions while my camera only points in one as I try to detain the singularity of the moment as the earth laps the sun.

Down the Allequash

Winter storms keep rolling at us in northern Wisconsin like the waters down Allequash creek.

In-between the clearing of my driveway of snow one of my preferences to hike on a sunny day is around Allequash creek.

The snow lines its banks and fills the trees making for some dramaturgically exaggerated reflections that twirl around rocks drifting on eddy’s and waft their way to trout Lake.

I scramble through the deep snow, down to the banks of Allequash creek and try not to tumble into the icy waters while twisting my body, laying or sitting in the snow trying to get that perfect perspective for a photo. 

Ides of March

March is here and so am I as you can see from the photo above.

I recently adventured up to Lake Superior to a place called Little Girls Point.

This winter has been a rollercoaster of cold and warm, snow and rain, sun and clouds, wind and calm and this has an influence on the ice formations on this great lake.

On this shore all this commotion has sculpted the ice into unbalanced hollows and voids, mountains and planes forming a frozen moonscape that changes with every blowing wind, sun beam and snowfall.

I took some of these photos in black and white and in color so that you can compare and contrast the same visions of nature’s ever changing toil.

Learning from observing nature we to should toil on.

Start of Darkness

Residing in Northern Wisconsin there are 2 days you look forward too.

One is December 21st the winter solstice, the day we go from losing daylight hours to the increasing of daylight minute by minute day after day until you can feel the warmth of the sun and see the melting of snow and expectation builds that spring will arrive.

And the second day you look forward to is February 2nd when an erasable lethargic quadruped skulks out of its lair to determine how much longer winter will last.

I celebrate February 2nd, Groundhog Day by doing what a groundhog would do – I slog myself out of my warm domicile into the outdoors to try and foresee the future.

I step outside to be greeted by Jack Frost laughing at my optimism and as I look down I see my shadow and my shadow says to me “what are you doing here?” I try to explain but my shadow disappears into the white gray of the snow in my driveway as the sun conceals itself behind the clouds.

This helps determine the photos for this blog post – a study in black and white as I enjoy what is left of winter and anticipate the arrival of spring. 

Dog Days

I recently lost a cousin /friend/ encourager. She was a kind and caring sole who over the course of her life had 13 rescue dogs. She loved all animals and I remember her giving me hug after she witnessed me stop my car to let a squirrel cross the road.

I think she loved dogs so much because they are uncomplicated and nonjudgmental. A dog is thrilled to see you every time you come home even if you have only been gone 15 minutes. A dog is thrilled with excitement if you ask “want to go for a walk?” How many people will let you throw a ball for them to fetch and wait anxiously for you to throw it again. And when all the fun is had a dog is content with some kibble and to join you on the couch for a nap.

I think we should be more like dogs; enjoy this moment the past is gone, and the future is unknowable so go for a walk, hug a dog, become uncomplicated.

And when I come in contact with a dog I will think of and miss my cousin.

A New Year

Heading into a new year with resolutions of being a new you while dragging the old you kicking and screaming with you.

Off to the gym, and to the health food store or outside for a walk with the old and new you to figure out the best you.

(How many times can this guy use you in a sentence???)

Water can be a solid, a vapor and liquid and so can you – emblematically and emphatically.

Things come and go, time is on the clock and you can only be you.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog in 22

Come back and see what I have for 23

Tis the season

It was the days before Christmas and all through the land

 Santa Clause new things were getting out of hand

People’s minds were filled with seasonal clutter

Must be here, must buy this, layaway, layaway! They could be heard to mutter

The season is for glad tidings and good will to man

That should be the plan

A child questions the holiday’s annoyances with style

But knows that the making of cookies always brings a smile

From jimsgibberis.com have a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

Just go out and do it you don’t need a good reason.

In a World Where Seasons Collide

Fall in northern Wisconsin can be a mixed bag of palpable change, where animals and plants come to life before they go into a winter slumber.

A tale of one of these days came from out of a seemingly systematic day, not hot, not cold just an October day. The trees were still in full color and I wanted to hide from my everyday obligations and chores with the excuse that soon the leaves would be down and covered with snow so I must be out in them before they are gone.

With camera in hand I stared on a hike into the woods … and soon after I started it began to snow … and then snow harder. Snowflakes as big as the palm of my hand fell out of the sky and mixed with the color of the fall leaves, I had entered a dreamlike snow globe of amusement.

By the time I got back to my car it and the ground were covered in an inch of snow and by the end of the day most of the snow had melted.

Enter that world by taking a trip through my photos.

Thanksgiving and a fall tribute

Thanksgiving is here and if you look profoundly, you can find something to be grateful for.

I will commence this blog with photos of some of the 19 turkeys that wondered through my unraked yard a month ago as they gathered to enjoy a feast.

This time of year in northern Wisconsin the leaves have fallen off the trees and are hidden under a thin covering of snow so I give you a retrospective of a bike ride I took while fall was still in coloration.

Photos of Endless Change - Fall color part I of?

The warmth of summer lingered into October and November like a first date you didn’t want to end.

The trees could tell that the sun traveled suspended lower in the sky rising later, setting sooner and yet they appeared to be waiting like me to see if fall would ever come.

Time transforms and changes everything in its wake and one day you noticed leaves turning color here and there. With the passing days more leaves would transform in to falls rainbow of colors and before you knew it the trees were in an eruption of one of the best fall color shows in memory.

I hope my photos and blog posts can articulate the extravaganza of colors that Nature puts on in Northern Wisconsin for only a couple of weeks in the fall.

Enjoy

The not Frozen Tundra

October 2nd, 2022, the calendar said fall, but the air temperatures were still summer like, and a modicum of leaves had started to change color. I was invited to go with this nice couple to see The Green Bay Packers play the New England Patriots.

When you think of Lambeau Field you think of snow and cold and the wearing of long underwear, substantial coats and gloves. On this day I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and carrying a sweatshirt in case I might need it by the end of the game.

The game starts off with a fly over and the singing of the national anthem.

The game is only part of the spectacle of being at a Green Bay Packer game.

There is people watching and comradery with thousands of other Packer fans, food and drink, cheering and anguish and at half time there were parachutists trying to land on the 50-yard line.

Then back to the excitement of the football game and a win in overtime.