Paddling, Playing (Bells), Perfect

 Bruce and Jenny invited me to go paddling with them again today. Well, I had planned to get a lot of work done, but with the weather so gorgeous... you know I went paddling.

There were a lot of water lily pads, and the sun was making the underwater stems glow with an amazing neon red color, but I was not able to capture a single picture of this. You'll have to settle for the pads floating.

We saw a fair amount of wildlife, but I didn't get many pictutes. there were painted turtles sunning themselves (I got pictures, but they are nothing special), little fish (Bruce thought maybe bass), two kingfishers, a hawk, and another heron. I got a couple of pictures of it, but was shooting into the light, so they aren't great.

No frog on a lily pad, but how about a snail?

Love the reflection of this floating log.

The low hills surrounding the lake are in full autumn color. What lake you ask? Shhh. I promised I wouldn't share too loudly. It's a very special place. Gooseneck Lake.

I'll end with my two favorite pictures of the day. The color of this pattern on the water, and the stong horizontal and vertical lines just makes me want to dance.

Maybe this is my favorite: floating leaf.

I have so many good pictures, I can't even share them all.

We paddled some out toward the middle, and not that going along the shore is a bad thing, but I discovered that I really like being out in deeper water. We spent 4 hours, and it just didn't seem that long at all.

And, I at least got one of the handbell videos processed. Sorry, these take a while to do.



What I had hoped to do today was re-read the part of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp that I have written and see if it's really going to work. I have been doubting that it was worthy. After the long break from writing on it, it's easier for me to assess how readable it is. I'm up to chapter 20, and still feeling good about it.

Got some sad new today that a good friend has had a serious stroke. Of course, no one gets guarantees in life, but at our ages, there are certainly fewer good days left than previously. I am extra thankful for the perfectly wonderful day today.

See What a Perfect Morning

A Very Full Day

 Today was about as packed as was comfortable. It started with bell choir, and I will process those videos to show you, probably tomorrow, but not tonight.

After bells, I hustled home, changed and headed for Cadillac where I gave my program about the NCT to the Cadillac Area Land Conservancy. That went really well, and then I hiked their nature trail again. Lots prettier than it was in April before the leaves were out.

So tonight I'll share pictures from that.

Black Creek is the natural waterway through the area, and although I didn't see any wildlife today except a squirrel, this is surely the kind of habitat animals love.

The trail is mostly straight lines, but this spot with the richly-colored overhanging oak tree is really attractive.

My favorite piece of trail in the whole area is a "cut-across" that goes through an area of hemlock trees, and the trail is more organic. This is one end of that section.

Of course, the autumn leaf close-ups are always great. Pretty sure this is a red oak, Quercus rubrum. It just happens to have turned red. The leaves that are broader near the tip are typical, at least on young trees.

And here we have a red maple. No surprise to find it in a wetland. It prefers to have it's toes damp.

I loved this grouping of trees in the parking lot. It's always very interesting when you get nice contrasting colors growing near each other.

The program was well-attended, and I sold books. Managed to make the walk afterwards be 3 miles. But now I think I'm about done for the day.

Miles hiked in 2024: 498.7

Cadillac Heritage Nature Trail, various loops and spurs, 3.0 miles

See Heritage Nature Trail- Cadillac

Lake County Museum Open House

 The Lake County Historical Society has been working on a huge master plan since these two Craftsman houses were donated to them about ten years ago. These were the offices for the National Forest Ranger Station in Baldwin. They were moved down the street and became the basis for the Museum.

Since then, they added a boat room (maybe I'll talk more about that another day), and the final piece is a research room. Today was the open house to celebrate the grand opening of this part. In addition to what you see in this picture, there are more shelves, and desks and a research computer that anyone can use, free.

Bruce (I went kayaking with him and his wife a week ago) is the Historical Society President. The lady with him here is Jill Engleman, the curator. They thanked everyone, and reminded us that there are rotating displays, so it's worth stopping by occasionally to see the new things. They had advertised refreshments, but the food was extraordinary (not just cheese and crackers from Walmart).

There was a good turnout, and the space was packed. One of the houses is primarily a meeting room, and not everyone fit. You can see some of the period decor behind Bruce and Jill.

On the way, I stopped at Timber Creek and hiked south instead of north. Nice color.

This is the section that experienced a microburst in 2018. The trees were just broken and piled. The Forest Service did a salvage logging operation. You can see how it looked in 2019 at the link below. Really bare. Here's how it is today. Filling in with berry bushes, and an occasional red pine poking up.

Worked on computer stuff mostly, except for the above.

Miles walked in 2024: 495.7. NCT miles hiked in 2024: 154.5.

North Country Trail, Lake Co, MI, Timber Creek south to Wingleton Rd and back

See A Day with Annie

Familiar, Yet New

 Cathy and I took a walk this afternoon on the section of North Country Trail that is probably the most familiar to me, perhaps even more so than the section I care for. This is the closest the trail comes to my house, so I go there fairly often. We walked north from Timber Creek and back for a total of about 3.5 miles.

Most of the color along the trail here is confined to yellow, but as the late light began to come through the trees, there were some nice moments.

But even as familiar as this is, there is usually something new to see. This bald-faced hornet nest was only about 15 feet from the trail. I'm a little surprised no one has reported a problem there this summer. If you want to know more about this insect follow the link below.

What else is is both new and familiar? I got my "new" camera in the mail today. I have been using the same model camera since 2009 when I went digital. It has been upgraded a few times, and the one that failed was my 4th of the same model. It has been discontinued and is no longer supported by Canon. I bought a second-hand one before the big hike, suspecting the one I had would not last the whole trip, and that was true.

This time, I figured I'd have to go to a new model. Such a pain because the batteries and chargers are not interchangeable, and there is always a learning curve. But! I found a refurbished one of the same model. The pictures today are from this camera. So, for at least one more camera, I will not have to do the major educational and financial leap.

Total miles in 2024: 492.7. NCT miles hiked in 2024: 151.5

North Country Trail, north from Timber Creek, Mason County, MI, and back. 3.5 miles

See Personally Crafted Paper

Late Season Color Changes

 These are some of the reasons I love certain plants in the rock garden. I'll show you several as they look today, compared with earlier in the season. It will be a lot of pictures, but oh well.

This is the Sedum elecombeanum. Today:

Most of the season. Actually this is the same three clumps just after I planted them in 2023:



In full bloom:

This is one of my favorites that isn't very showy. But it loves to crawl over cracks between the rocks. Sedum sarmentosum. Here is what it looks like in the fall. Very pinkish.

Most of the year it is just yellow-green, and it gets little yellow flowers.



I seem to have three different types of tricolor sedum. This is my favorite. Look how red it is today.

This is what it looked like in June.

This is another little grouping that is turning out to be very nice. This is sedum 'Angelina' and sempervivum 'Gold Rush.' Today:

And in June (the 'Gold Rush' was quite new and sprawly as it came from the store):

Finally, I haven't showed this very much this year, but it continues to be one of my favorite purchases of last year. It is filling the space in slowly. I think I'll be able to split a piece off next spring, because I definitely want it more that one place. This is Sedum takesimense (formerly kamskaticum) 'Atlantis.' Today:

In August:



And in early spring when it's just coming up:



In other news, I worked on computer stuff, I worked in the driveway garden, I took a little walk.

Miles walked in 2024: 489.2

See October Rock Garden Report