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Photos (Click thumbnail photo to enlarge.)
 After eighteen months of dirt and backup beeps,
Charlevoix's East Park is open -- and it's beautiful. The newly renovated and expanded park includes this interactive fountain. Way fun. Photo taken at the fountain's grand opening on July 23, 2007.
 Another fountain photo, taken from down on the wide sidewalk that runs along next to Round Lake. Also snapped on July 23, 2007.
 When the lake freezes smooth, there’s only one thing to do -- go out and skate! Here’s my husband carrying our boots and starting a cross-over. I didn’t look nearly that graceful. Or comfortable. Still had fun, though. March 2, 2008.
 My niece requested another snowman. A stretch of abnormally warm weather had melted much of our white stuff, but the warm weather also made it easy to roll up 3 largish balls. Here I am, hoping the little guy doesn’t tip over before my husband takes the picture. 1-5-2008.
 Thanks to my 7-year-old niece, we were inspired to make a snowman. Unfortunately, it was too cold or the snow was too dry or we had no clue what we were doing, because this little guy was the best we could do. December 9, 2007.
 On a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I made a looong side jaunt out to the Crisp Point Lighthouse. If you want to see the building in person, you’d better hurry. Efforts have been made to halt its slide into Lake Superior, but nature will inevitably have her way. 8-8-2007.
 Snapped this picture during the first trip with our canoe. Okay, the canoe we liberated from my father's garage. Whatever. August 4, 2007.
 Ask for a hot dog at the West Pier Drive-In and this is what you get. Maybe that’s just the way they do dogs in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Photo taken June 22, 2007.
 Another flower photo. This time it’s a picture-perfect peony. You can almost smell it, can’t you? Photo taken on our ninth anniversary -- June 14, 2007.
I’ve never been overly fond of alliums, but I was sitting on a park bench the other morning and the dew drops on these stalks caught my eye. Photo taken May 31, 2007.
 One of the old money private resorts in Charlevoix is the Chicago Club. A while back I needed to check some surveying information for my day job. Ergo, I finally had a valid reason to walk on the grounds. This is the clubhouse. Photo taken March 27, 2007. The truck isn’t mine, by the way.
 This cool bridge is on the Chicago Club grounds. For years I’ve caught glimpses of this bridge through the trees. On March 27, 2007, I had the opportunity to walk over it. I felt very cool. I wasn’t, of course, but for a brief moment I knew what it would be like.
 This is what happens when you put your dock in the water too early. During that warm week in March, we restrained our docking impulses. Our neighbor did not. Tsk, tsk, tsk :) April 6, 2007.
 See the ice? Kinda weird, isn’t it? Even weirder was the noise it was making that morning -- like water hissing out of a pipe. Fun with winter! The unnatural January snowlessness ended two days later, thank goodness. 1-13-2007.
For years I’ve meant to drive over to Dead Man’s Hill at peak color. This year we finally made it. Pity the sky started clouding up, but a darn nice view anyway. October 8, 2006.
The classic autumn photo, snapped during a short hike along the ridge at Dead Man’s Hill. 10-8-2006.
Compare with the photo 14 pictures down – little bit different, yes? Every fall our favorite ski hill, Nub’s Nob, has an open house. Discounted season passes, lunch, and chair lift rides. This year was gloriously warm and sunny. Miles of smiles everywhere. October 7, 2006.
Another view from the top of Nub’s, this one facing south. That’s
Little Traverse Bay on the horizon. 10-7-2006.
 Awesome ski this day. Water was flat, skies were blue, and we saw one other boat. Okay, the water was only 60 degrees and the air was a bit cooler than that, but still a great ski. I get a huge kick from being out there when the leaves are changing. October 1, 2006.
 In the wacky festival department, mid-August is time for Bellaire's Rubber Ducky Festival. Music, parade, craft show, etc. But at the end of this parade, a loader full of rubber duckys dumps its bucket into the river. Winner gets five hundred bucks. Photo taken August 19, 2006.
 And here's the winning duck. Looking good! August 19, 2006.
 If it's the third weekend in August, it must be time for the Buckley Old Engine Show! Out in the absolute middle of nowhere, this event attracts thousands every summer. We spent half a day wandering the grounds and still didn't see everything. Photo taken August 18, 2006.
 Seen at the Engine Show. Cute, eh? This photo also taken August 18, 2006.
 On June 25, 2006, the USCGC Acacia, the last of the 180 footers, departed her home port of Charlevoix for the last time. The high school band played, dozens of boats accompanied her out the channel, a color guard saluted, and everyone waved and waved and waved.
 Outward bound, she headed south for Chicago's Navy Pier, where she will become a maritime museum. June 25, 2006.
 Built on the southern end of Beaver Island in 1858, this lighthouse marked the west approach from Lake Michigan into the Straits of Mackinac. It was decommissioned in 1962. Photo taken June 9, 2006. Sorry about the power lines.
 View from where the Fresnel lens used to sit in the lighthouse tower. Barely visible on the right side of the horizon is North Fox Island, about 11 miles away. Photo taken June 9, 2006. Sorry about the dirty windows.
We were driving our rental Tracker down a gravel road on Beaver Island, came around a corner, and saw Mom and Junior scrambling into the woods. They didn't scramble too far, so I had a great photo op. 6-9-2006.
I stood in the hot sun for ten minutes, trying to figure out how to turn on the camera's macro function. The plant stood maybe 18 inches high and the flowers themselves were about half an inch in diameter. Prettly little buggers, eh? Cable Bay, Beaver Island on June 9, 2006.
We were driving to meet some friends at
Red Mesa and were compelled to stop for this photo opportunity. You know you're Up North when ... they dress up the winter burlap covering the rosebushes. March 31, 2006.
Friday off from work in early March, blue skies. What to do? Ski, of course! I tucked my cheap digital camera into my coat pocket and rode with it up the chair lift to snap this photo on March 3, 2006. Beautiful day.
During the drive home one winter day, the setting sun popped out of the clouds. "Stop!" I shrieked. My husband obligingly pulled off the road and gave me time to snap this shot. (That's Lake Michigan on the horizon.) February 20, 2006.
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006 was cold and windy and snowy. So was Friday. Saturday morning we woke up and had this drift outside our front door. It wasn't light and fluffy snow, either, but wind-packed stuff with which you could build igloos.
The first friday in December, our office closes at noon. We eat pizza, then don hats and mittens and brave the cold as we staple lights to the building. Afterward, we go bowling. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. 12-20-05.
I was using a 7.5 minute USGS quad map at the office the other day and a hand-written note caught my eye. 'Round barn.' "Hmmm," I thought. "Wonder if it's still there." So last weekend we drove over and looked. Yep. Still there. 11-11-05.
We were caught at a red light in Traverse City. I was thinking dinner when my husband said, "Look at that!" Three squirrels were playing together: a black one, a brown one, and an ALBINO one. The white blob in this admittedly crappy picture is not a cat; it's the albino squirrel. Cool, eh? 11-11-05.
This fall we've dawdled in getting the boat out of the water, and we were rewarded for our procrastination last weekend with flat water and (mostly) clear skies. This is the bath house of the boy's camp down the lake from us. October 22, 2005.
Rather than dumping these petunias on the compost heap I dumped them in a bowl of water. I was so happy with the way they looked that I took a picture. Those are the neighbor's boats, by the way. Our 1984 Century is off-camera :) August 14, 2005.
View of Mackinac Island from the fort. I bought a winter version of this photo at a flea market for a quarter and now I have a summer version to pair with it. Pity about the grey skies, but what can you do? Taken August 13, 2005.
Spotted this topiary on the walk up to the famed Grand Hotel, where the room keys are really keys and where you dress up for dinner after playing bocce and croquet all afternoon. This photo also taken 8-13-2005.
Almost every night of this dry summer I've been hauling water up from the lake for my thirsty flowers. The other day (7-12-05) rain seemed imminent, so I walked down to the dock to take a look-see. No rain, darn it, but a dandy rainbow :)
Trilliums, as far as the eye can see. Note to wildflower aficionados: cows eat trilliums. If, for example, a forest floor was carpeted in white flowers last year, and if the same section of forest is a cow pasture this year, there are no trilliums. May 22, 2005.
Early spring in northern Michigan - must be time to make maple syrup! We collected 45 gallons of maple sap over a span of two weeks and spent a Saturday boiling it down into a gallon of syrup. Easy to see why it's so expensive, yes? April 2, 2005.
Nope, not sailboats, folks, they're ice boats. February 5th, 2005, an ice boat regatta was held in front of our house. Upward of a hundred boats spent the day sailing over the clear ice. (For explanation of clear ice, see photo below.)
This is not a picture of clouds taken from an aircraft flying at 30,000 feet. Honest. I took this out front of my house on January 23, 2005. The thermometer read five below that morning. Brrrr. The lake was a flat calm, but looked odd. For good reason - it had frozen clear!
Do you see it? I always thought snow snakes were a myth created by schnapps drinkers. ("Here, drink this! It'll keep the snow snakes away!") But I saw one on December 28, 2004, hanging from a small, almost-fallen tree. Snakes in trees. Ick :)
Took this from the passenger window of our car as we were zooming downstate for Chrismas Eve dinner with the in-laws. Not sure that you'd call this a 'snowbow' but I'm not sure what else you'd call it. Pretty cool, though.
Eddie. He didn't mind the elf collar, it was the Santa hat he tried to rip to shreds. Taken 11-20-04 for use in our Christmas card.
Since my writing bench (see fourth photo below) has been put away for the winter, I've taken to driving to the Elk Rapids District Library of a Saturday morning. Now, instead of staring at Lake Charlevoix when I'm stuck in the middle of writing a scene, I stare at Traverse Bay. 11-13-04.
After work the other night we decided to go out in the boat for a sunset cruse, and I showed rare foresight by remembering to bring my camera. A week or so until the fall colors peak, but this isn't half bad. Taken Columbus Day (observed) 2004.
Snapped from the foot of our dock on September 22, 2004. With sunsets like this, why would I ever want to live anywhere else, eh? Okay, I can think of two reasons: March and April. But other than that...
As I was cutting my husband's hair on the screen porch, this group zoomed past. ("Sorry about your haircut, honey, but I must run take a picture.") They were having a good time - whooping and hollering all up and down the lakeshore. Made us smile. Photo taken July 20, 2004.
See the notebook? This is where I write at lunchtime, in a park down the street from my office. Click on the thumbnail photo and you'll see gorgeous peonies and blue flowers of some sort. Photo taken June 25, 2004.
This is the view from the bench. Some days I don't get much writing done because I can't stop staring at the water. Summer lasts a short three months up here, and it's hard to feel guilty about enjoying the sun. This photo also snapped on June 25, 2004. It was a very nice day.
I finally remembered to bring along my camera on a lunchtime visit to Depot Beach. Wouldn't you just figure that would be the same day the landscaper (note left side of enlarged picture) decides to work on the irrigation system? And then he didn't even smile for the picture! For those who care about such things, this building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo taken on June 23, 2004 when the peonies you can't see were in bloom. (They're behind the building just north of the foxglove you can't see.)
Showing mastery of her cheap digital camera's macro function, the photographer crouched at the side of the road to snap this image on May 16, 2004. Not bad, eh?
We often see this group of deer, but rarely in such a photo opportune position. Took this picture on the way home from work, three days after ice out - March 30, 2004.
My husband took this picture Saturday afternoon, March 13, 2004. There was a 10-15 mph wind and these boats were just ZOOMING across the ice. Imagine a blur behind them :) I hear their top speed is upwards of 100 mph. Hmmm. Wonder how much they cost?
 Iceboat, up close and personal. Also taken March 13, 2004. Kind of makes you want to go for a ride, doesn't it?
 Taken February 26, 2004 out the door of my office. A damn cold morning, but man, it was gorgeous.
 Taken February 25, 2004 on the way home from work. Yes, those are deer - four of the little buggers. Hope they stay out of my hostas come spring.
 Taken October 16, 2003 from the end of our dock. The week before, we'd had similar weather conditions - cloudy and rainy all day, but breaking up in the evening. I looked out and saw the sun blasting through the clouds and thought, man, these'd be great conditions for a rainbow. So I sauntered down to the end of the dock, turned around, and looked up. Wow! A fully arched rainbow in all it's ROYGBIV glory - right over our house! I pounded back up the dock, up to my office, grabbed my camera, ran back down, opened the camera and...and the batteries were dead. Well, dang. But then on the 16th, everything worked and I finally got a great rainbow picture. Life was Very Good that day.
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