Yesterday it was me and 234,383 of my best friends spending a cool summer’s day at the Minnesota State Fair and setting a record for single-day attendance. The Minnesota State Fair is the second-largest State Fair in the country. With the fairgrounds covering 320 acres it’s imperative to allow at least one day to see your favorite things. There’s the Mighty Midway with its games and carnival rides, the food, the Giant Slide, Machinery Hill, the food, the animals, the exhibits, the Space Tower, the Grandstand, and the food. We refer to the Fair as the Great Minnesota Get-Together, and we celebrate with friends and food. Anything and everything is available on a stick, from fried pickles to pronto pups. For many the Fair is a day of grazing from one food booth to the next. I especially enjoyed the animal barns. The pigs that weren’t being shown in competition were sleeping lazily, the sounds of the roosters were echoing off the walls in their building, and the goats were busy nibbling on the shirts of the passers-by. People who attend the fair are always in a good mood, as are the vendors, and the employees at the fair. Even the woman at the information booth who helped me three different times — she too was in a good mood. I even found two special friends from the Minnesota Twins – Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau – who “stood still” while I had my photo taken with them. What a great ending to a fine day at the Fair!
summer
The woods of northern Wisconsin
We spent the past weekend in northern Wisconsin near the shores of Lake Superior. It was a true late summer’s weekend with hot sun and blowing winds. To get a break from the heat, we drove to the southern part of Ashland County. Off a remote gravel road in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is a trailhead leading along Morgan Creek to a cascading waterfall. Here in the forest with the canopy of trees and the gurgling of the creek, we found a welcome respite from the summer’s heat. The trees are still a glorious green, but occasionally we saw a few leaves that were starting to change in anticipation of autumn. With this image of Morgan Creek I wanted to bring together the green of the forest, the blue reflection of the summer sky above, with a few hints of autumn color also visible in the water’s reflection. These are the photos and memories that we will be savoring in the middle of January when our scenery has turned to white and the temperatures have plummeted into winter.
The fog comes
Yesterday I awoke to a rare treat — a cool, foggy morning. For me, there is a special stillness and quietness that settles over the landscape when everything is shrouded with a soft blanket of fog . I found myself walking quietly so as not to disturb the air and the peacefulness that surrounded me. And because it was an early Saturday morning, the usual hustle and bustle of work routines were non-existent with few people out and about. Since moving to Minnesota I’ve realized that fog is one of the atmospheric conditions of the Pacific Northwest that I miss. As I was photographing this scene, I was reminded of the beginning of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Fog” where he writes “The fog comes on little cat feet.” It moves in quietly, settles, and then travels on. And as was the case yesterday, the sun and heat of summer eventually broke through the fog and we returned to blue sky and bright sunshine.
Looking out through the rain
Our summer has been one of rain, heat, and humidity. This past week I was on my way to the YMCA for yoga class. As luck would have it, it started to rain, or more correctly, it started to pour. The rain came down in buckets. I arrived at the Y, parked my car, and it was still pouring so I decided to sit it out for a while and wait. I sat in my car looking out through the windshield, across the street, to the tree on the other side. Granted, the tree wasn’t anything spectacular, but as I changed my focus from the tree to the windshield I saw something beautiful and fluid. As the rain was pouring down the glass, there was a gorgeous effect on the subjects across the street. They too became fluid and took on a “watercolor” effect. I pulled out my camera and spent the next three minutes photographing this watery scene until the rain stopped, the sun came out, and I walked into my yoga class without getting wet.
Summer sunset reflection
For the past week we’ve been treated to some spectacular sunsets. Part of this has been due to residual smoke from fires burning in Canada that has swept into Minnesota, and part has been due to the weather conditions here. The other night while we were out enjoying an ice cream cone, I noticed that the western sky was setting up for what looked like a great sunset. I scurried home to get my camera, then headed out to find a choice spot with a great foreground to make my photographic image of the setting sun. As would happen, the conditions were changing rapidly. I pulled into the parking lot of a commercial building that overlooks the interstate; mind you, not the “choice” spot for a great image. But although what I saw looking to the west was not photogenic, what I saw as a reflection in the building behind me caught my eye. With the curves in the glass and its separate panels, the sunset took on a look that reminded me of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” The colors of the sky seemed to swirl about in the reflection, yet were anchored by the lamp and its post. So although I didn’t find what I was expecting, I was delighted at what was presented to me by chance.
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