A Cool Day at Lake Michigan

My husband and I spent a few hours driving along the west coast of Michigan several days ago.  The skies were a clear, deep blue, and the water was a very icy blue!  Snow was piled at the edge of the beach, deep in some places; the wind was
strong, but the sun was bright and warm on our backs.

We decided to stop at Tunnel Park, near the town of Holland, MI.   At Tunnel Park,
you can walk through a tunnel in the dunes to get to the beach, or you can climb over the dunes on the wooden stairway.  We chose to climb.  Unfortunately, the stairs were
mostly covered with snow, so we had to grip the railing and use a “hand over hand” method of pulling ourselves up the steps!  The other choice would have been to slip backwards down the stairway!  It was good exercise!

And indeed….the view at the top, and down the other side of the dune was worth it!

 

Climbing over the dune at Tunnel Park, Holland, MI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Lake Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up from the beach..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed our cool Lake Michigan trip!   After all, it’s not spring yet here!

Thanks for bearing with my infrequent posts as I struggle to keep up two blogs and
one photo class….a second photo class begins soon.  I appreciate all of you!

 

If you’re interested in seeing my classwork…my other blog is:

http://dancingwithlightandshadow.wordpress.com

Thanks for visiting!  Hugs to all….xoxo
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2013 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

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They told me I’d see a red rock………

So you know what I thought:  one, solitary, lonely, mound of red DIRT.   Well, ok, I’ll give my friends the benefit of the doubt…..I thought maybe I’d see a single Rocky BUMP or HILL.

In no way was I prepared for the jaw-dropping spectacle that awaited me when we drove into Sedona, Arizona.   I thought we had entered another world….and I guess we had!   There were massive red rocky monoliths everywhere I looked.

I kept my camera stuck to my side for the whole week!  Every turn in the road produced another photo opportunity, another gorgeous vista.  The best part, for me, was watching for the play of light across the huge rocks.  From early in the morning, until sunset, the sun changed the colors of these beautiful masterpieces of nature.

Here’s one of my favorites:

Sedona, AZ

I’ll post more another day.

Good night!
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Is that really a snowflake?

Note…  I had three photos on my draft but they would not upload to the actual post.  I tried for 40 minutes to reload them and downsized them to a thumbnail.  They still would not load.  I am very frustrated.  This has happened before.   Has anyone had a similar problem?  

Hello blog readers!

We’ve had warm temperatures, rain, freezing rain, sleet, golfing weather and high winds but not much snow!  We are far behind our annual snow totals for this season.  It concerns me for our beautiful Freshwater Seas….our Great Lakes, that surround our state of Michigan.  The lakes depend on moisture, such as rain and snow to keep their water levels up.  This low-snow year is not boding well for our lakes.  We need much more snow to ensure higher lake water levels.

Today we awoke to a snowstorm.  All the trees were covered with white “frosting” and the flakes were falling from the sky at a heavy rate.  I have a quest to try and catch snowflakes on my photos, so I set my image speed high and went outside.  The wind was furious and the snow whirled around me.  But I was able to capture some snowflakes.

About 3 hours later, the sun came out and the skies turned blue with puffy white clouds.  I can’t tell you the last time we saw blue skies like this!   In Michigan we say: “If you don’t like the weather…wait a minute, and it will change.”   I have a feeling Michigan is not the only state that takes credit for that quote!

Blue spruce

The Blue Spruce stands tall and mighty against the wind, protecting birds from the elements.

 

Good night! Sleep well…
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Sunsets: poetry in the sky~

Hello Readers!

Among my favorite things to shoot with my camera…..sunsets rank very high.   What a joy it is to see the color of the sky deepening and changing; the clouds highlighted by the sun, and the water (if available) reflecting the sun’s rays.  Depending on many conditions,  sunsets seem to unfold slowly some days, and more quickly on others.

Some sunsets are full of intense colors: red, orange and purple.  Others are softer with pale, pastel colors.  “Sunset colors are typically more brilliant than sunrise colors, because the evening air contains more particles than morning air.” (Wikipedia.org)

Some days can be dark, cloudy and rainy…..but at the end of the day we can be surprised by a beautiful sunset.

Here are a few of mine….

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