Back Again

We had lunch today at the place we met 21 years ago!  It was a dental office back then and we met on a professional level.  Now it's the Twisted Olive Cafe',  a Mediterranean breakfast and lunch restaurant overlooking Little Traverse Bay.  The views are wide and wonderful and the food was very good.   As we recalled that fateful day I tried to remember what used to be where in that space when it was my place of work - the experience was surreal!  Romantic, too.

After the Storm



Panorama of the front yard the day after the snowstorm



Snowed In

A very blustery snowy day in Batchawana indeed!  TransCanada Hwy 17 was closed between the Goulais River and Wawa so we were literally "Snowed In", a phrase that conjures up images of hot chocolate, a wood fire, and quiet endeavors like reading, baking, and watching movies.  And so we did!  I love "Snow Days"!

Happy Thanksgiving Canada Style

painting by Peter Black

Erich and I spent AmericanThanksgiving in Canada (Canadian Thanksgiving is the 2nd Monday in October).  It was just the two of us and we decided to be non-traditional so we had fish, fresh from Lake Superior, of course.  Just to add a touch of the Thanksgiving I know and love I stopped on my way to pick up cranberries for Mom's now famous Grand Marnier Cranberry Relish.  Sugar and orange zest and juice are the only other ingredients.  Now THAT's Thanksgiving!  Mmmmm.

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, busiest shopping day of the year...so I thought it appropriate that the Urban Dictionary "word of the day" would be:  Things-getting Day!

Random Things Found

I saw this old boot at the mouth of the Bear River in Petoskey last month, laces waving with the current, covered in algae and silt.  Where's the other one?  Who was the owner?  How did it get there?  Just wondering...

My Brother's Blog

A direct quote from my brother Dave's blog post of 11-3-10:
"...One question always hangs in my mind when I think of these bigoted so-called religious people who seem bent on taking away our freedoms...do they actually read these bibles they swing around? Because if they did they would see that this fella called Jesus, who is mentioned a few times in that book, is just about the biggest liberal this world has ever seen. How do they rectify that in their minds?

Let's see:
Jesus = anti war, pro poor people, anti rich people, turn the other cheek, hang out with the lowest classes of society and call them equal, love, peace, giving all you have, etc.
Which party does that sound like? Not the Tea Party, I can tell you that
Sounds more like John Lennon to me..."
Just in case this sounds out of context here is the link to the post:
http://worldofwild.blogspot.com/2010/11/another-sad-day-for-america.html

First Snow!

In honor of this season's first snow (just a dusting), I'm
posting one of my favorite photos of last year's snow!
This photo was taken 1-30-10

Without Camera

I like to take pictures and I take a lot of them.  I've been told I should go places purposely without a camera so I can "live in the moment", "enjoy the present situation without thinking about how to photograph it".  Well, I'm sorry but it just doesn't work for me.  Perfect example last night on my after work walk on the beach.  The sky offered dark clouds, puffy white clouds, and clear blue all at the same time.  The winds were gusting to 50mph blowing sand on my legs that felt like a thousand stinging insects.  Then it rained.  Hard.  It quickly blew over and I turned around to head back to my car.  There in front of me was the most amazing complete double rainbow I have ever witnessed.  The super-saturated spectrum of colors shone against a backdrop of dark grey blue sky over the sand dunes.  If I had photographed it I would have been accused of creating such neon hues in editing.  I had no camera and my cellphone had a dead battery.  All I could think about was how to capture that rainbow.  Thanks for the advice (you know who you are) but I think I'll continue to carry a camera so I can savor the moment AND take it home with me to enjoy many more  times.

Fifteen

Fraidy (yes, Fraidy Cat!) at 15.  He's still so pretty.  I wonder what that is in "cat years".

Mom and Dad, circa 1948



Young and in love -  silly, cute and having fun.



Noises

In my dream a few nights ago I was at work with all my co-workers.  We were outside circling the office building trying to find the source of an ear piercingly annoying sound.  Suddenly, we were all at my house doing the same thing, going window to window searching for the noise.  I put my ear to my bedroom window and found it...my alarm clock!  At that moment I woke up and shut off the alarm.  No more annoying noise.

Gilligan's Island aka Batchawana Island

A wonderful place to be stranded...

 Ok, so there were no coconut phones, or coconut pies for that matter, but we had a bit of an adventure yesterday.  As stated in my previous post Erich and I unexpectedly spent a couple of hours on Batchawana Island.  "No phones, no lights, no motorcars.  Not a single luxury.  Like Robinson Crusoe, primitive as can be."  (theme song, Gilligan's Island).

Batchawana Island is only about 2 miles from our beach but there are no residents and plenty of wildlife so it was a great place to be stranded for a couple of hours.  From the photos you can see we were not worried and had a nice time.  Oh, and we had fresh water, granola bars and a banana so we could have stayed overnight...hmmm, maybe sometime (on purpose). 

very windy!



Even this litte cove had whitecaps



We explored the shore...



even gathered firewood just in case

                                                 

pretty flora...



signs of interesting fauna (fresh moose tracks)...



and interesting geology...

                                                                   

and our "little buddy" Gilligan, who let us get close ups...



until he wandered (waddled) back into the woods!

             

Soon the jib sail was back up and we were headed back across the bay to home.

                                                         

Wild Ride

We were out for an early afternoon sail because the winds were up and we were trying to get closer to a tall ship seeking safe harbor in the bay when the gusts really picked up.  Erich thought we should seek shelter on Batchawana Island til things calmed down a bit.  After almost two hours we decided to return with only the jib sail and the going was still very swift.  What a Wild Ride!  17' sailboat and 4' waves on Lake Superior. 
Erich has sailed oceans and Great Lakes including the Trans-Superior Race so I was comfortable trusting his expertise.  I didn't get any shots of the big waves because I was hanging on!
I'll add a few pics from the island in my next post.

Congratulations, Matt and Jennifer

           Mr. and Mrs. Matt and Jennifer Fellows  

Jim and Jen before the wedding

On to the reception...

Sally (proud Mom) and Matt

The hall was so elegant

Sally and Bob

Sally and Mary (me) having some laughs

I Love Summer!

Happy Fourth of July! My favorite holiday!

Mary Wild Hansen 7-5-10

Tracks on the Beach

On the southeastern shore of Lake Superior...

Canada Goose

heron or crane?

man

Teva Sandal

BEAR!

Splash!

This is where I lost my Sony compact digital camera.  Climbing down from this rock I heard a clunk.   Hmm.  What was that?  When I turned around to check it out I heard a splash.  By then it was pretty clear my Sony had dropped into a small pool next to the rock. I plunged my hand into the cold darkness to search for it.  It was 10 minutes before I was able to locate and retrieve my poor old camera. I tried drying it out but no luck. It's a goner.

Canada Geese - Part Two

More Canada Geese photos, this time from the beach at Erich's house on Lake Superior (until I chased them away)

                Bye bye birdies.  Leave your presents somewhere else, please!