The day was cloudy and gray and the wind had been blowing. Twilight was approaching and yet the sun broke through the clouds for a brief five minutes. It lit up the far shore of the lake and the trees became golden, all reflected in the stillness and calm of the lake. The shadows of the treetops to the west started to darken this eastern shoreline and would eventually envelop the entire view. But for a brief period it was a magical and golden view.
landscapes
A Canadian fishing trip
The sights (and sounds) from a recent Canadian fishing trip are still fresh in my mind. With good friends and family we headed north of Ignace, Ontario for a week of fishing. After one sunny day the rain moved in, but we fished, explored, got lost, found our way, fished some more, laughed, and didn’t let the continuing rain dampen our adventures. This is an area of lakes, woods, and sky. The woods are dense, the lakes are everywhere with rocks and trees coming right to the water’s edge, and the sky opens out over every lake. It is remote with towns few and far between. We took ATV trails through the woods to reach remote lakes, and with the multiple days of rain we drove through mud and water washouts. We caught walleye and pike in abundance and enjoyed our shore lunches. Eagles were everywhere, loons serenaded us, and we saw ducks that will soon be migrating south. To top off the adventures of the week, the Northern Lights made an appearance on our final night in Canada. A memorable and fun trip!
The busyness of a hummingbird
I watched in amazement at this tiny hummingbird as he flitted among the bee balm blossoms in the yard. He would work all around the edges of one flower, fly off to an adjacent flower and do the same, then to another and another. After about a minute he would land on a nearby branch and rest. And then he’d repeat the same thing all over again, sometimes moving to a blooming hosta and then back to the bee balm, or sometimes to a clump of catmint nearby, and retreating back to the bee balm. It was a treat to observe and marvel at something so very small with all this energy.
A field of summer
It’s a true summer’s day – blue sky above with white patchy clouds, and the sun is beating down with its warmth. We are driving along some county roads in northern Wisconsin. We’ve passed fields of green soybeans and acres of corn, all thriving in spite of the late planting season and the copious amounts of rain this year. But up ahead is a bright and welcome sight — at an intersection there is a sea of yellow on one side of the road. It stretches off to the trees in the distance, and it is a glorious field of sunflowers. Faces to the east, backlit by the sun, the large blossoms are nodding in the wind. To me this is the epitome of summer, and I’ll soak it in to remember during the not-so-summery days that lie ahead.
A road trip through wide open spaces
We took a road trip from Minnesota to Utah a few weeks ago — a journey filled with adventures, family, and changing scenery and weather. We went from the agriculture of southern Minnesota to the Black Hills of South Dakota, to the Sandhills of Nebraska, to the open ranches of Wyoming, to the snow capped mountains of Utah. The variety of landscapes always amazes me, especially when you condense the journey over a few days. Many of the areas were unusually green because of the higher amounts of rain that have fallen. Fields and hills were looking quite lush, except for those areas (especially in Nebraska) that are still trying to recover from flooding earlier this year. Surprisingly we encountered little rain during our trip, but we did endure 40-45 mph winds across Wyoming, and we slept a few times with the furnace on and a couple of times with the air conditioner on. A quick trip such as this makes me appreciate the beauty and diversity of our country; how fortunate to be able to take it all in!
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